CHENNAI: The third reactor at the Tarapur Atomic Power Project (TAPP), with a capacity of 540 MWe, will be commissioned in less than a week, according to S.K. Jain, Chairman and Managing Director of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL).

It is an indigenously built Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) that uses natural uranium as fuel, and heavy water as both moderator and coolant. NPCIL engineers have already loaded natural uranium fuel bundles into the reactor.

"We have completed the bulk of heavy water-charging into the reactor. We are testing the shutdown systems extensively. We will complete this testing in a day's time," said Mr. Jain.

The results of this exercise will be intimated to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), which monitors safety in nuclear power utilities.

The AERB will then give the final permission to the NPCIL for commissioning the third unit.

O.P. Goyal, Station Director, TAPP-3 and 4, said fuel loading into the reactor was completed. The primary heat transport system and the moderator were filled with heavy water.

The reactor would be filled with 550 tonnes of heavy water. It had 392 coolant channels, each housing 13 bundles of natural uranium fuel. Each bundle weighed 24 kg.

"As of now, everything is all right," said Mr. Goyal.

Fourth unit working smooth

The fourth unit, also with a capacity of 540 MWe, was commissioned in March 2005 and it is operating smoothly.

Fifteen NPCIL nuclear power reactors are already operating in various parts of the country. TAPP-3 will be the 16th unit. Seven more are under construction.

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