Kudankulam first reactor turbine resynchronised

Power started flowing from the first reactor of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) since Sunday early morning after its turbine, which was stopped for a series of mandatory tests on last Tuesday, was resynchronised with the southern grid at 1.30 a.m.

KKNPP sources said the turbine that initially generated 60 MWe touched 250 MWe. It finally stabilised at 225 MWe.

The first reactor’s turbine was synchronised for the first time on October 22 at 2.45 a.m. It was stopped manually at 5.40 a.m. the same day for mandatory tests. During the 175 minute-long operation, the turbine generated around 160 MWe power, which was transmitted to the southern grid. The turbine was resynchronised at 9.43 p.m. on October 25 and power generation continued till it was stopped on October 29 at 8 p.m.

Following completion of the tests stipulated by the Indian and Russian engineers and also the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, the turbine was resynchronised at 4.11 p.m. on November 4. However, officials were forced to stop the turbine the next day at 11.30 a.m. after they detected “minor malfunction” in the rotary engine.

“This is only a routine procedure as any nuclear reactor, prior to attaining commercial power generation stage, will have to undergo a series of mandatory tests, which are being conducted at KKNPP also. All the systems of the first reactor are healthy, as per the tests we conducted,” KKNPP sources said.