By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : The first unit of the 2,000 MW Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project will Friday achieve a major milestone — the loading of dummy fuel into the first VVER-1000 light water reactor in India to test the functioning of all systems.
The dummy fuel will be loaded 10 a.m. in the presence of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) Chairman and Managing Director, S.K. Jain, officials told IANS.
Flushing of the circuit pipes is one of the major pre-commissioning activity undertaken to clean the dirt in the reactor coolant pipes.
Dummy fuel, which arrived at the project site in August, is similar to real fuel in terms of weight and other features, but without uranium.
It will be inserted into the reactor core to test the functioning of all systems, a process technically called “status of hot operation”.
If the systems function as per norms, the real fuel will be loaded so that the reactor attains criticality. However, power will flow to the grid after the nuclear scientists perform some experiments and gradually increase the power generation.
The first unit is expected to go critical this September and the second unit six months later.
The NPCIL, a public sector enterprise, is building two light water nuclear units of 1,000 MW each in Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district, about 600 km from here.
Russia is supplying all the components of the plant. Till date, 48 consignments of shipments from Russia have arrived and the 49th is expected by May-end.
According to NPCIL, 95 percent of the physical works have been completed for the first unit and 88 percent in the second unit.
Power equipment major Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has put the first unit’s turbine generator on barring gear and it is ready to run. The second
unit’s turbine generator will be put on barring gear in three months time.
The power project has been delayed for want of equipment and component supplies from Russia.
NPCIL and Russia’s Atomstroy Export last month inked a deal to build two more civil nuclear reactors of 1,000 MW each at Kudankulam.
A total of 12 Russian reactors are expected to come up in India, of which six would be built between 2012 and 2017.