The uranium shortage plaguing India’s nuclear reactors now has numbers to put the crisis in perspective even as hope that the India-US nuclear deal would mitigate it is fast running out.

The financial results of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), the state-run firm which operates the 17 nuclear power reactors, have taken a beating during 2007-08, largely due to the inability of the plants to operate at optimum capacity because of the shortage.

The results, finalised at the end of last week, are the worst for the Mumbai-headquartered firm in six years despite the number of reactors increasing from 14 to 17 in the same period. While revenues for 2007-08 fell to 3,334 crore from Rs 3,592 crore in the previous year, profits dipped by over 30 per cent to 1,078 crore.

The numbers for the power produced and the average plant load factor (PLF), or the capacity at which reactors operate, during the year are even more stark.

The 17 reactors produced about 16,900 million units in the year ending March 2008 with an average PLF of 54 percent, the lowest in years, NPCIL sources told The Indian Express. In comparison, 14 NPCIL reactors produced 19,200 million units in 2001-02 at an average PLF of 85 percent.

A NPCIL spokesman said the reasons were “already known to most people”.

“This year the plant performance was lower than last year mainly because of the temporary mismatch between the supply and demand of uranium fuel,” he said. “It has resulted in this kind of lower performance and also lower profits.”

... contd.