PM Modi to lay foundation stone for nuclear power project at Rajasthan's Mahi-Banswara on Sept 25

New Delhi: The Union government is to set the ball rolling for the construction of a 2,800 MWe nuclear power plant at Mahi-Banswara in Rajasthan with Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to lay its foundation stone on Sept 25.

The power plant will house four pressurised heavy water reactors of 700 MWe capacity each and the first one will be ready in the next six and half years.

The Mahi-Banswara project will be executed by a joint venture company formed by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (51%) and National Thermal Power Corporation (49%).

This will be the NTPC’s first foray into nuclear power generation in accordance with the Atomic Energy Act, 1962. Sources said more than Rs 40,000 crore would be the cost of the project.

The Mahi-Banswara Rajasthan Atomic Power Project site is situated on the right bank of Mahi River at the upstream of Mahi- Bajaj Sagar reservoir. The site received Atomic Energy Regulatory Board approval in May, paving the way for the formal foundation stone laying by the Prime Minister.

India now bets big on nuclear energy with an official target of 100 GW nuclear power capacity by 2047. One more 2800 MWe nuclear power plant is coming up in Haryana and a second one with a similar capacity is under consideration in Madhya Pradesh.

Gorakhpur in Fatehabad district Haryana received the AERB clearance way back in 2015 but the project got delayed. As per the new deadline, the commercial operation of the first of the four units is scheduled by March 2031 followed by the second unit six months later.

This will be the second atomic power station in Rajasthan after Rawatbhatta where seven nuclear reactors are operational and the eighth one – a 700 MWe – is nearing completion.

The NPCIL currently operates 24 nuclear power reactors with an installed capacity of 8180 MW. Seven more reactors with a total capacity of 6100 MW are under construction.