Kudankulam first reactor shut down

The reactor was shut down for 60 days for mandatory annual maintenance and refuelling outage.

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, 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.

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.

As some tests were conducted in the switch yard, a minor problem got triggered externally that led to the release of steam on January 14 last. Consequently, the reactor tripped due to the safety measures incorporated. Though this unforeseen glitch did not have any impact on the functioning of the reactor or the turbine section, power generation was affected for nearly 96 hours and it resumed on January 18.

Since then, the 1,000 MWe VVER reactor, built with Russian knowhow, was generating power to its maximum capacity after it started its commercial power generation at 12.01 a.m. on December 30 last.

Again, the reactor encountered a technical problem on May 10 last and power generation was restored after four days. However, power generation was maintained around 600 MWe since then, he added.