India plans to start building 10 Nuclear Power plant in fleet mode.

Why in news?

• India is set to put in motion construction of 10 ‘fleet mode’ nuclear reactors over the next three years. The First Pour of Concrete (FPC) for a 700 MegaWatts (MW) Kaiga Atomic Power Plant, Karnataka units 5 & 6 are scheduled by 2023.
• The centre had approved the construction of 10 indigenously developed Pressurised Heavy-Water Reactors (PHWRs) of 700 MegaWatts (MW) each in June 2017 with a total cost of Rs 1.05 Lakh crore.
• Also by 2024, The FPC for Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Praiyonjan units 3 & 4 and the Mahi Banswara Rajasthan Atomic Power Projects units 1 to 4 were planned to begin construction.
• And the FPC for the Chutka Madhya Pradesh Atomic Power Project units 1 & 2 are expected by 2025.
• The FPC signals the beginning of construction of nuclear power reactors from the pre-project stage which includes excavation activities at the project site.
• The Kamataka’s Kaiga Atomic Power Plant units 5 & 6 and Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Praiyonjan units 3 & 4 were agreed to be built under Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Model.
• Currently, India operates 22 reactors with a total capacity of 6780 MegaWatt (MW), among which one 700 MW reactor at Kakrapar Atomic Power Station in Gujarat was connected to the grid in January 2021.

About Indian Pressurised Heavy-Water Reactor – 700:

• Indian Pressurised Heavy-Water Reactor is designed by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).
• lt is a Generation III reactor developed from the earlier CANDU (Canada Deuterium Uranium-Pressurised Heavy-Water Reactor) based 220 MW and 540 MW designs.
• The Indian Pressurised Heavy-Water Reactor has been upgraded to generate electricity capacity of 700 MW.
• India’s first pair of PHWRs of 220 MW each were set up at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan in the 1960s with Canadian support (Canada Deuterium Uranium-Pressurised Heavy-Water Reactor).
• Fuel – Natural Uranium
• Moderator – Heavy Water