19.7.11

Somewhere in Rajasthan....

Post Fukushima, India’s nuclear programme crossed an important milestone on Monday with the beginning of the nation’s construction of the 25th and 26th nuclear power reactors at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan. Both pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWR) have capacity of 700 mw each. The construction is expected to be completed in 2016-17. On completion, 1,400 MW capacity will be added to the northern electricity grid, of which 700 MW will be allocated to Rajasthan. The construction began with the first pour of concrete on Monday, which is a milestone in building a nuclear power plant and signifies the start of the construction (zero date). According to the Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC), the indigenously designed 700-MW PHWR is the latest, state-of-art technology reactor, which has been designed by NPC by scaling up its 540-MW PHWRs at Tarapur in Maharashtra. Two more 700-MW PHWRs are also under construction at Kakrapar near Surat in Gujarat. The 700-MW reactors have advanced safety features, including passive safety systems that work on natural principles like gravity, natural convection. They do not need operator intervention or what is called “motive power” to ensure reactor safety under any state of operation. There are two independent and diverse systems to shut down the reactor — a passive decay heat removal system to ensure cooling of the reactor core even in during total loss of power, and steel-lined inner containment to contain the entire radioactivity within the reactor building even in a severe accident scenario. Currently, there are 20 nuclear power reactors with a capacity of 4,780 MW and seven reactors with a capacity of 5,300 MW are under construction in the country. On completion, the installed nuclear power capacity will reach 10,080 MW by the year 2017. More reactors are planned to take the installed capacity to 20,000 MW or more by the year 2020.

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