Mr Singh said the schedule for the plant – the country’s first indigenous 630 MW net (700 MW gross) pressurised heavy water reactor unit – was dependent on obtaining regulatory approvals.
Kakrapar-3, owned and operated by state nuclear company Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd (NPCIL), was connected to the grid in January 2021.
Singh said: “In Unit 3, modifications/improvements required based on commissioning feedback have been carried out and their validation is also completed by hot run. The unit is now being readied for startup and progressive power raise to full power in line with the regulatory clearances.
“During the unit commissioning, following synchronisation with the grid, elevated temperatures were observed in certain areas of the reactor building. These have since been addressed by carrying out requisite modifications and improvements.”
Reuters reported in June that Kakrapar-3 will reach full capacity in October or November 2022 because “design validation was in progress” and due to “safety issues”.
There are two older PHWRs in commercial operation at Kakrapar. Both units, Kakrapar-1 and -2 are 202-MW plants that began operation in the 1990s.
India, which relies on coal for about 48% of its energy generation, has 22 nuclear power plants in commercial operation and eight under construction – one PHWR at Kakrapar, four Russia supplied pressurised water reactors at Kudankulam, two PHWRs at Rajasthan and a prototype fast breeder reactor at the Madras nuclear site. The reactor fleet provides about 3.3% of the country’s electricity generation.
Ambitious Plans For New Reactors
Construction of both Kakrapar-3 and Kakrapar-4 began in November 2010. The government has said that as of June 2022 Kakrapar-4 was 93.65% complete. The plant was scheduled to start commercial generation this year, but has not been completed and is running more than a year behind schedule, with NPCIL saying completion is expected in March 2024.
The construction of Rajasthan-7 and -8 in northwest India is 95% and 80.8% complete respectively.
In March, media reports in India said the first pour of concrete for two Generation III 700 MW nuclear power plants at Kaiga in India is scheduled in 2023, marking the start of an ambitious project to build a fleet of 10 units over the next three years. All the plants will be domestically developed 700-MW (gross) PHWRs.
The planned reactors in India are Kaiga-5 and -6 in Karnataka state, Chutka-1 and -2 in Madhya Pradesh, Mahi Banswara-1,-2,-3 and -4 in Rajasthan and Gorakhpur-3, and -4 in Haryana state.
Site excavation works began in January 2019 for Gorakhpur-1 and -2, also PHWRs, but reports in India have said construction is three years behind schedule. With these units included, the planned total of new PHWRs is 12.
In December 2021, Indian media reported that the government had given in principle approval for plans to build six France-supplied Generation III EPR nuclear power units at the Jaitapur site in the Maharashtra region of western India
