Kudankulam Unit I attains full generating capacity of 1,000 MWe

Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) attained its full generation capacity today, generating 1,000 MWe of power and thereby becoming the first nuclear plant in the country to generate 1,000 MWe of power, its director R S Sundar said.

Unit I of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant started generating its full capacity of 1,000 MWe of power at 1:20 pm today, he said, adding that the plant will be stopped after some time for conducting some tests as mandated by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB).

Power generation at the KNPP will subsequently be scaled down to 900MW as per the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) stipulations, Sundar said.

The Russian-designed Voda Voda Energo Reactor (VVER) achieved full generating capacity nearly eight months after power started flowing from the plant and it was connected to the grid.

KNPP also became the first and only nuclear power plant in the country to touch 1,000MW of power generation.

Against this, other nuclear power plants in the country can produce only around 540 MWe of power. In the case of thermal plants, this could go up to 660 or 680 MWe.

On May 1, the AERB had given approval for officials of the KNPP to scale up power generation to 750MW and later to full capacity after fulfilling some mandatory tests.

"Russian engineers were present when Unit 1 achieved full capacity. There is celebration at the plant since then. We have been waiting for this moment for a long time," said Sundar.

Tamil Nadu will now get its full quota of 465MW power from KNPP Unit-1. The state government will have to sign a new agreement with NPCIL to get an additional 100MW from the unit as per the announcement made by Union power minister in Parliament last year.

Power produced from Unit-1 is shared amongst Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Puducherry. An unallocated portion is still with the centre and the Tamil Nadu government is seeking allocation from that portion as well.