Kudankulam NPP receives permission to up capacity to 75% - Times of India
MOSCOW. Jan 27 (Interfax) - The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has received permission from India's Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority (AERB) to increase capacity at the first generating unit of the Kudankulam NPP to up to 75%, Indian news sources said, quoting AERB chairman Shri Bajaj.
"We have given permission for NPCIL to increase the power generation levels at its first unit in Kudankulam beyond 50% and up to 75%," the Times of India quoted Bajaj as saying.
The first generating unit of the Kudankulam NPP was launched at minimum controlled reactor power on July 13, 2013, after which specialists gathered information on the operation of the reactor for the AERB to grant permission for the reactor to be brought up to 50% of capacity, then 75% and then 90%. The first generating unit began operating on October 22, and by November had reached 50% capacity.
Construction of the second generating unit has already been completed, and equipment is currently being calibrated. The second power unit is expected to begin operating in October 2014.
Kudankulam is being built under a Russian-Indian agreement signed on November 20, 1988 and a supplement signed on June 21, 1998. In 2002, Russian Atomstroyexport, part of the Rosatom state corporation, began building the first two generating units equipped with VVER-1000 reactors with 2,000 megawatts total capacity.
The road map for nuclear power cooperation between India and Russia calls for the construction of 15 power blocks in India, including between four and eight units at Kudankulam.
