The Minister of state for personal, public grievances and pensions Jitendra Singh said that India will have nine nuclear reactors by the year 2024. He said this at the Rajya Sabha today on behalf of the Centre.
He further said that a new nuclear project, the first in northern India, will come up at Haryana's Gorakhpur about 150 km from Delhi.
The minister said, "By 2024 you will have nine nuclear reactors plus 12 new additional ones which were approved during the Covid times with a capacity of 9000 MW. Five new sites are also being identified in different parts of the country".
When asked about whether the government is thinking of phasing out the nuclear power plants on account of safety, Mr. Singh said, "We have not only increased the number but are also trying to make a pan-India generation project".
Saying that nuclear energy will soon emerge as one of the most important sources of alternative energy for the increasing power demands of the country, he added that it was during the tenure of this government that a bulk approval of 10 indigenous reactors was done in a single cabinet decision.
Asked about the expansion of the Kudankulan nuclear plant, he said, "hopefully in 2021, we plan to start the construction of unit 5 and unit 6 as well".
India's present capacity of nuclear power generation is 6.8 gigawatts, accounting for about 2 percent of the nation's total capacity. Meanwhile, coal-fired generation makes up about 53 percent of India's installed base. Its share though has been declining with the emergence of cleaner generation and renewable power.