Unit 1 of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant dedicated to nation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on 10 August 2016 dedicated Unit 1 of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant to the nation.

Besides, PM Modi announced that five more reactors of 1000 megawatt each will come up in the same location.

About Unit 1 of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant

• The reactors are being built jointly by Nuclear Power Corporation of India and Atomstroyexport company, a subsidiary of Rosatom (the regulatory body of the Russian nuclear complex).

• The power plant is updated with most modern Russian technologies.

• The first reactor of the plant attained criticality on 13 July 2013 at 11:05 P.M.

• KKNPP was first synchronised to grid at 2:45 A.M. on 22 October 2013. Power generation from first nuclear reactor started on the same day.

• Unit 1 was operating at 73% capacity by April 2014.

• Unit 1 attained its maximum capacity of 1000 MWe at 1:20 P.M. on 7 June 2014.

• It started commercial operation from 31 December 2014.

• Almost 85 per cent of the funding of the project has come from the State loan of the Russian Federation.

Background

• The Government of India signed a contract with the Soviet Union to build the plant in 1988.

• However, the construction started only in 1997 due to the political and economic upheaval in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

• The construction of the first two units was later halted in September 2011 following protests by villagers around the plant.

• Work at the plant finally resumed in March 2012.

• The allocation from KKNPP-1&2 (2000 MW) include Tamil Nadu (925 MW), Karnataka (442 MW), Kerala (266 MW), Puducherry (67 MW) and 300 MW remains unallocated.

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