Hyderabad: Decks have been cleared for setting up of the Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) at Orvakallu in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh. The state government has issued orders on Monday allotting 883.27 acres of land in Meedivemula village and another 23.4 acres in the adjoining Guttapadu village of the same mandal.

The AP Land Management Authority has recommended the alienation of land to APIIC for onward allotment to NFC on the payment of market value of Rs 2 lakh per acre. With this, the three-year search for a suitable place for the establishment of the unit has ended, according to sources in APIIC.

Dr Saibaba, chief executive of NFC, has stated that the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited is planning to set up at least 10 pressurised heavy water reactors, having a capacity of 700 MW at various sites in India, for which two fuel fabrication facilities need to be established by NFC and requested identification of the site in Andhra Pradesh.

One such facility having a capacity of 500 tonne per year was set up at Kota in Rajasthan, with an investment of Rs 1,600 crore and is all set to take off. It will also have a 65-tonne/year Zircalloy plant. The second one, a 1,250 tonne per year facility is now coming up at Orvakallu.

Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have vied with each other along with Andhra Pradesh but NFC finally zeroed in on AP. This will also have a zircalloy production unit. NFC, a key wing of the department of atomic energy, supplies nuclear fuel bundles and reactor core components. The unit at Hyderabad supplies fuel bundles to 19 out of 20 power plants of Nuclear Power Corporation which has a total installed capacity of nearly 5,000 MW.

The Orvakallu unit will not only boost generation of atomic power but would turn backward Kurnool district to an industrial hub, an APIIC official said. “In fact, this allocation of land is part of establishment of an Industrial Park. Another 1,500 acres will also be alienated for it and a steel plant may also come up there,” the official said.