Excerpts from the interview:

On cost of power

Nuclear power will be very cheap. For example, the Koodankulam plants will be able to sell power at not more than Rs 2.50 a unit.

The project has been slightly delayed; power from the first of the two units will start flowing in from the first quarter of next year. The second will follow in about eight months from then.

We are planning to put up ten light water reactors using imported fuel. The LWRs will be cheaper than the Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors that we have in India (all but two of the 14 reactors in India are PHWRs). This is because the PHWRs use heavy water and heavy water loads cost 40-45 paise a unit.

On setting up new projects

Giving turnkey contracts to vendor companies would be very, very costly. Therefore, we have decided to go in for techno-commercial co-operation agreements with vendors. In our exploratory talks with vendors — GE, Westinghouse, Areva and our Russian partners of Koodankulam — we have indicated that as much as possible should be sourced from within India.

If the competitive edge of the Indian industry is used to the maximum extent, we can come out with a real good produce which will be economically viable. We have indicated to them that since nuclear power does not get any subsidies, the cost of power should be comparable with that of a similar sized thermal plant at the same location.

On domestic industry’s capabilities

A nuclear project could be split into three islands — nuclear, generation equipment and balance of plant. In balance of plant, or supporting facilities such as water system, civil works and electrical distribution system, India has enough capabilities. For the rest, some auxillaries can be sourced from within India.

On the whole, about 30-35 per cent of the value of the project can be sourced from within India, even for the first set of reactors. (Nuclear projects are usually put up in pairs.)

We have told the prospective vendors that if we choose to go in for a park, where about six to eight units of similar size would be located, the last pair should have indigenous component of at least 80 per cent.

On supply chain constraints and opportunities for India

Today, more than 30 countries have announced plans to go in for nuclear power or expand their existing facilities. Russia has decided that it would add three reactors each year and take its nuclear capacity from 20 GW to 63 GW.

In the US, 32 applications for projects are pending with the authorities. China is expanding aggressively and so are Korea and Japan.

In addition, a number of other countries — such as Indonesia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam — have expressed intention to get into nuclear power generation.

All this will happen over the next 15 years and will put tremendous pressure on the supply chain. But the Indian industry can grab this opportunity and supply components not only to support the Indian nuclear programme, but also for export.

On security of fuel supply

Very clearly, the purchase of equipment will be linked to a guarantee of lifetime supply of fuel. Either the vendor company would supply the fuel or it could help us get uranium assets abroad.

Also, we have told them that we would want upfront rights for reprocessing the fuel. We would like to reprocess the fuel and use it in other safeguarded facilities.

On the existing capacity addition programme

Apart from the ten LWRs that will come up as a consequence of the Indo-US nuclear deal, NPCIL intends to put up eight reactors of 700 MW, three fast breeder reactors and one Advanced Heavy Water Reactor of 300 MW. This programme, planned much before the nuclear deal, will go on.

The LWRs will be fired by imported uranium. The first two will come up in 2014-15, as it takes about 60 months to put up a nuclear project.

The process starts with site selection. Today, only two coastal sites have been approved by the Government of India — Koodankulam and Jaitapur in Maharashtra. Koodankulam is meant for the Russian reactors, while Jaitapur has not yet been identified for any vendor.

We would need two or three more coastal sites for all the ten LWRs.

On fuel for existing nuclear plants

We understand that after the Indo-US ‘123 Agreement’ is ratified by the US congress, the intergovernmental agreements with other governments too — France and Russia — would be operationalised simultaneously, so that we can get fuel from them. That is one part.

The other part is that even the existing plants that have been placed under the IAEA safeguards — Tarapur 1 & 2 and Rajasthan 1 & 2 — will need to be put under the new IAEA safeguards. That process has not yet been started.

Tarapur 1 & 2 and Rajasthan 2 will straightaway qualify for fuel supplies. So the relief from fuel shortage will be available only for these three plants.

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