31.7.13

Kudankulam #2 snippets

After the successful commissioning of the first unit of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant recently, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited is working towards operationalising the second 1000 MW unit in March. The crucial dummy fuel loading process in the unit has been completed.
With the countdown beginning for power generation from the 1000 MW first unit, Atomic Energy Commission secretary Arun Srivastava said as per the latest schedule that was conveyed to the commission, the second unit is likely to go critical in March. The dummy fuel bundles are similar to the actual fuel in dimension and weight, except that they do not have uranium.
Currently, preparations are in progress for the strength test of the reactor containment in unit II. Atomic Energy Regulatory Board chairman S S Bajaj said the board will give clearances upon receiving requests from the NPCIL. “After dummy fuel loading, hydro testing of the nuclear steam supply system circuit will take place,” he said. During hydro testing, the entire circuit will be tested for strength and integrity at very high pressure to ensure ultimate safety.
Hot run tests, similar to that of unit I, will be conducted, Kudankulam nuclear power project director R S Sunder said. During the hot run phase, the entire nuclear steam supply system circuit, including the nuclear reactor, steam generators, pressuriser, reactor coolant pumps, main coolant piping, and main steam lines to turbine will run continuously for more than 200 hours.
After the tests, the dummy fuel will be removed from the reactor and final inspection of the internals of the equipment and piping will be carried out and the reports will be sent to AERB. Upon getting final clearance, the actual fuel loading of the uranium nuclear bundles will be done, which will pave way for criticality.

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