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"At 23.05, the first reactor attained criticality
and all the parameters are normal," a jubilant
R.S.Sundar, site director of KNPP, told IANS .
According to him, sustained nuclear reaction
has been achieved and all parameters are as per
expectations. "After a long time, the mood
here is good," he added.
Top officials of the Indian nuclear establishment,
including R.K.Sinha, chairman of the Atomic Energy
Commission (AEC) and secretary, department of
atomic energy (DAE), and K.C.Purohit, chairman
and managing director of NPCIL among others, are
at Kudankulam to see the first of the two Russian-made
units attain criticality in a smooth manner.
Earlier speaking to IANS, Purohit said the process
towards criticality was proceeding smoothly as
per the procedure laid down.
India's atomic power plant operator, NPCIL is
setting up two 1,000 MW reactors with Russian
technology and equipments at Kudankulam, around
650 km from Chennai.
The over Rs.17,000 crore project, which generated
severe protests from the locals, has started generating
heat and steam from the 163 uranium fuel bundles
loaded in the reactor.
The reactor was loaded with fuel assemblies containing
about 80 tonnes of uranium oxide.
On July 11 night, armed with the AERB's clearance,
the KNPP started its journey towards attaining
criticality.
According to officials, several low power tests
will be carried out in order to verify the conformance
of the reactor characteristics to design objectives.
If the reports are satisfactory, then the AERB
will give its clearance for the next stage, which
is phase-wise increase in reactor power level.
At the first stage, the plant will be synchronised
with the southern grid when power generation touches
400 MW. That is expected to happen in 30-45 days.
After necessary regulatory clearances the power
generation will be increased gradually to 50 percent,
75 percent, 90 percent and finally 100 percent.
When that happens, the total installed nuclear
power capacity in the country will go up to 5,780
MW.
KNPP is India's first pressurised water reactor
belonging to the light water reactor category.
While the power from KNPP will be shared by the
southern states, the lion's share will be for
the home state Tamil Nadu, which is suffering
from power deficit.
"Tamil Nadu's share of the 1,000 MW will
be 463 MW. As and when the power comes to our
grid, it will certainly ease the power shortage
to some extent," a senior official at Tamil
Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Ltd
(TANGEDCO) told IANS.
"The utility sources power from various
central power generating units at varied rates
but less than Rs.3 per unit whereas the power
from KNPP will be over Rs.3 per unit," he
added.
As for the second unit at KNPP, he said there
will be time lag of around six/eight months, Sinha
told IANS.
According to Sinha, it was matter of time before
the general framework agreement is signed with
the Russian suppliers for the third and fourth
units.
It is learnt construction work for the administrative
building for the next two units is progressing
at KNPP site.
According to him, the total outlay for the third
and fourth units would be Rs.40,000 crore.
"The issue of liability of the suppliers
in the case of an accident is one of the reasons
for the signing of the agreement getting delayed,"
Sinha said.
On the level of local content in the proposed
two units, Sinha said it is for NPCIL and the
Russian parties to decide and it would be covered
in the general framework agreement.
The KNPP is an outcome of the inter-governmental
agreement between India and the erstwhile Soviet
Union in 1988. However, construction began only
in 2001 but was delayed mainly due to non-sequential
supplies of components from Russian vendors.
(IANS)
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