The first reactor of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP), which has generated 6,873 million units till Wednesday morning, was shut down around 11.30 a.m. for mandatory annual maintenance and refuelling outage.
In a statement, KKNPP Site Director R.S. Sundar said that the turbine generator of unit I remained in service for a cumulative period of 9,267 hours to generate 6,873 million units till Wednesday morning. The reactor, which was generating 600 MWe power against its maximum capacity of 1,000 MWe, was shut down for 60 days. It would resume 1,000 MWe electricity generation in the third week of August after completion of maintenance work, he said.
Of the 163 enriched uranium fuel assemblies in the rector –each measuring 4.57 metres and weighing about 705 kg – 50 fuel assemblies would be removed during the maintenance and replaced with fresh bundles.
Second reactor
On the progress made in operationalising the second reactor, Mr. Sundar said that the ‘hot run’ and the mandatory integrated commissioning tests had been completed. The results had been submitted to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board for review, which was in progress.
After attaining criticality on July 13, 2013, the first reactor was connected to the Southern Grid on October 23 of the same year. Since then, the reactor was generating electricity even though minor technical glitches interrupted power generation for brief periods on a few occasions.
It was generating 600 MWe against maximum of 1,000 MWe
