Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has won an order for the supply of 32 reactor header assemblies from the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL).
The order has been won under NPCIL’s fleet mode procurement for India’s highest rated indigenously-developed 700 MWe Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) to be set up at four different locations in the country.
Significantly, this is the first equipment order placed by NPCIL under the Fleet Mode Procurement program and will give an impetus to domestic manufacturing.
It may be mentioned that in 2017, the Government of India had accorded approval for fleet mode implementation of 10 nuclear reactors of 700 MWe PHWRs, with a view to support the AatmaNirbhar mission.
BHEL, in the release, noted that it has the distinction of being associated with all the three stages of the Indian nuclear power programme and has been the primary supplier for reactor headers, steam turbines, steam generators, motors, etc., to NPCIL.
So far, all the reactor header assemblies for 700 MWe PHWR based nuclear power projects in India have been supplied by BHEL.
The company has dedicated infrastructure and skilled manpower to address the special design, manufacturing and testing requirements complying with international codes and standards for various components/equipment of NPPs.
Presently, nearly 75 per cent of PHWR-based nuclear power plants in India are equipped with BHEL-supplied turbine and generator sets, the release said.
According to information available from NPCIL, some upcoming projects based on 700 MWe PWHRs are: Kakrapar Atomic Power Plant (Gujarat, Units 3 and 4), and Rajasthan Atomic Power Plant (Units 7 and 8).
NPCIL has 22 atomic power stations with a total capacity of 6780 MWe, currently under operation. The gross electricity generation from these 22 power stations in FY20 was around 46472 million kwh.
Featured photograph (source: larsentoubro.com) showing NPCIL’s Rajasthan Atomic Power Plant is for illustration only