Jitendra Singh: 'India to commission 1 nuclear reactor every year from 2020'

In a big boost to renewable energy adoption, Union Minister Jitendra Singh announced that India will commission one nuclear reactor every year from 2020. During an interaction with media in Delhi, Singh said the third unit of the Kakrapar Atomic Power Station in Gujarat will soon be commissioned. The 700-MW pressurised heavy water reactor is likely to start operations by April. 

"We will commission one nuclear reactor every year from 2020. Kakrapar-3 should be commissioned in 2020," Jitendra Singh said.

READ | MASSIVE: Navy Tells Parliamentary Panel Of Plan To Build 6 New Nuclear Attack Submarines

Commissioning of Kakrapar Unit 4 likely by 2021

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) is responsible for overseeing atomic energy policy in India. A senior official said the fourth unit of the Kakrapar power station would likely to be commissioned by 2021. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has 22 reactors across India and is the only agency to operate such plants.

READ | Pakistan’s Nuclear Physicist Abdul Qadeer Approaches SC For Fundamental Rights

Records set

Shrikrishna Gupta, a senior DAE official, informed that the Maharashtra-based Tarapur Atomic Power Reactors — units 1 and 2 — completed 50 years of operation this year. The two boiling water reactors — the first in the country — were commissioned in October 1969. He added that Karnataka's Kaiga Power Station unit 1 also created a world record by operating for 941 days.

(With PTI inputs)

READ | Iran: 5.1 Magnitude Earthquake Near Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant

READ | US Congress Seeks Report On Its Marshall Islands Nuclear Dump Site