'India will produce 20,000 MW nuclear power by 2020'

India will produce 20,000 MW of nuclear power by the year 2020 and may well exceed the target, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar said in Hyderabad.

India will produce 20,000 MW of nuclear power by the year 2020 and may well exceed the target, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar said in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

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Talking to media on the sidelines of a three-day international conference on 'Characterisation and Quality Control of Nuclear Fuels' organized by the Nuclear Fuel Complex, Kakodkar said the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) has begun work on four 700 MW nuclear power plants which have been approved by the Centre.

Each MegaWatt of nuclear power would cost Rs 6 crore, he said, adding that the plans were also afoot for another four 700 MW nuclear plants and fast breeder reactors.

"We also will go in for some light water reactors that have a capacity of over 1000 MW each. We are in discussion with prospective vendors for constructing the light water plants and hope that very soon we will be able to actualize these projects," Kakodkar said.

The Government of India gave in principle approval for development of sites at Jaithapur and Kudankulam. The initial work in this regard was on, he said.