North India’s first nuclear plant is coming up in Haryana in the town of Gorakhpur, which is about 150 km north of the national capital of New Delhi, according to Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology Jitendra Singh.
He said one of the major achievements of the Narendra Modi Government during its nine years in office would be the setting up of nuclear/atomic energy plants in different parts of the country. These plants were earlier confined to South Indian states like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh or Maharashtra in the West.
Jitendra Singh said this was in line with the objective of increasing India’s nuclear capacity. A number of path-breaking decisions have been taken in the last nine years, he said, adding that a proposal for the installation of ten nuclear reactors has been given the go-ahead by the Modi Government.
The minister said that the Department of Atomic Energy has also been given permission to enter into joint ventures with PSUs to generate resources to set up atomic energy plants to fulfil India’s energy needs.
The Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojana’s (GHAVP) having two units of 700 MWe capacity each of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) indigenous design is under implementation near Gorakhpur village in Fatehabad district in Haryana. To date, an amount of Rs 4,906 crores has been spent out of the total allocated funds of Rs 20,594 crores.