India will be going for a fleet mode to ensure standardisation, lower costs and speed up the setting up of nuclear power plants in the country.

“To increase standardisation and bring modularity into the construction of new plants, we are going in for fleet mode for construction, thereby reducing construction costs and speeding up construction times. Seventeen new reactors are now in the pipeline, with seven already under construction,” Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy and Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, K N Vyas said at the India Energy Forum 11th Nuclear Energy Conclave.

“A revised target of 20 GW has been set till the end of next decade, which I think is highly attainable. In my opinion, the financial outlay is expected to be staggering enough to encourage most industrialists,” Vyas said.

Predicting a future in favour of nuclear energy, Vyas said, “It does appear that with the increasing pressure to meet the decarbonisation requirement, nuclear shall eventually make a come-back with improved designs, lower costs, better safety features and lower waste management concerns, making them attractive Propositions once again, especially in view of the intermittency of wind and solar energies.”

Also speaking at the event, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Atomic Energy and Space, Jitendra Singh said that nuclear power plants need to be spread across the country. Singh said, “Atomic power plants were restricted in Southern India, now the Government is setting up the nuclear plants in other parts of the country.”

He cited examples from other countries where nuclear power plants are operating much closer to residential establishments as safety and operational standards continue to improve.

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