India's NTPC confirms plans for nuclear subsidiary

NTPC Chairman and Managing Director, Gurdeep Singh told a meeting for analysts and investors at the end of July that India's largest power utility sees nuclear capacity - including small modular reactors (SMRs) - as central to its plans. He said nuclear energy developments were the "most important" of two major developments announced in the budget presented to the Indian Parliament by Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman earlier in July (the other being advanced ultra-supercritical thermal power generation, in which state-owned NTPC is also involved as a joint venture partner).

"We had been working on the nuclear," Singh said. "Our first nuclear power project in Mahi Banswara in Rajasthan is likely to take the activities of groundbreaking in next two months. That is, as you know, that is joint venture with NPCIL. NPCIL is the lead partner; 51(%), we are 49(%).

"But I'm happy to share with all of you that we have already decided to make NTPC Nuclear Power Company, which will be a 100% subsidiary of NTPC. And we are looking forward for different sites in different states."

That search includes Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Karnataka, Singh said in answer to questions. Any site would need Atomic Energy Regulatory Board approval.

NTPC already has a team in place and "would like to repeat the same kind of success story" it had experienced with coal or thermal power stations, he said, adding that the capacity involved will be in the "tens of" gigawatts.

Referring to the plans outlined in the Indian budget to partner with the private sector to set up a company called Bharat Small Reactors, Singh said SMRs provide a "bigger and wider scope" in which NTPC plans to be involved.

"But at this stage you can just take it for granted that already things have started happening. It has taken some time. But now, the things are in place," he said.

Under Indian legislation, only two companies - Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) and Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI, set up to build and operate fast reactors) - are legally allowed to own and operate nuclear power plants in India, but a 2016 amendment to the 1962 Atomic Energy Act allows public sector joint ventures.

State-owned NTPC - short for National Thermal Power Corporation - agreed with NPCIL to form a joint venture for nuclear power plant construction as long ago as 2011, and last year signed a supplementary joint venture agreement for the development of six 700 MWe Indian-designed pressurised heavy water (PHWR) reactors including the four earmarked for construction at Mahi Banswara. These units are amongst a list of ten PHWRs already accorded administrative approval and financial sanction to be built in "fleet mode".