The second unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant reached criticality on Sunday.
Highlights
- Second unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant reaches criticality
- Major milesone in the 60-year life of India's nuclear reactor
- Nuclear reactor to generate electricity for South Indian states in weeks
The wait for India's largest nuclear reactor to generate electricity feeding hundreds of towns of South India is now down to mere weeks.
After a more than 48-hour countdown, at 8:56 pm on Sunday, enough nuclear poison had been removed from the Kudankulam atomic reactor in Tamil Nadu for a sustained nuclear chain reaction to be initiated.
Having crossed all safety checks, engineers triggered the start of the plant for the first time.
In the 60-year life of the nuclear reactor, this is one of the biggest hurdles. "All systems are operating safely," Engineer RS Sundar who heads the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant told NDTV.
For the much-delayed nuclear unit, it was a big milestone to achieve "criticality" or the setting off of a sustained nuclear fission reaction within the 1,000 MW Russian-made atomic reactor.
Hailed as milestone in nuclear commerce, it comes on the heels of India's efforts to gain entry into the exclusive Nuclear Suppliers Group or NSG.
India currently operates 21 reactors that can generate 5,780 MW of electricity besides giving India its atomic weapons.
Both units of the Kudankulam plant have been made at a cost of over Rs 22,000 crore and are 10 years behind schedule. The first unit started generating electricity in 2013.
Local anti-nuclear activists call the facility unsafe but plant engineers suggest it is one of the safest in the world.
The atomic reactor will provide electricity to Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and Karnataka.
Four more similar atomic reactors are expected to come up at Kudankulam in future.
India hopes to generate 63,000 MW of nuclear power by 2032.