Andhra Pradesh nets nuclear project

Hyderabad: Despite sustained lobbying by Karnataka and Maharashtra, the Andhra Pradesh government has bagged the prestigious nuclear fuel complex project. After the nuclear fuel project at Hyderabad, the Central government’s Atomic Energy department had decided to set up another nuclear project in the country. AP, Karnataka and Maharashtra were all vying for the project.

The AP government had put forth the advantages for the project to be set up in the state and had offered water, power, land and other facilities to the Centre. The state government had pitched for Orvakal mandal in Kurnool district. After detailed discussions with the state government, the Atomic Energy department, in principal, has decided to set up the nuclear fuel complex at Orvakal.

The cost of the project will be around Rs 4,000 - Rs 5,000 crore. AP chief secretary I.Y.R. Krishna Rao had detailed discussions with Central government officials about the project recently. Mr Krishna Rao had expressed hope that the Centre would take a final decision in favour of Andhra Pradesh.

Demand for more power share

Mean-while, the Andhra Pradesh government has demanded more power share in the proposed nuclear power plant to be set up in Nellore or Prakasam district. Recently, a Russian collaboration company had held talks with Mr Krishna Rao to set up a 6,000 MW nuclear power plant in the state. The state government has a 50 per cent share in the Kovvada nuclear power plant. However, in the proposed plant, the state government has demanded 75 to 80 per cent share.