The New Uranium Fuel Assembly Plant is part of the Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) in Hyderabad, and assembles uranium fuel bundles for BWR and PHWR. The plant, which was originally named the New Uranium Fuel Assembly Project, was completed in 1996-1997 at a cost of $11.25 million. Most of the facility's production and quality control equipment was reportedly developed by Indian companies. The New Uranium Fuel Assembly Plant was certified by the Atomic Energy Regulation Board in January 1997. It could not begin fuel bundle assembly immediately, however, due to construction delays with the NFC's New Uranium Oxide Fuel Plant that was supposed to supply it with uranium oxide pellets. Although the NFC's Ceramic Fuels Fabrication Plant (CFFP) also produces uranium pellets, it was working well below its operational capacity during this time and the quality of its fuel pellets was relatively poor. This resulted in the New Uranium Fuel Assembly Plant being idle after its certification.

The New Uranium Fuel Assembly Plant was officially commissioned during FY 1997-1998 and it began trial production during that time period. In order to assemble fuel rods for BWRs and PHWRs, the plant utilizes pellets from the New Uranium Oxide Fuel Plant and fuel tubes from the NFC's New Zirconium Fabrication Plant (New ZFP).

Sources:
[1] DAE (Government of India), "Annual Report 1996-1997," p. 2.3;
[2] DAE (Government of India), "Annual Report 1997-1998," p. 2.2;
[3] The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, "Chapter 3: Department of Atomic Energy," www.cagindia.org;
[4] Dr. C. Ganguly, "Manufacturing of Fuels for Water-Cooled Nuclear Power Reactors at NFC," Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), 2001, www.npcil.org;
[5] DAE (Government of India), "Nuclear Fuel Complex," www.dae.gov.in;
[6] The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, "Overview," www.cagindia.org.