No signs of Brighton’s nuke component unit

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, July 7, 2013: The Rs 2,724-crore project proposal, by the US- based Brighton Energy, seems to have been put in the back burner and come under cloud due to various controversies. 

Sources in the Vizag industry sector had pointed that the proposal, which is still at a nascent stage, may be shelved. It was in Jan 2011 that the Brighton Energy representatives entered into an agreement with the State Government on setting up a Plant in Nakkapalli, in the district, to produce forged steel components, essentially fabricated by General Electric for third generation nuclear power plants. 

The firm was supposed to invest about Rs 2,724 crore initially, besides providing direct employment to about 2,500 highly skilled and indirect jobs for about 10,000 people in the vicinity.

Brighton planned to set up the facility in 24-30 months through vendors and other ancillaries at the main facility.  Around 800 acres of land, was also earmarked for the Brighton?s facility, by the APIIC in D L Puram, in Nakkapalli Mandal.The protests from the local communities and the agitation over Telangana, in 2011, has led to speculation that Brighton may back off from its investment plan.  

APIIC also tried to show and allot them another alternative site.  But the delay has caused much damage to the proposal. The locals, including fishermen, launched protests against the acquisition of their lands by the APIIC. And since then the issue has been pushed into the cold storage.  

The unit was also supposed to manufacture equipment for industries, including petrochemicals, conventional power plants and ship building. With Brighton seeing huge business opportunity in India, due to the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, which facilitates big players from the US and other countries to build nuclear power plants in India, it wanted to construct the plant in Vizag on a fast track basis to commence operations by 2012.

With Brighton seeing huge business opportunity in India due to the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, which facilitates big players from the US and other countries to build nuclear power plants in India, it wanted to construct the plant in Vizag on a fast track to commence operations by 2012.

Brighton Energy chairman Kit Kung while signing the MoU said that around 30,000 tonnes of steel would go into manufacturing the nuclear reactor units and they would mostly use scrap brought from ship-breaking units in India and abroad.

The Vizag facility would manufacture three to four nuclear reactor units per annum at a cost of USD 200 million each, he added.