MUMBAI: Nuclear power generation can be doubled in the existing plants with the lifting of sanctions on dual-use technology and fuel that may follow after the signing of Indo-US civil nuclear deal, a senior NPCIL official said.
"Power generation of all the existing commercial nuclear power plants can be doubled without adding any new capacity (plants) if the three-decade-old sanctions imposed on fuel and dual-use technologies is lifted" a Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) official told PTI.
Last year NPCIL generated 17 billion units of electricity and if sanctions on fuel and dual-use technologies are lifted, the generation can be increased to 34 billion units immediately, he said.
The current total power generation of India is 704 billion units (2007-08) of which 17 billion units (three percent of the total) comes from nuclear and this can be doubled straightaway constituting six percent of the total generation, he said.
The shortage in electricity generation is 10 per cent and if fuel is available, the nuclear industry could take care of three percent of the shortage," he added. Considering world over 90 percent plant capacity is possible, NPCIL has already demonstrated over 90 percent capacity, he said.
However, sanction can be lifted only if the deal is struck, the NPCIL official said adding that sanction was imposed on India over three decades ago after India's first nuclear test in 1974.
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