News Analysis India

Tag: Nuclear power plant

  • North India’s 1st nuclear power plant at Gorakhpur in Haryana may be operational in 2028

    Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH:  The first unit of north India’s first nuclear power plant, situated in Gorakhpur village of Fatehabad district in Haryana, is likely to commence operations in June 2028 with 74 percent of the ground improvement work being concluded.

    State chief secretary Sanjeev Kaushal shared this information while presiding over a meeting regarding the coordination of officers of Haryana government and Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojana (GHAVP) here on Monday.

    Kaushal directed power utility officers to expedite the relocation of HT/LT lines and provide 33 KV power connection for the plant site from an alternative source in order to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the project.

    He also directed the Public Works Department (B&R) and Fatehabad administration to conduct a joint feasibility study of a road connecting the national highway to the project sites to facilitate the smooth transportation of heavy lifts and Over Dimension Consignments (ODC) to the site.

    Providing an update on the project’s progress, Niranjan Kumar Mittal, project director, GHAVP, said that 74 percent of the ground improvement work has been completed at the site. Additionally, essential equipment such as end shields and steam generators for the first unit, along with critical reactor components, had been received.

    As part of CSR initiatives in the village, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) has so far invested Rs 39.08 crore, utilized for the construction of a metalled road along the bank of Fatehabad branch canal from Kajalheri to Gorakhpur; the establishment of classrooms, labs, and toilets in nearby schools; and the provision of a mobile medical van for free treatment and distribution of medications.

    Ground laid for projectNiranjan Kumar Mittal, project director, GHAVP, said that 74 % of the ground improvement work has been completed at the site. They have received some essential equipment too. 

    CHANDIGARH:  The first unit of north India’s first nuclear power plant, situated in Gorakhpur village of Fatehabad district in Haryana, is likely to commence operations in June 2028 with 74 percent of the ground improvement work being concluded.

    State chief secretary Sanjeev Kaushal shared this information while presiding over a meeting regarding the coordination of officers of Haryana government and Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojana (GHAVP) here on Monday.

    Kaushal directed power utility officers to expedite the relocation of HT/LT lines and provide 33 KV power connection for the plant site from an alternative source in order to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the project.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    He also directed the Public Works Department (B&R) and Fatehabad administration to conduct a joint feasibility study of a road connecting the national highway to the project sites to facilitate the smooth transportation of heavy lifts and Over Dimension Consignments (ODC) to the site.

    Providing an update on the project’s progress, Niranjan Kumar Mittal, project director, GHAVP, said that 74 percent of the ground improvement work has been completed at the site. Additionally, essential equipment such as end shields and steam generators for the first unit, along with critical reactor components, had been received.

    As part of CSR initiatives in the village, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) has so far invested Rs 39.08 crore, utilized for the construction of a metalled road along the bank of Fatehabad branch canal from Kajalheri to Gorakhpur; the establishment of classrooms, labs, and toilets in nearby schools; and the provision of a mobile medical van for free treatment and distribution of medications.

    Ground laid for project
    Niranjan Kumar Mittal, project director, GHAVP, said that 74 % of the ground improvement work has been completed at the site. They have received some essential equipment too. 

  • Indian nuclear scientists visit plant in Russia

    By Express News Service

    CHENNAI:  Representatives of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and JSC “TENEX”, an exporter of initial nuclear fuel cycle products, recently visited the Kalinin nuclear power plant in Russia to learn about the process management of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) after its removal from a reactor core.

    The visit could help nuclear scientists at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant (KKNPP) in dealing with the transport of spent fuel assemblies to a processing plant. “The visit is part of the JSC “TENEX” project on cooperation in the sphere of safe management of spent nuclear fuel at KKNPP,” said Artemov Elena, Deputy Director General of TENEX.

    The scientists were given a demonstration starting from the receipt of an empty container, placing it in the pool soaking the reactor building, and the fuel loading using a console machine overload till the final stage of loading onto the transport platform. “For us, it is very important because in the future, we will conduct similar operations at Kudankulam nuclear power plant. 

    “We were impressed by the high level of skill and speed of the work of specialists of Kalinin nuclear power plant. I got a lot of new information that will provide the safe management of spent nuclear fuel at the initial stage of back-end,” said a release quoting senior executive engineer of the NPCIL Vinod Tiwari.

  • India to start building 10 ‘fleet mode’ nuclear power plants from 2023

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: With the first pour of concrete for a 700 MW atomic power plant in Karnataka’s Kaiga scheduled in 2023, India is set to put in motion construction activities for 10 ‘fleet mode’ nuclear reactors over the next three years.

    The first pour of concrete (FPC) signals the beginning of construction of nuclear power reactors from the pre-project stage which includes excavation activities at the project site.

    “The FPC of Kaiga units 5&6 is expected in 2023; FPC of Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Praiyonjan units 3 & 4 and Mahi Banswara Rajasthan Atomic Power Projects units 1 to 4 is expected in 2024; and that of Chutka Madhya Pradesh Atomic Power Project units 1 & 2 in 2025,” officials of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) told the Parliamentary panel on science and technology.

    The Centre had approved construction of 10 indigenously developed pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR) of 700 MW each in June 2017. The ten PHWRs will be built at a cost of Rs 1.05 lakh crore. It was for the first time that the government had approved building 10 nuclear power reactors in one go with an aim to reduce costs and speed up construction time.

    Bulk procurement was underway for the fleet mode projects with purchase orders placed for forgings for steam generators, SS 304L lattice tubes and plates for end shields, pressuriser forgings, bleed condensers forgings, incoloy-800 tubes for 40 steam generators, reactor headers, DAE officials said.

    Engineering, procurement and construction package for turbine island has been awarded for Gorakhpur units three and four and Kaiga units five and six, they added. Under the fleet mode, a nuclear power plant is expected to be built over a period of five years from the first pour of concrete.

    Currently, India operates 22 reactors with a total capacity of 6780 MW in operation. One 700 MW reactor at Kakrapar in Gujarat was connected to the grid on January 10 last year, but it is yet to start commercial operations.

    The PHWRs, which use natural uranium as fuel and heavy water as moderator, have emerged as the mainstay of India’s nuclear power programme. India’s first pair of PHWRs of 220 MW each were set up at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan in the 1960s with Canadian support.

    The second reactor had to be built with significant domestic components as Canada withdrew support following India’s peaceful nuclear tests in 1974. As many as 14 PHWRS of 220 MW each with standardised design and improved safety measures were built by India over the years.

    Indian engineers further improvised the design to increase the power generation capacity to 540 MWe, and two such reactors were made operational at Tarapur in Maharashtra. Further optimisations were carried out to upgrade the capacity to 700 MWe.