India on self-reliance in Nuclear Power, Kaiga Units 5 &6 commenced to construct indigenous 700 MW PHWRs

With a significant aim of India’s aim to produce 100 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2047, the nuclear power backed regulator NPCIL (Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd) has progressively initiated the construction of indigenous Kaiga Units-5 and 6 to reportedly achieved the power generation stage of criticality in around 60-months

NEW DELHI: With a significant aim of India’s aim to produce 100 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2047, the nuclear power backed regulator NPCIL (Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd) has progressively initiated the construction of indigenous Kaiga Units-5 and 6 to reportedly achieved the power generation stage of criticality in around 60-months. The NPCIL in a major agenda has set a target of 54-GW of contribution. For this, Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors, Light Water Reactors along with newly introduced Small Modular Reactors are planned for nuclear power generation. The First Pour of Concrete ceremony was held on Sunday at the nuclear power generation units 5 & 6 at Kaiga.

In line with this, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has issued the permission for First Pour of Concrete (FPC) and this permit was issued after satisfactory completion of safety review of the design of 2 into 700 Mwe Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) units being established at the Kaiga nuclear power plant site with the safety rules requirements specified by AERB.

This 700 Mwe PHWRs are indigenous design, developed by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) and the designs incorporates many advanced safety features in line with the AERB regulations. Further two more units of 700 Mwe PHWRs, RAPP- 7&8 are currently undergoing commissioning at the Rawatbhata site in Rajasthan.

The Kaiga Nuclear Power Plant is in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka state where four units of 220 Mwe PHWRs are operational already. The project is being implemented to adopt an innovative strategy which includes mega EPC packages like excavation, Nuclear Island, Turbine Island, and nuclear implementation to enable faster project execution and less interface problems. Presently, the Kaiga site has four units of 220 Mwe with total installed capacity of 880 MW which is third largest in India after Tarapur (1400 MW) and Rawatbhata (1180 MW). With the completion of Units 5 and 6, the total power capacity will be reached at 2,280 MW.