Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited’s (NPCIL) 220 MW reactor 3 of Kaiga atomic power project (KAPP) has been synchronized with the southern power grid. According to A I Siddiqui, NPCIL’s spokesperson, KAPP-3 was synchronized on April 14, 2009 and has been generating power continuously since then at 95 MW. The Kaiga nuclear project which is located in Uttar Kannada district of Karnataka, India comprises four units, each of 220 MW, belonging to the pressurized heavy water reactor family.
KAPP-3 is India’s seventeenth nuclear plant.
KAPP-3 has achieved its first criticality on February 26, 2009 and was synchronised on April 11, 2009 after the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) authorized for power generation from the plant. The plant was then shut down for conducting certain tests, Siddiqui said.
Since 2000, the other two reactors at the Kaiga nuclear power plant have been in operation, while the fourth reactor is at an advanced stage of construction. Siddiqui said that the power generation at the unit will be later increased to full power after completion of all tests.
The commercialization of the unit is estimated in a month after completion of mandatory tests. The project will have a total installed power capacity of 4,120 MW.
NPCIL has not been victorious with its Kudankulam power projects, whose first 1,000 MW unit is presently estimated to go on line in November 2009, against the planned August 2009.
According to sources connected with the project and the Central Electricity Authority, the project is unlikely to come up anytime in 2009.