Budget 2016: Nuclear gets Rs.3,000 cr yearly allocation

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley´s announcement of a Rs.3,000 crore yearly allocation for the next two decades for nuclear power generation is certainly a welcome move, said a top atomic energy official. ´The nuclear power capacity will be built in a steady pace over a time. The plans for capacity addition will be made based on the money on hand. With the Atomic Energy Act being amended, other public sector companies can invest in this sector,´ Atomic Energy department Secretary Sekhar Basu told IANS. The `3,000 crore per year over the next 15-20 years will be over and above the current annual allocations for the sector, he said. Basu added the current plan is to build 10 reactors with a generation capacity of 7,700 MW. He said the capacity additions would happen through Indian as well as foreign reactors.