Cost of Zirconium unit in Tuticorin scales upto Rs 304 crores

New Delhi, Mar 22 (UNI) The Cabinet Commitee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today approved the revised cost for setting up the 500 tonnes per annum Zirconium plant at Palayakayal near Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu at Rs 304 crores from the existing Rs 185 crores.

The complex would be completed by the end of 2007-08 instead of May 2006, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said after the CCEA meeting here.

This would help in meeting the Zirconium sponge needs of the country's nuclear programme, the Finance Minister said.

The Palayakayal plant will have a capacity to produce 500 tonnes of zirconium oxide and 250 tonnes of zirconium sponge per annum.

Once completed India would be the fourth country to have the zirconium technology and production facilities. The US, Russia and France are the other nations with the technological and manufacturing capacity.

At Palayakayal, one unit would produce zirconium oxide, which would be converted to zirconium sponge (a metal), which would then be brought to NFC, Hyderabad, where it would be converted to zircalloy. Zircalloy is widely used in making tubes, which hold the fuel bundles for the nuclear power reactors UNI RT RP RN2201