India's NALCO to invest in nuclear power project

By Jatindra Dash BHUBANESWAR, India, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Indian state-run National Aluminium Co Ltd (NALCO) plans to invest in a nuclear power project to give the metal maker a new revenue stream, company directors said on Wednesday. NALCO hopes to sign a joint venture agreement by the end of this month with state firm Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd for a minority stake in one of its projects, B.L. Bagra, NALCO's director for finance, said. "In one of the projects, of 1,000 MW, we are partnering with them as a minority partner with a possible stake of 40 to 49 percent," he said. "It is an additional business line... We can earn money being an independent power producer," A.K. Sharma, director for production, said. Both officials declined to say how much NALCO would be investing. NALCO, India's third-largest aluminium maker, produced 361,262 tonnes of aluminium in 2008/09 that ended in March. It has a 960 MW thermal power plant in Angul in the eastern state of Orissa that feeds its aluminium smelter in the same state.