India will have nine nuclear reactors by 2024: Govt informs Rajya Sabha
New Delhi, Dec 2: The nation will have nine nuclear reactors by 2024 and a new nuclear project, the first in northern India, will come up 150 kms away from Delhi in Gorakhpur of Haryana, the government informed the Rajya Sabha.
Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh said, "By 2024 you will have nine nuclear reactors plus 12 new additional ones which were approved during the Covid times with a capacity of 9000 MW. Five new sites are also being identified," in different parts of the country.
Replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour, he said what is remarkable is that unlike in the past when nuclear plants were limited to a few states like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the department has now moved northwards.
"We are going to have a nuclear project, the first of its kind, in North India just about 150 kms from here in a small township called Gorakhpur in Haryana," said Singh, also Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office.
Asked whether the government is thinking of phasing out nuclear power plants on account of safety, the minister said, "We have not only increased the number but are also trying to make a pan-India generation project."
The minister said that nuclear energy will soon emerge as one of the most important sources of alternative or clean energy for the increasing power demand of the country.
As far as the cost is concerned, though it varies from plant to plant and on the age of the plant, Singh said on an average it comes to about Rs 3 per unit and while the Kudankulam plant has about Rs 4 per unit and Tarapur has lesser cost.
But in the times to come, with more plants the cost would reduce, he said.
Singh said it was during the tenure of this government that a bulk approval of 10 indigenous reactors was done in a single cabinet decision, which is a record in itself and has never happened in the history of independent India.
In order to promote the setting up of new projects and to overcome the financial constraints that are faced in such situations, the prime minister took an out-of-box decision of allowing the atomic energy department to enter into joint ventures, which was never happening before, and the insurance pool has also been increased, Singh told the upper house.
On the expansion of Kudankulan nuclear plant, the Minister also said that "hopefully in 2021, we plan to start the construction of unit 5 and unit 6 as well."
Within the two terms of the present government, he said the Kudankulam plant will have as many as six units whereas in the earlier UPA government hardly the first unit was in progress.
Singh said in 2017-18 there was a generation of 38,336 mega units of power, while this year ending 2020 despite the Covid pandemic it has been 46,472 mega units. During Covid itself we have increased the power generation by more than 4000 mega units in nuclear plans, he said.
The minister said in spite of the Covid pandemic, because of the extra impetus given by the prime minister to the enhancement of atomic energy generation and setting up of new units of the reactor, the Kudankulam plant has been progressively showing new constructions and generation.
On whether the atomic energy sector has suffered cuts in the budget due to Covid, the minister said in 2019, the Prime Minister took a decision to give us a Rs 10,000 crore per year budget and this year also we had a budget of Rs 17,796 crore. For next 10 years also, there is a plan to increase the budget by Rs 10,000 crore per year, he said.
The minister also informed that earlier, most of our nuclear projects were with the support of Russia and France and now more and more of our reactors are becoming indigenous.
"The Budget proposed by DAE for Capital expenditure during 2021-22 was Rs 17,796.24 crore and approved BE 2021-22 for Capital Expenditure is Rs11,403.20 Crore. There is a shortfall of Rs 6393.04 crore.
"However, it is brought out that due to COVID-19 Pandemic, the situation had not completely normalised at Project sites till the first half of 2021-22. Therefore, no major adverse impact is anticipated on the progress of various ongoing projects, the minister said in his written reply.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
