India’s Top Power Firm Looks to Build Small Nuclear Reactors

India’s largest power utility, NTPC, is looking to hire consultants for feasibility studies for small modular reactors that could potentially replace some of the utility’s old coal-fired power plants, Reuters reports, quoting a tender document.

Small modular reactors (SMR) are believed to be simpler and cheaper to build and install. Because of their smaller size, it is possible to install SMRs on sites that are not suitable for bigger reactors. They are also significantly cheaper and faster to build than conventional reactors and can be constructed incrementally to meet the growing energy demand of a site.

NTPC, which plans to boost its nuclear power generation capacity over the coming years, is now issuing the first such exploratory tender for SMRs, which are considered to be the future of nuclear power.

The top Indian electric utility wants to identify through feasibility studies and tests which old coal plants it could retire by the end of the decade and preferably replace them with power capacity from SMRs, per the tender documents reviewed by Reuters.

NTPC plans to invest over the next two decades $62 billion in building 30 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear generation capacity, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters earlier this year.

NTPC previously targeted to invest in 10 GW of nuclear capacity within two decades.

Currently, India has 8 GW of operating nuclear capacity, operated by the state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL).

In February, the federal budget outlined plans for a significant push toward nuclear energy as part of India’s long-term energy transition strategy. The government now targets the country to have 100 GW of nuclear power generation capacity installed by 2047, “positioning nuclear energy as a major pillar in India’s energy mix,” the cabinet said.

NTPC is also looking for partners to help it build 15 GW of new nuclear capacity, Reuters reported last week, citing tender documents.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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