The entire construction technique had to be altered - after tests that ate up time and money.

Kumar said 90 percent of civil works and component fabrication on the nuclear reactor side has been completed.

He said Rs.1,850 crore has already been spent on the project. Bhavini has now started discussions with domestic financial institutions for raising the requisite funds.

As per plans, 76 percent of the project cost will be funded by the government, four percent by the Nuclear Power Corp, and the balance will be debt.

(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in)