Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited (GSECL), the state-owned generator that runs Gujarat’s coal and gas plants, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) in Gandhinagar on October 1. Energy Minister Rushikesh Patel witnessed the signing, with GSECL chairman Ashwini Kumar and NPCIL chairman and managing director V. Rajesh putting their names to the document. It is GSECL’s first step into nuclear power.
What the MoU says, and what it leaves out
The agreement itself is a framework. As DeshGujarat and Indian Masterminds describe it, the two companies will share information, shortlist possible locations in Gujarat and test whether those locations suit a reactor. Neither report names a site or a budget.
The wire account carries more detail. IANS, in a report carried by The Hawk, said the proposed project would sit at Dhuvaran, with a capacity of about 4,000 MW and an investment of nearly Rs 1 lakh crore. Sarkaritel reported the same figures and added a division of work: GSECL checks land and supporting infrastructure, while NPCIL runs site surveys and technical studies. Both reports say any further step depends on feasibility findings and statutory clearances.
Read together, the coverage points one way. Dhuvaran is the site the state has in mind, but on paper nothing is fixed yet.
Why Dhuvaran keeps coming up
Dhuvaran, in Khambhat taluka of Anand district, already hosts a GSECL gas-based power station near the mouth of the Mahisagar. In August, DeshGujarat reported that GSECL owns about 1,100 acres there, that central teams had made preliminary visits, and that a state committee had met twice on the plan. That report floated a 50:50 joint venture and two possible sizes, 4,200 MW or 7,000 MW, at Rs 1.25 lakh crore to Rs 2.25 lakh crore. The river offers cooling water; seismic and soil conditions were still under study.
Land is the deciding factor here. Gujarat’s last big nuclear plan, a 6,000 MW plant at Mithi Virdi in Bhavnagar district agreed with Westinghouse at the 2007 Vibrant Gujarat summit, stalled for a decade amid farmer protests and slow land acquisition. The Centre told the National Green Tribunal in 2017 that it was moving that project out of the state, and it went to Kovvada in Andhra Pradesh, according to Land Conflict Watch. A site the state utility already owns sidesteps the fight that sank Mithi Virdi.
What it means for Gujarat
Gujarat has one nuclear station today, Kakrapar in Tapi district. Its two newer 700 MW units, India’s first home-designed reactors of that size, began commercial operation in June 2023 and March 2024, as POWER Magazine and NPCIL have reported. A 4,000 MW plant at Dhuvaran would more than double the state’s nuclear capacity.
For a state that has bet heavily on solar and wind in Kutch and Banaskantha, nuclear plants supply round-the-clock power that renewables cannot match without storage. Industrial users in the Vadodara–Bharuch belt and the upcoming Dholera region would gain most from steady baseload supply.
Residents of Khambhat and the Mahisagar estuary villages have the most at stake locally. Fishing communities, groundwater users and farmers near the site will want answers on water intake, the exclusion zone around a reactor, and resettlement, if any is needed beyond GSECL’s existing land.
What to watch
- Whether the Department of Atomic Energy or the Union Cabinet gives Dhuvaran an in-principle nod, which would turn the MoU into a project.
- The reactor design chosen. Kakrapar’s 700 MW model would point to a fleet of five or six units.
- Public hearings for environmental clearance, the stage where Mithi Virdi ran into trouble.
Nuclear projects in India take a decade or more from site approval to power. The October 1 signing starts that clock.
Sources: DeshGujarat, IANS via The Hawk, Sarkaritel, Indian Masterminds, Land Conflict Watch
This report was compiled and written with AI assistance from publicly reported sources, and reviewed for accuracy.