India to generate 60,000 MW of nuclear energy by 2030

India on Thursday said it will scale up nuclear energy production to 60,000 megawatts by 2030 after signing the pending N-deals with more countries.

"It is our expectation to achieve generation of 60,000 MW of nuclear energy by 2030. The earlier target was 20,000 MW by 2020. The expectation has been increased with the kind of opportunities we are having now with more N-deals coming up for signing," Shyam Saran, Special Envoy to Prime Minister on the Nuclear Deal, told reporters in New Delhi.

Saran said India has reached an agreement with Kazakhstan, Russia, France and there were letter of intent for generation of 10,000 MW of nuclear power in collaboration with the US.

"There are a large number of players and the capacity is going to be large," he said.

Saran said the Indian nuclear programme had for the last 40 years been intertwined between strategic and civilian programmes, which had been a bottleneck for private players to participate.

"Now India has prepared a separation plan, which would be completed by 2014. Until a complete separation takes place, bringing in private sector may create certain difficulty," he said.

The government, Saran said, would soon amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1962 to enable private participation in the civil nuclear programme that the Act had originally barred.

"The government doesn't have a closed mind on private participation in the nuclear programme. But the government is cautious about it, as it is a sensitive subject. It would take a while before allowing private participation," he said.

Saran, however, did not elaborate by when the Atomic Energy Act would be amended.

But, Saran earlier told the Indo-US Economic Summit currently in progress in the city that the private players could currently examine participation in certain components of the nuclear programme through the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited.

"Once the private players gain experience in the nuclear field, the government may consider allowing them to establish nuclear plants of their own," he added.

The nuclear deal, the former Foreign Secretary said, would allow for fruitful partnership between Indian private sector with foreign players and the spin-off would be significant in dual-use technologies.

Saran said India would soon sign the international convention on liability insurance and the matter would be taken up by the Cabinet for a decision soon. However, he did not elaborate on the issue.

The Special Envoy said the country would be able to produce 10,000 MW of nuclear energy for the next 40 years if it relied only on its own Uranium reserves.

But, under the three-stage nuclear energy programme, New Delhi would like to move to Thorium-based reactors in the third stage from the Uranium-based reactors.

He also hailed the Indo-US nuclear deal and the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group's waiver for opening up the entire international market for India and for breaking the shackles of the New Delhi-specific technology denial regimes.