MIDHANI (Mishra Dathu Nigam Limited) and Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) have flagged off the second consignment of ‘Steam Generator (SG) Tubes’ to be supplied to BHEL Trichy on Thursday. The third consignment is expected to be completed by December.
Both public sector firms together participated in a global tender for supply of critical SG tubes to BHEL (Trichy) and had won the tender.
Now, the MIDHANI-NFC combine is the only manufacturer having this capability to manufacture right from raw material forged billets to the required SG Tubes. Steam Generator Tubes comprise a substantial portion of the Reactor Coolant Pressure Boundary (RCPB), said an official spokesman.
Since their integrity is important to the safe operation of a nuclear reactor, regulatory authorities have established stringent requirements to ensure SG tube quality is maintained. The process of making SG tubes from the billets is quite complex as it consists of a large number of processes, re-conditioning, inspection and testing stages.
Extensive conditioning of the material at every stage is required for qualification of these tubes. The cycle period of the material at NFC is exceedingly high due to number of processes involved in making these special nature tubes and extensive quality control by multiple agencies like the BHEL,NPCIL and NFC, he explained.
Both the strategy sector firms are keen to bid for one more SG and are awaiting clearance from the authorities concerned as this move is in tune with the Prime Minister’s mission of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.
With fresh capacity additions, MIDHANI has been supplying various critical products like lattice tubes, and end fittings and has also developed a number of special alloys, super-alloys, special steels to meet the strategic need of space, defence and nuclear power programmes, he added.
