Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), a Mumbai-based infrastructure major, has bagged ₹763 crore contract from Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research (IGCAR) for erecting structures of Fast Reactor Fuel Cycle Facility (FRFCF) at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu.

The company will construct nuclear safety compliant structures for fuel processing plant for Fast Breeder Reactors and allied facilities. The project duration is 48 months, the company said in a statement.

This is the fourth contract awarded to HCC by IGCAR. Prior to this order, the company had received three contracts from IGCAR to build administrative blocks, township and metallic fuel plant.

HCC is currently executing several contracts for the Department of Atomic Energy, including the first phase of Integrated Nuclear Recycle Plant of BARC in Tarapur and units 7 and 8 of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PWHR) at Rawatbhata, Rajasthan for NPCIL.

Fast breeder pilot

The ₹9,589-crore Fast Reactor Fuel Cycle Facility (FRFCF) project for recycling the fuel of India’s first Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam was sanctioned by the government in July 2013.

The project is executed by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC), a major industrial unit of Department of Atomic Energy, and IGCAR, which is in charge of construction works.

India earlier aimed to commission its pilot fast breeder reactor which is expected to generate around 500 MW by the year-end.

Once the project is completed, India will become the second country after Russia to have a commercially-run fast breeder reactor.

Russia’s first such reactor was commissioned at Beloyarsk nuclear plant in 2016.

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