In a major achievement for India’s nuclear power plant, the unit 1 of Kaiga Generating Station (KGS) in Karnataka has registered 941 days of continuous operation on Monday. Thus, it surpassed the earlier world record of 940 days held by Heysham-2 Unit-8 (610 MWe AGR) of the United Kingdom.
This landmark has demonstrated that the nation’s capability in nuclear power generation technology of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) is fully matured.
“It evidences the excellence in design, construction, safety, quality and operation & maintenance practices of NPCIL,” officials of Mumbai-headquartered NPCIL said.
KGS, located in the sylvan surroundings of the Western Ghats at Kaiga in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, is a cluster of four indigenously developed PHWRs of 220 MW each.
Two more indigenous reactors to be set up at the site, Kaiga 5 and 6 (2 x 700 MW), has been accorded administrative approval and financial sanction by the government.
The KGS-1 started commercial operations on November 16, 2000.
During the present stint of continuous operation from May 13, 2016, the unit has generated about 5 billion (500 crore) units of electricity.
Indian nuclear power plants have demonstrated continuous operations for more than a year 28 times so far. These three reactors, KGS-1 (941 days still in operation), RAPS-3 (777 days) and RAPS-5 (765 days) have operated continuously for more than two years.
The units at Kaiga have operated more than a year on 12 occasions so far.
NPCIL presently operates twenty-two reactors with a capacity of 6780 MW (including RAPS-1 (100 MW) under extended shutdown) and has eight reactors with a capacity of 6200 MW under construction. Work has also been initiated on twelve more reactors (9,000 MW) accorded administrative approval and financial sanction by the government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appreciated this achievement.
In a tweet, he said, “Congratulations to all those associated with India’s nuclear energy programme. Their untiring efforts have enhanced India’s progress. The nation is proud of them”.
Meanwhile, the officials said unit’s reactor will be operational till December 31. The operations will be suspended later and maintenance works will be carried out for 45 days.