B.N. Jagtap, Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (Mumbai), Chemistry Group, has said the country’s biggest 9,500 MW nuclear power park proposed at Kovvada in Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh should be materialised to meet the country’s power requirement.
“Straightaway around 10,000 MW of power production at one place is not an expensive project and viable too. When coal-based thermal and other power projects are failing to meet the power requirement, the government should go for nuclear plants,” Mr. Jagtap told The Hindu . On preferring GE-Hitachi’s technology for reactors to be installed at the Kovvada Nuclear Park (KNP), Mr. Jagtap said the technology was safe.
Speaking to The Hindu , Kovvada Nuclear Park Chief Engineer G. Venkata Ramesh said the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) was gearing up to speed up the project. “The agitation for united Andhra Pradesh and change of guard at the Centre after elections were main reasons for the delay in holding public hearing,” he said. According to the NPCIL’s pre-feasibility report submitted to the Experts’ Appraisal Committee of Ministry of Environment and Forests, 884 hectares was required for the KNP. The cooling water required for operation of six units has been estimated at 69,000 million litres per day (MLD). The total fresh water requirement for the project has been estimated at 25 mld that would be met from Nagavali river until commissioning of the desalination plant.
The NPCIL has also proposed to construct a jetty for movement of heavy equipment through sea route. In 2013, the Department of Atomic Energy, under the aegis of the Prime Minister, has accepted the NPCIL’s proposal to increase the capacity of the KNP from 6,000 MW to 9,500 MW.
