Nuke panel slashes 2020 power target G.S. MUDUR

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Nuke panel slashes 2020 power target G.S. MUDUR New Delhi, Nov. 24: India's Nuclear Power Corporation, beleaguered by public protests and delays in building new reactors, has scaled down its power generation target from its earlier goal of 20,000 MW to 11,080 MW by the year 2020. The NPC believes the country's installed nuclear power capacity is likely to grow from the current 4,780 MW to only 11,080 MW by 2019-20, and further expand to 14,580 MW during 2020-21, senior atomic energy and NPC officials said. The NPC had earlier planned to produce 20,000 MW of power from the atom by 2020, a goal articulated several years ago by the country's atomic energy department and asserted as achievable by senior NPC and atomic energy officials even in July this year. The new projected capacity build-up from the NPC forecasts that the country will be able to produce 21,450 MW of power from the atom only by 2021-22 and highlights the key role that nuclear reactor imports will play in this expansion. "We expect a delay (in achieving the 20,000 MW goal) by a couple of years," said M.R. Srinivasan, a former chairperson and now a member of the country's atomic energy commission, who presented the revised nuclear growth trajectory at a conference on power here. However, a spokesperson of the atomic energy department told The Telegraph tonight that there has been no revision yet in the 20,000 MW by 2020 goal. "This figure stands," the spokesperson said. The NPC has encountered public protests from local communities against its proposal to develop a nuclear power park with French-made reactors in Jaitapur, Maharashtra, and against the two 1000-MW Russian reactors - almost ready - in Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu. The NPC has identified Haripur, Bengal, as a good site for nuclear reactors but local communities have said they would reject such a project. Srinivasan said public acceptance and land acquisition are among the challenges the proposed expansion is facing. "We hope we can explain issues and move on - until then we need to have patience," Srinivasan told The Telegraph. Human resources, industry capacity to supply equipment to support a rapid expansion and financing are among other challenges that the NPC will need to address in its effort to increase capacity. The NPC hopes to start the construction of eight homegrown 700 MW nuclear reactors and eight imported reactors each of 1000 MW or even higher capacity between 2012 and 2017, and the cumulative indigenous nuclear capacity is expected to reach 10,080 MW by 2016. The capacity is projected to rise to 11,080 MW only in 2019-20 with an additional 1000 MW imported reactor - possibly another Russian reactor in Kudankulam - and increase to 14,580 MW in 2020-21 through the first two French 1650-MW reactors in Jaitapur. The addition of homegrown and imported reactors is expected to push the installed capacity to 21,430 MW by 2021-22 and 26,980 MW by 2022-23, according to the NPC projection. "Construction on some (reactor) projects that we had hoped would start before 2012 is now expected to begin only after 2012 - this is one reason for the delay," a senior NPC official told The Telegraph. Public protests against proposed or new nuclear reactors in the country have intensified in recent months after the tsunami-triggered incidents at the Fukushima nuclear power station in Japan earlier this year. India's atomic energy department has said safety reviews of nuclear reactors in the country show that they are safe from earthquakes and have the capacity to deal with the complete loss of power (a station blackout) - the event that triggered the Fukushima crisis. "We will have to convince local communities about our need for nuclear power and the safety of nuclear reactors. We cannot build reactors when local people are opposed to them," the NPC official said. Although nuclear sector analysts have earlier - even before the Fukushima incidents - suggested that NPC's 20,000 MW by 2020 target was unrealistic given the slow gestation and emerging land acquisition issues in India, the NPC had asserted that it is achievable. In July this year, the NPC had said the country's installed nuclear capacity would grow to 10,080 by 2017 and 20,000 MW by 2020. Srinivasan said an internal review initiated by a French supplier after Fukushima is also contributing to the delay.

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