Government approves 10 sites for new nuclear power projects

The government has "in principle" approved 10 sites for setting up new nuclear power projects, parliament was told on Wednesday.

Listing out the 10 sites located in nine states, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh told the Lok Sabha in a written reply that "the government had accorded "in principle" approval of the sites for locating nuclear power projects in future, based on both indigenous technologies and with foreign co-operation".

He said the indigenous reactors would be set up at Gorakhpur in Haryana's Fatehabad, Chutka and Bhimpur in Madhya Pradesh, Kaiga at Karnataka and Mahi Banswara in Rajasthan.

Reactors with foreign cooperation would be set up in Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, Jaitapur at Maharashtra, Chhaya Mithi Virdhi in Gujarat, Kovvada at Andhra Pradesh and Haripur in West Bengal.

Singh also said that BHAVINI, an undertaking of the department of atomic energy is presently constructing a Prototype Fast Breeder Reaction (PFBR) of 500 MW capacity at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu. In addition, two Fast Breeder Reactors of 600 MW are also proposed to be constructed at Kalpakkam.

Responding to another question, the minister said the government has proposed to set up four new nuclear research facilities.