Work on 10 more nuclear reactors underway in country, parliamentary panel told

New Delhi, Oct 21: At least 10 nuclear reactors are being installed in the country while two reactors in Gujarat's Kakrapar have started generating power commercially, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology was informed on Monday.

According to sources, the new nuclear reactors coming up in states like Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana are of 700 MW capacity and will start operating in the next few years.

The details of the new nuclear reactors were provided to the members of the Standing Committee of Parliament on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change during a meeting here.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who is a member of the committee as well as its former chairman, said members of the panel were informed during the meeting that the Kakrapar-3 and Kakrapar-4 nuclear reactors in Gujarat have been fully synchronised with the grid and are generating power commercially.

"This is a major accomplishment since these are indigenously designed 700-megawatt reactors that were approved in 2007. Construction had begun in 2010. More such reactors are being installed at different locations," he said in a post on X.

"Another example of how much continuity there is in our development - which is never acknowledged by 'El Supremo'," Ramesh said, stressing that it was during the Congress regime when the two nuclear reactors in Kakrapar were approved.

In another post on X, Ramesh said the standing committee was also informed that Central Electronics Limited (CEL) has turned around significantly and it has resulted in its becoming eligible for 'Mini Ratna' status which will raise its market value.

"This is good news," he said.

"A public sector company set up in 1974 first stood condemned, and now it gets applauded. This shows how cavalierly public sector companies have been treated since 2014," the Congress leader said.

He said CEL was at the cutting edge of solar energy systems in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 2017, the government of India decided to sell off CEL.

"CEL was then sold off to some company called Nandal Finance and Leasing. Serious questions were then raised about the bona fides of this company.

"Finally, in response to the controversy that had been generated in Parliament as well, the Union Government terminated the sale in September 2022," Ramesh added.