India to generate 60,000 MW of nuclear energy by 2030

New Delhi, Jan 8 (PTI) India Thursday said it will scale
up nuclear energy production to 60,000 megawatts by 2030 after
signing the pending N-deals with more countries.

"It is our expectation to achieve generation of 60,000
MW of nuclear energy by 2030. The earlier target was 20,000 MW
by 2020. The expectation has been increased with the kind of
opportunities we are having now with more N-deals coming up
for signing," Shyam Saran, Special Envoy to Prime Minister on
the Nuclear Deal, told reporters here.

Saran said India has reached an agreement with
Kazakhstan, Russia, France and there were letter of intent for
generation of 10,000 MW of nuclear power in collaboration with
the US.

"There are a large number of players and the capacity is
going to be large," he said.

Saran said the Indian nuclear programme had for the last
40 years been intertwined between strategic and civilian
programmes, which had been a bottleneck for private players to
participate.

"Now India has prepared a separation plan, which would be
completed by 2014. Until a complete separation takes place,
bringing in private sector may create certain difficulty," he
said.

The government, Saran said, would soon amend the Atomic
Energy Act of 1962 to enable private participation in the
civil nuclear programme that the Act had originally barred.

"The government doesn't have a closed mind on private
participation in the nuclear programme. But the government is
cautious about it, as it is a sensitive subject. It would take
a while before allowing private participation," he said.

Saran, however, did not elaborate by when the Atomic
Energy Act would be amended.

But, Saran earlier told the Indo-US Economic Summit
currently in progress in the city that the private players
could currently examine participation in certain components of
the nuclear programme through the Nuclear Power Corporation of
India Limited (NPCIL).

"Once the private players gain experience in the nuclear
field, the government may consider allowing them to establish
nuclear plants of their own," he added.

The nuclear deal, the former Foreign Secretary said,
would allow for fruitful partnership between Indian private
sector with foreign players and the spin-off would be
significant in dual-use technologies.

Saran said India would soon sign the international
convention on liability insurance and the matter would be
taken up by the Cabinet for a decision soon. However, he did
not elaborate on the issue.

The Special Envoy said the country would be able to
produce 10,000 MW of nuclear energy for the next 40 years if
it relied only on its own Uranium reserves.

But, under the three-stage nuclear energy programme, New
Delhi would like to move to Thorium-based reactors in the
third stage from the Uranium-based reactors.

He also hailed the Indo-US nuclear deal and the 45-member
Nuclear Suppliers Group's waiver for opening up the entire
international market for India and for breaking the shackles
of the New Delhi-specific technology denial regimes. PTI