India’s nuclear regulator transfers Mahi-Banswara approvals to ASHVINI

The AERB has moved siting consent for the Mahi-Banswara nuclear project to ASHVINI, the NPCIL-NTPC joint venture. PM Modi will inaugurate the project, which includes four 700 MWe PHWR units, expanding India’s nuclear power capacity

New Delhi: India’s nuclear regulator AERB has transferred the siting consent for the Mahi-Banswara atomic power project from the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited to Anushakti Vidyut Nigam, a joint venture company that is developing the 2,800 MWe project.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to lay the foundation stone for the Mahi-Banswara Rajasthan Atomic Power Project (MBRAPP) on September 25. The project marks the entry of National Thermal Power Corporation into the nuclear power sector.

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Anushakti Vidyut Nigam (ASHVINI) is a joint venture between Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). In May, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) issued the siting consent for the MBRAPP to the NPCIL.

“With this transfer, ASHVINI shall be the responsible organization for ensuring compliance with the regulatory requirements throughout the lifetime of MBRAPP-1 to 4,” AERB Chairman Dinesh Kumar Shukla said.

Four indigenously developed Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) of 700 MWe each are being built as part of the MBRAPP. The project site is located along the banks of the Mahi River near Napla in Banswara district.

At present, NPCIL and Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (Bhavini) are allowed to build and operate nuclear power plants. A 2015 amendment to the Atomic Energy Act of 1962 paved the way for joint ventures between NPCIL and other public sector companies to build nuclear power plants.

Besides NTPC, NPCIL has also entered into joint ventures with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to develop nuclear power plants on a commercial basis. The MBRAPP units are among the ten 700 MWe PHWRs that the government plans to build under the fleet mode approach, approval for which was granted in 2017.

Besides Mahi Banswara, the fleet mode nuclear plants will come up at Kaiga NPP (two units), Gorakhpur-Haryana (two units), and Chutka-Madhya Pradesh (two units). The government has set an ambitious target of 100 GW of nuclear power capacity by 2047.

Currently, NPCIL operates 24 commercial nuclear power reactors in the country with an installed capacity of 8,780 MWe, with plans to increase it to 22,480 MWe by 2031-32.