Unit 2 of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in India reached its full capacity of 1000 MW today. For the first time both units 1 and 2 of project were working at full capacity, sources told Nuclear Asia.
“At 03:30 a.m. today Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) attained its full generation capacity for the first time and became the first nuclear plant in India to generate 2,000 MW of electricity”, he said.
According to him, KKNPP has so far generated more than 20,000 Million Units of electricity, which helped to avoid around 17,083,874 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Average lifecycle GHG emissions for Coal & Nuclear is 888 & 29 (tonnes/GWh) respectively.
Unit 1 was synchronised with the grid on 22 October 2013, Unit 2 was synchronised with the grid on 29 August 2016.
The construction work of units 3 and 4 of KKNPP commenced on 29 June 2017 with the ceremonial pouring of first concrete. A total of six 1,000 MW units are planned at Kudankulam and will be owned by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL).
The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, an Indo-Russian joint venture, is located at Tirunelveli district.
Light-water VVER-1000 reactors with regular water under pressure – are used in nuclear power plants design in Russia. Nuclear power plants with VVER-type reactors are now at various stages of implementation in Finland, Belarus, Bangladesh and other countries. In such reactors water serves both as a neutron moderator and as a reactor coolant.
The current installed nuclear power capacity in India comprises of 22 reactors with a total capacity of 6780 MW. The present share of nuclear energy is about 3.2% in the current financial year 2016-17 (up to Feb-2017).
India has accorded ‘in principle’ approval of five sites for locating 28 nuclear power reactors with a total capacity of about 32000 MW.
In addition, there are presently nine reactors under construction with a total capacity of 6700 MW. The Government has also recently accorded administrative approval and financial sanction for 12 reactors with a total capacity of 9000 MW.
