NFC to set up niobium produce facility

HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad- based Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC), the supplier of fuel for India’s nuclear power programme, will set up an exclusive facility to produce niobium useful in space and nuclear industries. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will contribute Rs 30-crore for the new facility which will be established in the NFC campus, according to NFC Chief Executive R N Jayaraj. The centre will produce three tonnes of niobium annually and it would be supplied to ISRO as per the MoU entered to this effect recently between the Vikram Sarabhai Soace Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram and NFC, he said. Jayaraj said the facility centre will start working from this month and the project will be completed in the next one and half year. The NFC had developed the technology to make both niobium and zirconium, he added.