Steam release valves to be tested at Kudankulam n-plant

Chennai, March 25 (IANS) India's atomic power plant operator, the Nuclear Power Corporation Ltd (NPCIL), will soon test the steam release valves of the second 1,000 MW unit at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, it was announced on Wednesday.

Major activities of the hot run, or the process whereby the steam flow path and steam relief devices in an atomic reactor are tested, have been completed in the unit and steam relief devices testing will be taken up now, Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) site director R.S.Sundar said in a statement issued here.

During these tests, only steam release (water vapour) to the atmosphere will take place for a very short period of 2 to 3 minutes. During the testing, the ambient noise level is likely to go up marginally, he said, adding the tests will be conducted during day time only.

As to the first unit, Sundar said it is generating 1,000 MW.

Sundar had earlier told IANS that the reactor is expected to be loaded with real fuel around June 2015.

Prior to the loading of the fuel bundles, dummy fuel bundles have to be removed from the reactor.

Dummy fuel assemblies, made of lead instead of uranium, are the exact replica of the actual nuclear fuel assemblies, both in dimension and weight.

The NPCIL is setting up two 1,000 MW Russian reactors at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district, 650 km from here.

The first unit attained criticality, which is the beginning of the fission process, July 2013.

Subsequently it was connected to the southern power grid in October 2013 but the commercial power generation began only December 31, 2014.