India to add 1,660 Mw nuclear power capacity this year

India expects to start four nuclear power plants from this calendar year which would add 1,660 Mw atomic power to the national energy basket.

"We expect three units to come on stream this year," Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar told reporters on the sidelines of an awards ceremony here.

The fourth nuclear power plant to become operational could be the one at Kudankulam, which is a symbol of Indo-Russian civil nuclear cooperation.

"Two units in Rajasthan and one in Kaiga and later this year one of the Kudankulam units may also come upstream," said Kakodkar.

He said the Indo-US civil nuclear deal will help speed up atomic power generation in the country.

"Currently, nuclear power constitutes only three per cent of the total electricity generated in the country. We want to increase it. It is a long processes, now (post-nuclear deal) the process will be speeded up," he said.

Kakodkar said the India Specific Safeguards Agreement was signed in Vienna yesterday with the IAEA. "That was an important step. It is one of the steps in implementing the international civil nuclear cooperation," he said.

Earlier, Kakodkar, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair, social activists Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey and Shankar Singh, IIM Calcutta Director Shekhar Chaudhari and Shiv Sena MP Bhavna Gavali were honoured with the Bharat Asmita National Awards.

The awards are given away every year by the MIT Group of Institutions founded by Vishwanath Karad.

Vice-President Hamid Ansari gave away the awards.