Anu Vidyut Pariyojana launched in Fatehabad, Haryana

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation of 2,800 Megawatt nuclear power plant in Fatehabad district of Haryana on 13 January 2014.

The project named as Anu Vidyut Pariyojna, will have four units of 700 MWes each and it will be built at a cost 23502 crore rupees.

They are Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) which will use natural uranium as fuel and heavy water as both coolant and moderator.

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) will build these reactors. This is the first time Haryana will have a nuclear project.

In the second stage, the NPCIL will build two more PHWRS of 700 MWe each at the Gorakhpur site of Haryana.

The nuclear plant will accelerate the pace of development of the area and it would also generate more employment opportunities.

The NPCIL is already building four PHWRS of 700 MWe each, two units each at Kakrapara in Gujarat and Rawatbhatta in Rajasthan. The units at Kakrapara are under advanced stage of construction and they will attain criticality in 2016.

NPCIL is the sole body responsible for constructing and operating India's commercial nuclear power plants. The company had 21 nuclear reactors in operation at seven locations. Total installed capacity of nuclear reactors is 5780 MWe.

India's three-stage nuclear power programme
Programme was formulated by Dr. Homi Bhabha in the 1950s. The objective of the plan is to secure the country’s long term energy independence, through the use of uranium and thorium reserves found in the monazite sands of coastal regions of South India.

Programme has three stage vision:
The first stage consists of the pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR),
the second stage consists of fast breeder reactors (FBR) and
the third stage consists of advanced heavy water reactors (AHWR).

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