Chennai, April 10 (Inditop.com) The first unit of the 2,000 MW Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project is shortly expected to reach another milestone – insertion of dummy fuel into the reactor core to test the functioning of all systems.
“Flushing of pipe circuits with water got over recently and dummy fuel will be loaded,” an official of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) told Inditop on condition of anonymity.
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 increase gradually the power generation.
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.
It is learnt that another consigment of components would arrive soon.
According to officials of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), which has been contracted to erect the turbine generator supplied by Russia, nearly 30 percent components on the piping side are yet to come from Russia.
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.
According to NPCIL, 95 percent of the physical work have been completed for the first unit.
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.
