Unit-2 of Kudankulam nuclear plant starts generating power

The second unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) in Tamil Nadu went critical on Sunday with the starting of nuclear fission and the plant is expected to touch its rated capacity in three months time.

The second unit will reach 100 per cent capacity in the next three months, generating 1,000 MW of power, reports quoting H N Sahu, station director of first and second units, said.

The unit started the fission process for the first time at 8.56 pm on Sunday night.

Unit 2 of KNPP will generate 430 MW of power over the next one month when it will be connected to the grid.

Power generation will be gradually scaled up to 50 per cent, then to 75 per cent, 90 per cent and finally to 100 per cent.

However till commercial generation begins, the unit will not be earning much on the power it feeds into the Tamil Nadu power grid as it is ''infirm power'' or unpredictable power.

Commissioning of Unit 2 has been delayed because of problems at Unit 1, which faced several hurdles and the entire NPCIL and Russian teams were involved in commissioning the unit.

Fuel loading in Unit 2 began in May and it was completed within a month. The authorities boxed up the reactor a few days ago and mandatory tests were conducted before the unit starts fissile reaction.

Meanwhile, the components for the third and fourth units have started arriving at Kudankulam, Sahu said.

Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) built the two 1,000 MW power plants at Kudankulam in Tirunelvelli district with equipments supplied by the Russian Federation.

The government has so far spent 21,000 crore for setting up Unit 2, which incorporates changes and best practices based on lessons learned from Unit 1.

Construction activities for two more 1,000 MW units have started involving an outlay of around Rs40,000 crore.

The equipments will be supplied by Russia while construction and commissioning will be NPCIL's responsibility, Sahu said, adding the local content in the third and fourth units will be higher with Indian manufacturers making some of the components.

Excavation works have started and the first pour of concrete is expected to take place between March-June 2017, Sahu added.