Survey at Kaiga to set site for 2 new reactors

KARWAR: Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited and the Forest Department are carrying out a survey at Kaiga project to locate the site for reactor number five and six, said sources.In fact an area of 120 hectares of forest land had been cleared while establishing Kaiga Nuclear Power Station in 1989. Presently there are four units with a generating capacity of 235 MW each, covering an area of 60 hectares. The two new units coming up now at the station will have generating capacity of 700 MW each. According to sources, these two units may need nearly 70 hectares of space. It means the land required is 10 hectares more than the area already allotted. Obviously, that part of the forest needs to be cleared. Thus, the survey is being done to allocate suitable land, sources said.They clarified that no new transmission corridor would be built for power transmission from the two new units. Instead, the existing high-tension line would be further augmented. Therefore there is no question of acquiring additional forest land for power transmission.It may be noted that the Union Cabinet had cleared the establishment of two more units at Kaiga in August. With the construction of these new units, the generating capacity of the project would reach 2,340 MW.