Aided by imported uranium and new plants, India’ s Nuclear Power Corporation (NPCIL) generated 32,455 million units of electricity in the year ended March 31, 2012, 22.5 per cent higher than the year before. Currently, NPCIL operates 19 nuclear power reactors in the country. NPCIL said revenue was $1.9 billion compared to about $1.5 billion in the prior year according to Power Engineering.
The overall average availability factor of the plants continued to be high at 91 per cent according to a report in Business Line. The average capacity factor (CF — the ratio of actual output to potential output) for the nine reactors, of the 19 in operation, fueled with imported uranium recorded an all-time high at 97 per cent. The overall average capacity factor for NPCIL reactors was 79 per cent, against the target of 66 per cent. (India Expert note: hmm, when I worked at power plants in Texas, management would have been in trouble for targeting just 66 percent availability; perhaps this low target was driven by the lack of Uranium in the past).
By 2017, NPCIL has planned the launch of about 17,000 MW capacity in the current Plan by setting up 10 Pressurizes Heavy Water Reactors of 700 MW each (based on original Canadian Candu technology) and it hopes to start on 10 Light Water Reactors of 1,000 MW each based on international cooperation from France, Russia and the United States.
