L&T Flags Off First 700 MWe Steam Generator For PWHR Fleet Programme

The Heavy Engineering arm of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has flagged off the first Steam Generator (SG), for indigenously developed 10 X 700 MWe Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) Fleet Programme, 12 months ahead of contractual delivery.

With this, L&T has surpassed its own previous benchmark in SG manufacturing.

Steam Generator is a heat exchanger that converts water into steam by making use of the heat produced in the nuclear reactor core. The steam generators are critical components supplied to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), which is executing the PWHR Fleet programme.

The flag-off ceremony took place at the company’s AM Naik Heavy Engineering Complex at Hazira in Gujarat.

 “We, at Heavy Engineering, are proud to be the industry trendsetter. L&T is committed to contribute to India’s target of net zero emission by 2070 and is fully aligned with NPCIL’s mission to fast-track India’s nuclear power capacity to 22,480 MWe by 2032, more than 3 times in less than a decade,” said Anil V Parab, Whole-time Director & Sr Executive Vice President – L&T Heavy Engineering & L&T Valves.

The PHWRs, which use natural uranium as fuel and heavy water as moderator, have emerged as the mainstay of India’s nuclear power programme.

In June 2017 the Centre had sanctioned construction of ten indigenously developed Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors of 700 MW each in fleet mode. The ten PHWRs will be built at a cost of Rs 1.05 lakh crore.

Under the fleet mode, a nuclear power plant is expected to be built over a period of five years from the first pour of concrete.

The ten reactors will come up at four location — two each at Gorakhpur in Haryana, Chutka in Madhya Pradesh, and Kaiga in Karnataka while the Mahi Banswara nuclear plant in Rajasthan will get four reactors.