By IANS,
Chennai : The first unit of the 2,000 MW Kudankulam nuclear power project achieved a major milestone Friday – the loading of dummy fuel assemblies into the first VVER-1000 Russian made light water reactor’s core to assess its performance before the actual uranium fuel is used.
“The dummy fuel assemblies are loaded into the reactor for conducting full-scale thermo-hydraulic tests of the reactor systems, prior to the loading of the actual fuel, so as to assess the design performance of the systems,” site director M.K. Balaji, said.
While the equipment are supplied by Russians, the public sector Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) is building the two light water nuclear units of 1,000 MW each in Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district, about 600 km from here.
A total of 163 dummy fuel assemblies will be loaded into the core by May-end, Balaji said.
The dummy fuel assemblies, made of lead instead of uranium, each weighing 705 kg and measuring 4.57 metre in length, are the exact replica of the actual nuclear fuel assemblies, both in dimension and weight.
Following the dummy loading, the major activities to be carried are the reactor box-up for conducting “hydro-test” and the “hot circulation flushing” of the primary coolant systems.
Balaji said during this process, the nominal parameters of the plant are achieved and tests are conducted for design evaluation of the plant. After this, the nuclear fuel is loaded and the reactor is made critical – the time when it starts generating power.
The first unit is expected to go critical this September and the other one six months later.
Balaji said all other systems like sea water cooling systems, chiller plant, compressor plant and diesel generator plant were also successfully commissioned and operating.
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.