Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has achieved a significant breakthrough in the nuclear power segment with the first-ever order for steam generators for the  700 MWe nuclear sets worth Rs345 crore to the Kakrapara Atomic Power Project.

For the first time in India, NPCIL is installing two units of 700 MWe rating at KAPP, the highest rating developed indigenously, based on pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR).

KAPS-1 went critical on 3 September 1992 and began commercial electricity production a few months later on 6 May 1993. KAPS-2 went critical on 8 January 1995 and began commercial production in September 1995.

In January 2003 the CANDU Owners Group (COG) rated KAPS-1 as the world-wide best PHWR of its class. Its onstruction cost was Rs1,335 crore.

Won against stiff competition, the order has been placed on BHEL by Nuclear Power Corporation of India limited (NPCIL) for Kakrapara Atomic Power Project (KAPP) in Gujarat.

The order envisages manufacture and supply of four steam generators, for use in the primary cycle of the Nuclear Power Plant for one reactor of 700 MWe unit rating.

The 700 MWe steam generator is based on the design developed by BHEL for the first 540 MWe steam generators installed at Tarapur Nuclear Power Plant. BHEL had also earlier supplied steam generators for 220 MWe nuclear reactors installed by NPCIL.

The public sector BHEL-designed, manufactured and commissioned equipment accounts for around 80 per cent of NPCIL's installed capacity of 4,120 MW in the country. The company has so far supplied state-of-the-art power generating equipment of various ratings corresponding to nearly 3,280 MW for various nuclear power plants.

In the past, BHEL has worked on several NPCIL projects and is currently executing  involved in setrting up the complete conventional island for the first prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) that has a 500 MW rating, being set up by Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu.
 
These steam generators will be manufactured at BHEL's Trichy plant, where the steam generators will be designed, manufactured and tested according to ASME Sec.III Standards. The detailed design, including design analysis like thermo hydraulics and stress analysis, will also be carried out by BHEL.

Overseas thrust
BHEL is also looking at overseas orders and is planning to open a marketing office in Kazakhstan, which does not have any local power generation equipment manufacturer and has a stable political climate.

In order to achieve its export target of Rs10,300 crore by 2012, BHEL is looking at the international markets of West Asia, Africa and Central Asia to sell its nuclear equipments.

Currently BHEL has booked orders in Azerbaijan, but is scouting for more orders in the states of the former Soviet Union like Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Recently BHEL and NPCIL had inked agreements with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) for jointly constructing new nuclear power reactors in India.