Nalco plans to set up nuke plant in India

State-owned aluminium major National Aluminium Company (Nalco) unveiled plans to set up another nuclear power plant in collaboration with Nuclear Power Corporation of India.

Nalco chairman B L Bagra told PTI that it is in talks with Nuclear Power Corporation of India for the second project and has three options to set up the plant at West Bengal, Odisha and Rajasthan.

"We are looking at 1,500 MW atomic power project with 49 per cent stake," said Bagra.

NPCIL would be the operator of the project with 51% stake.

The site for the plant is yet to be finalised and the final decision on the project would take some time.

Currently, an NPCIL-Nalco joint venture is already executing unit 3 and 4 of Kakarapar Atomic Power Station (KAPS) in Gujarat of 700 MW capacity each.

The plant requires a total investment of about INR120bn ($2.3bn).

Nalco, which has 26% stake in the existing JV with NPCIL, plans to raise its stake to 49% in Kakrapar venture and is hopeful of getting Department of Atomic Energy’s (DEA) approval in next 2-3 months.

The company will invest INR17bn ($331m) to acquire the stake, reports PTI.