Second unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant gets operational

The second unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP), India’s largest nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu became operational.
The 1,000 Megawatt (MW) capacity plant attained criticality after the second unit became operational. Now the power generation of Unit 2 will be stepped up to full capacity of 1000 MW in phases and will be synchronized with the grid.
The criticality process of the Unit 2 was undertaken by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCI), a PSU under the Department of Atomic Energy which manages the plant. Earlier, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) had given its consent to the NPCI to begin the criticality process.
Already, the first unit of the plant is generating 1000 MW power. So far it has generated 10,006 million units of electricity.

About Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP)

• KNPP is a nuclear power station located in Koodankulam in Tamil Nadu. It has capacity of generating 2000 MW with 2 reactors.
• The nuclear reactors of the plant have been built with Russian expertise. The construction on the plant began in 2002.
• The Unit 1 of the plant was synchronised with the southern power grid in October 2013. The work on third and fourth reactors will be started 2017.
• Both Unit 1 and 2 are
• The power generated from the plant will provide electricity to Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and Karnataka.

Month: Current Affairs - July, 2016