State-run NTPC Limited, India’s largest energy generator, will construct several nuclear power
facilities to help the nation reach its goal of having net-zero emissions by 2070.
According to its first plan, the power giant will begin producing nuclear energy at a rate of 2,000 MW
by 2032, 4,200 MW by 2035, and ultimately 20,000 MW by 2050, senior NTPC executives told
Moneycontrol.
In addition to expanding nuclear capacity using pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR), NTPC also
intends to do so using small modular reactors. To guarantee the supply of the necessary feedstock, it
also plans to collaborate with Uranium Corporation of India Ltd. on fuel projects.
“So far, two nuclear power stations with a combined 4,200 MW of capacity have been completed. In
Chutka, Madhya Pradesh, a 1,400 MW project with two units of 700 MW each will be built. The
second one, near Mahi Banswara in Rajasthan, will have a capacity of 2,800 MW (4×700 MW). The
two plants will use PHWR, which is nearly indigenous, and their electricity tariff will amount to about
Rs 7.36 per unit, according to a senior official who asked to remain anonymous.
The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that the capacity of nuclear power worldwide
must increase from 413 gigawatts (GW) in 2022 to 812 GW by 2050. It went on to say that by the
2030s, yearly nuclear power capacity expansions must exceed 27 GW.