Land acquiring process for nuclear power plants to begin

The process to build the first nuclear power plants at a cost of Rs33,000 crore after India's re-entry into global nuclear trade will be set into motion with the beginning of land acquisition tomorrow at Jaitapur in coastal Maharashtra.

French company Areva will be setting up the 1650 MW European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) in collaboration with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) for which agreement has been reached with international investors.

To begin with, Areva will build two EPRs of 1650 MW each at Jaitapur, the site allocated to the French company by the government to set up a nuclear park as per the Indo-French civil nuclear cooperation agreement inked last year.

The project cost for the two EPRs is pegged at an estimated Rs33,000 crore of which Rs15,000 crore will come from external credit assistance, NPCIL chairman and managing director SK Jain told reporters here.

The ECA will be from a consortium of five French banks, including BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, HSBC and Calyon.

Jain said although the land acquisition process in Jaitapur will begin from tomorrow, the statutory and environment clearances and public hearing are expected to happen soon.