Indian companies led by Anil Ambani's Reliance [Get Quote] Power (RPower), Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) and Bharat Heavy Electricals [Get Quote] (BHEL) plan to invest over Rs 100,000 crore in the next five years to expand their presence in the nuclear energy sector after the country signs the nuclear agreement with the US, paving the way for import of fuel and transfer of technology.

Engineering major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) is also foraying into the nuclear energy sector, with plans to manufacture nuclear reactors. 

The BHEL stock rose by 11 per cent to Rs 1,772, Reliance Power surged 19 per cent to Rs 170.95, while the L&T scrip went up by 7 per cent to Rs 2,766.65   on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday, whose benchmark index, the Sensex, shot up by 838 points on Wednesday. 

Reliance Power has planned an initial investment over Rs 20,000 crore to foray into nuclear power generation. The company is already implementing 28,000 mw of thermal power projects. 

"There are plans to start with 1,000-1,500-mw capacity initially with one or two reactors and then expand it to higher capacities in the long run,'' V K Chaturvedi, former NPCIL chairman and managing director and nuclear energy consultant for Reliance Power, said. 

Reliance Power has already started negotiations with leading international companies in the field for joint ventures and strategic alliances in nuclear power generation, technology and equipment, he said. 

The country's nuclear power manager, NPCIL, hopes to double its capacity to generate an additional 10,000 mw with an investment of over Rs 80,000 crore by 2012. 

"The availability of fuel will help our existing reactors to increase the capacity utilisation (plant load factor) from around 50 per cent currently to about 90 per cent, almost double the current production, Sudhinder Thakur, executive director, NPCIL, said. 

At present, India has 17 nuclear power plants with a total installed capacity of 4,120 mw in operation. 

BHEL,  India's biggest power equipment maker, plans to triple spending on nuclear components to Rs 1,500 crore in two years once overseas companies are allowed to supply technology, Bloomberg News reported, citing K Ravi Kumar, the managing director of the company. 

Reliance Power's Chaturvedi said the company has already started negotiations with leading international companies to foray into nuclear power generation. However, he pointed out that the plans depended on the government opening up the sector for private players. 

NPCIL has plans to set up 10,000 mw of new capacity during the 11th Five-Year Plan of 2007-12. Six additional units, with a capacity of 3,160 mw, are under various stages of construction.  

These include expansion of the Rawatbhata station in Rajasthan (2X220 mw), Kaiga in Karnataka (220 mw) and Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu (2 X1,000 mw). 

NPCIL and the government have an understanding with the Russian government to increase capacity of the Kudankulam project (Kudankulam 3-6). Further, the government has sanctioned to set up a 1,000-mw reactor in Jaithalpur, Maharashtra. 

BHEL too has drwan up big plans to enter the nuclear energy sector. "If the nuclear deal comes through, we are quite confident that there will be a lot of orders in this area and we don't want to be left out,'' BHEL Chairman and Managing Director K Ravi Kumar said in an interview.  

BHEL plans to spend Rs 1,500 crore in two years building plants to supply components for reactors of 1,600 mw, Kumar said yesterday. Without the accord, BHEL will invest Rs 500 crore to build steam turbine generators and other components for 700-mw plants designed in India, he said. 

BHEL will set up a 50-50 venture with state-run NPCIL that will supply components for nuclear plants with a capacity to generate 700 mw, 1,000 mw and 1,600 mw of power, Kumar said. The company will also seek overseas partners to provide technology for these plants, he said, declining to name the companies.  

"We will invest depending on the volume,'' he added.

"The orders could be divided and companies such as Areva, Siemens and ABB will be involved,'' said Taina Erajuuri at Glitnir Asset Management in Helsinki, which manages $158 million in Indian assets, including BHEL. "The government may prefer some local companies as well, like BHEL and L&T.''

 "The existing sites can accommodate about eight reactors and another five could come up on new sites, which will be developed in the future," said an NPCIL official.  

NPCIL's strategy is to set up power plants in coastal areas as large equipment for reactors can be shipped into country easily.

 A site selection committee of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has already recommended four sites for the new nuclear projects in the coastal areas of Saurashtra in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal.

 The officials said NPCIL is in touch with international players for equipment supply and civil construction of the new plants.  

"It is too early to talk about it and everything depends on how soon the government is able to go through the deal so that we can source the fuel," said an official.