RIL mulling nuclear power generation
07 Jun 2010
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), India's largest private sector oil and gas exploration company is reportedly mulling entering the nuclear power generation.
The Economic Times reported today citing an unnamed senior government official as saying, ''RIL has indicated to the government that it is keen on generation and distribution of nuclear power.''
The rport added that RIL's nuclear plans are still at a preliminary stage and it is believed to be in talks with US-based engineering, construction and project management firm Bechtel Corporation for a possible collaboration.
Bechtel is said to have asked by RIL to carry out a study whether it is feasible for RIL to enter into the nuclear business.
San Francisco-based Bechtel is the largest engineering company in the US and has been involved with RIL in two of its projects.
Betchel, which built the first Indian nuclear plant at Tarapur in Bombay has also built RIL's oil refinery at Jamnagar and is helping it to develop its KG-D6 deepwater gas field project in the Bay of Bengal with subsea equipment, pipelines, a riser platform, and an onshore terminal.
US nuclear companies like GE, Westinghouse Electric, Babcock & Wilcox, Bechtel, CH2MHill, Curtiss-Wright, Cameco, Converdyn, and USEC are all eying an entry into the estimated $150-billion nuclear power market that India represens for them.