Will Haripur ever look like this? The Tarapur nuclear power station near Mumbai

New Delhi, Aug. 18: The future of Haripur — a village in East Midnapore district in Bengal picked as a potential site for the eastern region’s first nuclear power station — may well hinge on the fate of the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Haripur is among three candidate sites on the east coast that a site selection committee has identified as suitable for the establishment of nuclear power stations capable of delivering 6,000MW to 9,600MW of power.

The two other sites are Patisonapur in Orissa and Kovvada in Andhra Pradesh. A senior Nuclear Power Corporation official said that another site, Mithiverdi in Gujarat on the west coast, had also been shortlisted.

“These sites have been selected as part of advance planning for the possibility of the import of light water reactors through foreign co-operation,” Sudhinder Thakur, the executive director of the NPC, told The Telegraph.

Each of these coastal sites is suitable for up to six reactors. Nuclear power reactors are typically constructed in pairs. It takes about five to six years for the construction of a pair of reactors.

The NPC is examining the possibility of light water reactors generating 1,000MW, 1,350MW or 1,600MW. In anticipation of a new era of co-operation, Indian officials have been talking to organisations in the US, France and Russia.

Should — for whatever reason — the nuclear deal collapse, the NPC would have to manage with indigenous resources. “Then, it may not be possible to establish these large reactors at all these four sites,” one official said.

One or two of the candidate sites may still get a nuclear power station, but they would be smaller, indigenous reactors. However, the NPC would also have the option of using existing sites that have the capacity to hold more reactors.

“We’ll continue with the indigenous programme, but it will not be so ambitious,” the official said. The NPC currently operates 17 nuclear power reactors, producing a little over 3,000MW of power. Five others are under construction.

Between 2008 and 2012, the NPC also hopes to construct eight indigenous pressurised heavy water reactors, each producing 700MW.

The NPC had last year asked all states on the coasts to suggest possible sites for nuclear power stations. Bengal, among other states, had responded, and at least two sites were inspected by the site selection committee.

“We found Haripur more attractive than the other site because, after the first order evaluation, it met site selection criteria and it also has a relatively low population density compared with the rest of the state,” Thakur said.

A coastal site is considered particularly attractive for 1,000MW or higher-capacity reactors because seawater could meet the enormous requirements for water used in reactor operations, NPC scientists said.

Although India also hopes to import uranium fuel for nuclear power reactors, scientists believe India’s shortage of indigenous uranium is only temporary and would be alleviated when fresh uranium begins to flow in from Jaduguda.