Joining hands: Mr Atul Punj, Chairman, Punj Lloyd Group, and Mr Seth Grae, President and CEO, Thorium Power Ltd, exchanging documents after signing a memorandum of understanding in the Capital on Thursday. - Kamal Narang

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Dec 4

Punj Lloyd Ltd will form a 50:50 joint venture company with US-based Thorium Power Ltd for building nuclear power plants.

The new company will combine Punj Lloyd’s expertise in EPC contract work and Thorium Power’s technological expertise in the use of thorium to generate nuclear power.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) for this was signed between the two companies here today.

“The working groups are being put in place that will work out the finer details of the agreement and we will be forming the company by March 2009,” the Punj Lloyd Chairman, Mr Atul Punj, told reporters here after the MoU signing ceremony.

“Ideally, I would look at building up around 4,000 MW thorium fuel based power generating capacity four to five years down the line for the power utilities that would be coming up,” Mr Punj said.

This is the first agreement signed between an Indian company and a US nuclear power company since the Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation and the 123 agreement was signed, he pointed out.

The President and CEO of Thorium Power, Mr Seth Grae, said that “the new company will undertake fuel designing for the reactors, provide all services for building reactors for the nuclear power plants as well as advisory services in exploring development and investment opportunities in the nuclear energy sector.”

“The new company could even undertake operating the reactors also at a later stage,” he said.

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