Punj Lloyd to Tie-Up with French &
US Cos for Indian N-Plants

Punj Lloyd Ltd. is in talks with French nuclear power corporate giant Areva NP and US-based Westinghouse Electric for a tie-up to build nuclear power plants in the country.

"We are talking to both the companies to partner with them on construction of nuclear plants in India. The negotiations are on the verge of completion from our side, but in these things you never know how long they can take," said the Chairman of Punj Lloyd, Atul Punj.

The company would like to leverage on its expertise in the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) business and use the design ability of its subsidiary Simon Carves for working on nuclear power plants. Manchester-based Simon Carves has around 3.5 million man-hours of nuclear work experience, according to Punj Lloyd.

Areva has already signed an MoU with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd to jointly set up two to six reactors (European Pressurised Reactor units of 1,650 MW each) in the country.

Punj Lloyd is partnering the French company's transmission and distribution division in several of its T&D projects and now wishes to takes the partnership further to include nuclear power plants.

NPCIL and Areva would be setting up two reactors at Jaitapur in Maharashtra, with the possibility of four more at the same site.

Earlier, Punj Lloyd, in December 2008, signed a pact with US firm Thorium Power Ltd., a developer of non-proliferative nuclear fuel technology.

The venture aims at developing a framework to explore and identify the possibility of deployment of Thorium Power's nuclear fuel designs in India, South-East Asia and other territories. While Nuclear Power Corporation continues to be the only nuclear power generator in the country, firms including private sector engineering major Larsen & Toubro and State-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. are among the key domestic players that are in the running for design and supply of nuclear power reactors and power equipments.