UPDATE:Indian Oil, Nalco May Invest In Nuclear Power Projects

(Changes head, adds more details, combines earlier story) . By Rakesh Sharma Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES . NEW DELHI (Dow Jones)--Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd., or NPCIL,is in talks with Indian Oil Corp. (530965.BY) and National Aluminium Co. (532234.BY) for the two state-run companies to invest in the nuclear power monopoly's upcoming energy projects, NPCIL chairman S.K. Jain said Friday. "We are in talks with them and, maybe, very soon we will be entering into a memorandum understanding with these companies," Jain told reporters on the sidelines of an industry event. Indian Oil is willing to invest INR10 billion per year, while talks with National Aluminium regarding the size of its investment are ongoing, Jain added. State-run NPCIL operates 17 plants in India with a total generating capacity of 4,120 megawatts. It is building six more plants with a capacity of 3,160 MW. NPCIL is also partnering withNTPC Ltd. (532555.BY) to build up to eight nuclear power plants, Jain said. "We have almost finalized the terms and conditions of the joint venture, which we are going to sign very soon," he said. NPCIL will hold a 51% stake in the joint venture and NTPC will hold the remaining 49%. State-run NTPC - with an installed capacity of more than 30,000 MW, four-fifths of which is coal-based - is looking to diversify its fuel mix to trim itsdependence on coal. Jain also said NPCIL and power equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (500103.BY) are in technology transfer talks with France's Alstom S.A. (ALO.FR), U.S.-based General Electric Co. (GE) and Germany's Siemens A.G. (SIE.XE) for a nuclear turbine joint venture. NPCIL and Bharat Heavy, another state-run company, are scouting for a third partner for a 700-megawatt nuclear turbine manufacturing joint venture in India. Jain said each company will hold a 33% stake in the joint venture. "We will decide on the partner positively this (calendar) year," Jain said. NPCIL generated 14 billion units of power in the year ended March 31 and plans to double it this fiscal. "Our plants were running at less than 50% capacity till recently, but now we are operating at 70% efficiency," Jain said. Earlier Friday, S. Thakur, executive director of corporate planning at NPCIL, said the company restarted the second unit of its western Indian plant from Sept. 1, as it started receiving fuel from France's Areva S.A. (CEI.FR). Thakur didn't specify when and for how long the unit, which has a capacity of 200 megawatts, was non-operational. NPCIL has four units at Rajasthan with a combined capacity of 740 MW.