NPCIL to rollout ‘modified’ Bharat Small Reactors for hard-to-abate sectors soon

New Delhi: State-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is modifying its Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR), rechristening them as Bharat Small Reactors, and will roll them out for hard-to-abate sectors soon, said a senior official. BVS Sekhar, Executive Director (CC and CP) at NPCIL, said that these nuclear reactors will be used for meeting the captive power requirements of hard-to-abate sectors like steel and aluminium, which have high power requirements.

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“They (hard-to-abate sectors) were looking for small reactors. And there is so much buzz about India’s PHWRs. Because nowhere in the world today, this technology is readily available. These reactors have also set international benchmarks in operations, etc. So, we are modifying them. We have only modified some parts so that the land requirement reduces. These are technical modifications,” said Sekhar while speaking to PSU Watch on the sidelines of Central Electricity Authority’s (CEA) ‘Brainstorming Session on the Indian Power Sector Scenario 2047.’

NPCIL to operate Bharat Small Reactors for hard-to-abate sectors

The NPCIL official said that the PSU is waiting for the government to approve and roll out norms for private sector participation in the nuclear power sector. Once the government approves business models for allowing private participation, NPCIL will roll out its Bharat Small Reactors. “The government, in its Budget, had announced that the private sector can participate. Of course, they have not changed the legal framework because of security and other such reasons. Bharat Small Reactors, even when they are rolled out to the private sector, will be operated by NPCIL only. All the funding will be private. They will have rights to the electricity. So that business model is kind of finalised. Once the government approves it, NPCIL will rollout the nuclear reactors,” said Sekhar.

In the Union Budget for 2024-25, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government will partner with the private sector to establish Bharat Small Reactors (BSR) and to research and develop Bharat Small Modular Reactors (BSMR). The BSRs will be based on the tried and tested 220-MW PHWR technology, of which 18 units are already operational in India.

The PHWR technology was developed as part of the Indo-Canadian nuclear cooperation. The construction of the first 220 MW PHWR reactor was undertaken in the 1960s as part of Rajasthan Atomic Power Station-1. However, after the Pokhran-1 tests in 1974, Canada withdrew support. Thereafter, India indigenously developed and standardised the design for the 220 MW reactors.

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