The government has also accorded in-principle approval for five new sites for setting up nuclear power plants in the future, according to a statement from the department of atomic energy…reports Asian Lite News
Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh said the government proposes to set up more nuclear power plants for augmenting production of clean energy.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, the minister, who also handles PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space portfolio, said in addition to the eleven reactors — with a capacity of 8700 MW — under construction, the government has accorded administrative approval and financial sanction for construction of 10 indigenous 700 MW pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs) to be set up in fleet mode.
The government has also accorded in-principle approval for five new sites for setting up nuclear power plants in the future, according to a statement from the department of atomic energy.
In the statement, Jitendra Singh said the tariffs of electricity generated by nuclear power are comparable to those of contemporary conventional base load generators like thermal power. The present installed nuclear power capacity comprises of 22 reactors with a total capacity of 6780 MW. In addition, one reactor, KAPP-3 (700 MW) has also been connected to the grid.
Spatial Data Infrastructure geoportal for Ladakh
The government of the Union Territory of Ladakh has approached the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), a unit of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for developing “Spatial Data Infrastructure geoportal ‘Geo-Ladakh’ for UT-Ladakh, said Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh on Wednesday.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Singh said, the project encompasses spatial database generation (water resources, vegetation and energy potential) using remote sensing, geospatial techniques and the development of a Geo-portal for hosting this database. According to the Department of Space, Singh said that the project also aims towards training of UT-Ladakh officials on Geospatial techniques and applications. Portal provides geospatial data visualization and analytics for UT-Ladakh, consisting of Spatial viewer, Carbon Neutrality, Geospatial utility mapping and Geo-Tourism.
He further said that a Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between IIRS (ISRO) and UT-Ladakh Administration on January 1, 2022, towards carrying out the above work.
“The potential of space technology could be used for generating the spatial database on time series snow cover, freshwater availability, sites for renewable energy potential (solar and wind), availability of alpine pastures/grazing lands for natural resource management and change assessment at a periodic interval,” he said.
Singh further said that presently, ISRO is setting up an optical telescope at Hanle for tracking spacecraft and space objects. (ANI)
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