NTPC, India’s largest power utility, will take a 50 stake — via a joint venture (JV) with Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd. (NPCIL) — in six of the ten “fleet mode” 700 megawatt indigenous pressurized heavy water reactors (IPHWRs) at the center of New Delhi’s ambitious nuclear newbuild plans. NTPC and NPCIL had agreed back in 2010 to respective 49-51 stakes in their “Ashvini” nuclear newbuild JV, but this week, following renewed talks, they agreed to shift to an even split. Ashvini will now develop six IPHWR newbuilds: four at the planned Mahi Banswara plant in Rajasthan, and two at the planned Chutka plant in Madhya Pradesh. Initial concrete for Kaiga-5, the first unit of the IPHWR “fleet mode” newbuilds is expected to be poured this year at NPCIL’s Kaiga site in Karnataka.
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