The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday set the record of generating highest nuclear power in the country from a single station. KNPP achieved 2,000-MW mark power generation, after the second Unit reached its full capacity of 1000 MW. Unit 1 had already touched 1000 MW capacity and together this is for the first time both Units attained their full generation capacity.
“At 03:30 hrs on December 05, 2017, together the reactors generated 2000 MWe electrical power and set a new record of highest nuclear power generation in the country. Both Unit-l and Unit-2 of KKNPP are operating at its maximum capacity and are producing 1000 MWe each,” Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) said in a statement.
“While the Unit 1 had already reached its 1000 MW capacity, we were simultaneously missing this milestone with Unit 2. But on Tuesday the Unit 2 also reached its full capacity which is a big news,” sources in the NPCIL said.
“With this KNPP became the first nuclear plant in India to generate 2,000 MW of power,” a Rosatom source said.
Unit 1 was synchronised with the grid on 22 October 2013. Unit 2 attained criticality on 10 July 2016 and was synchronised with the electricity grid on 29 August. Construction for Unit 3 and 4 is now in full swing while contracts for Unit 5 and 6 have been signed. “With all these 6 units working together we will in near future generate 6000 MW of power,” NPCIL sources added.
The two reactors in KNPP have so far generated 20,863 million units of electricity since the first synchronization with the grid --16079 MUs from Unit-1 and 4784 MUs from Unit-2. The power generated from KNPP has helped avoid around 17,083,874 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
The twin units in KKNPP, which are 1000 MWe each, are of WER (water-cooled watermoderated reactor) that belongs to the Pressurised Water Reactor category and uses enriched uranium oxide fuel to generate electricity. The reactor units in KKNPP were built by NPCIL with the technical co-operation from the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation, Rosatom, under the Indo-Russian agreement signed in November, 1988 and addendum dated June, 1998 with Russian VVER-1000 power units. According to Rosatom, KNPP is fully compliant with the post-Fukushima safety requirements as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Russia and India regulations.
India has total 22 Nuclear Power Plants, including two units in Kudankulam, having total capacity of 6,780 MW. These NPPs collectively generated 37,674 million units of electricity in 2016-17. Keeping in mind India’s commitment for clean and renewable energy, the union cabinet in May approved plans for construction of 10 more Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors to meet India’s domestic power needs.