The government has decided that the unit size of future nuclear power reactors will be 700 MWe instead of 220 MWe and 540 MWe as at present.

Two such units could be announced in the next two years for the Rajasthan Atomic Power Project (RAPP) by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL).

NPCIL has also begun adopting improved project implementation strategies in a bid to reduce the construction period of atomic plants. These include standardised plant design, mega-engineering, procurement and construction packages, selection of sites having ready infrastructure, modern techniques of construction, management and monitoring.

The corporation applying this strategy hopes to cut down the gestation period of RAPP Unit 5 and 6 to about four-and-a-half years, from the first pour of concrete to commercial operation. The excavation work in case of these two units took only 9 months compared to double the time taken for unit 3 and 4, because of novel methods like rock blasting.

The reduced plant gestation period will help cut down not only the project capital cost, but also result in lower tariff for the power generated. This also helps nuclear power to maintain its competitive edge over other sources of electricity generation and improve its economics