The second unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) has attained its maximum generating capacity of 1,000 MWe, six months after it went critical.
"It is a great moment for the KNPP which is already successfully operating its first unit. After successfully crossing a range of tests, the second reactor reached the milestone of generating 1,000 MWe at 8:30 PM yesterday (Saturday)," KNPP Site Director R S Sundar said in a release.
The second unit of the Indo-Russian joint venture project attained criticality on July 10 last year and synchronised with the southern grid on August 29.
Power generation had been gradually increased at several stages after mandatory tests were stipulated by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.
The first KNPP unit began commercial operations in December 2014.
Tamil Nadu gets the major share of the power produced in the two units of the nuclear plant.
Under the agreement between India and Russia, four more units of 1000 MWe each would be set up at Kudankulam in this district in southern Tamil Nadu.
Excavation work for the third and fourth units are underway and power generation is expected to start in 2022-23, the release said.
Meanwhile, Moscow-based ASE Group of Companies, doing the Kundankulam nuclear plant's design engineering, said the operations for power increase to 100 per cent were performed in accordance with the technical specifications.
After the power unit had reached the nominal power level, it was planned to perform comprehensive dynamic tests for 15 days, ASE Group Vice-president for projects in South Asia, Andrey Lebedev, said.
"The tests will confirm the design parameters of the power unit main system and its dynamic stability in certain modes of disturbance of normal operation," Lebedev said in a statement.
(PTI)
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