NPCIL appoints new head

Kailash Chandra Purohit has been appointed as chairman and managing director of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL). He replaces interim head SA Bhardwaj, who has held the post since the retirement of SK Jain at the end of May.

Kailash Chandra Purohit has been appointed as chairman and managing director of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL). He replaces interim head SA Bhardwaj, who has held the post since the retirement of SK Jain at the end of May.

Bhardwaj (left) hands over to Purohit (right) (Image: NPCIL)

A ceremony was held in Mumbai yesterday to mark Purohit's assumption of the position. Prior to his appointment as chairman and managing director, Purohit was director of projects, holding responsibility for implementing all new projects at NPCIL.

An electrical engineer from Harcourt Butler Technological Institute in Kanpur, Purohit graduated from a training school at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in 1973. After obtaining an operator's licence from the Indian nuclear regulator, he began his career in nuclear energy by operating the pressurized heavy water reactors at the Rajasthan nuclear power plant. He has since held several positions within NPCIL involving the construction, commissioning and operation, as well as the renovation and modernization of Indian nuclear reactors.

Purohit said that safety in all aspects of nuclear power plants in India would be his highest priority. He also said that "no stone would be left unturned in continuing the impeccable record of safety demonstrated during the last 42 years of commercial nuclear power generation."

Former NPCIL head Jain was last week elected as chairman of the governing board of the Tokyo centre of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO). Purohit has previously served as governor of WANO's Moscow centre.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News