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TCE has achieved 85% market share in engineering plutonium obtained from recycled spent fuel from
services in the nuclear sector, thus becoming a the stage 1 reactors with thorium as a blanket
trusted partner in implementing projects of national produce Uranium 233 (U233).
importance and strategic in nature.
In the third stage, we will be using breeder reactors
Nuclear Power in India – Present Scenario (BRs) with U233 as fuel produced from stage
2 reactors. The power generation potential is
Nuclear power generation’s total installed capacity enormously high and will be sustainable for many
in our country stands at 6780 MW as of December centuries.
2020, which is about 2% of the total installed power
generation capacity. In terms of electricity generated, A large amount of work has been carried out on
all operating nuclear plants added nearly 46 billion several aspects of thorium fuel cycle viz. mining and
units of electricity to our national grid in FY20, which extraction, fuel fabrication, evaluation of its properties,
accounted for a little more than 3% of total electricity reprocessing and recycling.
generated in our country in the corresponding period.
Nuclear Power Projects under
Presently, 22 nuclear power reactors are operating implementation
in India, and many units are under various stages of
implementation. Government of India has an ambitious The indigenously designed 700 MW Pressurised Heavy
plan of tripling the installed nuclear power generation Water Reactor (PHWR) is our nuclear power generation
capacity in the next ten years. The Units No 1 & 2 in fleet’s work-horse. The following projects with a
Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS) had completed cumulative capacity of 8200 MW are under various
50 years of safe operation as of May 2019. Unit No. 1 stages of implementation. Unit No. 3 of KAPP achieved
of Kaiga Atomic Power Station (KAPS) had set a world its criticality in July 2020, and other units in KAPP and
record of 962 days of continuous operation. These RAPP would be achieving criticality in a phased manner.
benchmark performances reaffirm our highest safety
standards of Nuclear power plant operation. The construction work is in advanced stage in the
Kudankulam project, and the first pour of concrete
India’s Long-Term Approach (FPC) has been achieved in GHAVP project recently.

India has an advantage in terms of the availability Reactor Plant
of nuclear fuel resource. Though the availability of Project Type Capacity
Uranium is limited, we have an extensive resource of
thorium. Kerala and Orissa’s beach sands have rich
monazite reserves, which contains about 8 – 10% Kakrapar Atomic Power PHWR 2 x 700 MW
thorium. Thorium can be used to produce nuclear Project (KAPP-3&4)
energy, but not directly due to its physical properties.
Thorium must be converted to U233 in a nuclear
reactor so that it can be used as fuel. Rajasthan Atomic Power PHWR 2 x 700 MW
Project (RAPP-7&8)
India’s nuclear power program (three-stage approach)
is a long-term vision to meet our country’s energy Kudankulam Nuclear Power
needs for several centuries, duly addressing the climate Project (KKNPP-3&4) LWR 2 x 1000 MW
change challenges.

The three-stage process multiplies power generation Gorakhpur Haryana
potential by expanding the nuclear fuel base. Anu Vidyut Pariyojana PHWR 2 x 700 MW

We adopt pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs) (GHAVP-1&2)
with natural uranium 235 (U235) as fuel and heavy
water as moderator & coolant in the first stage.
Kudankulam Nuclear Power LWR 2 x 1000 MW
In the second stage, we will adopt fast breeder Project (KKNPP-5&6)
reactors (FBRs) with depleted Uranium and

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