The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Fuel for Kudankulam reactor reaches project site

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Friday, May 30, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Fuel for Kudankulam reactor reaches project site

Staff Reporter

It comes in the form of ready-to-use assemblies

40 assemblies have been received against the total requirement of 163 for Unit-1
Major equipment, including reactor pressure vessel and steam generators, have been erected

TIRUNELVELI: The first batch of enriched uranium, the fuel for the first of the 2 X 1,000 MWe nuclear reactors being built at Kudankulam, has started arriving at the project site from the Russian Federation.

The federation is supplying enriched uranium under an inter-governmental agreement with India. The fuel is in the form of ready-to-use assemblies, which are being transported to the project site from the Thiruvananthapuram airport as per the International Safety Norms.

Speaking to reporters at the project site on Thursday evening, Project Director K.C. Purohit said the fuel assemblies, each weighing 700 kg, were transported in fuel casks, which were designed and tested for the highest possible safety.

Following the receipt of the fuel assemblies since the early morning of Monday, final inspections were being carried out. The fuel assemblies, each having 311 tubes of enriched uranium, were kept in a specially designed high security building for inspection.

The site has so far received 40 assemblies against the total requirement of 163 for Unit-1.

Construction work for Unit-1 was nearing completion. The major equipment, including a nuclear reactor pressure vessel and steam generators, each weighing more than 300 tonnes, had already been erected at the sites of the two units.

For Unit-1, the highly complicated work of welding of the Main Coolant Piping Circuit, carrying the fission heat to the steam generators for production of the high pressure steam which, in turn, runs the turbine for electricity generation from the plant, was about to be completed. Installation of various other process systems and the electrical equipment was progressing well, and the erection of internal components of the reactor had begun.

“The construction of the first of its kind safety system, Passive Heat Removal System of Unit-1, is nearing completion. Massive heat exchangers, which will be cooled by the natural air draft, have been erected. The inner and outer concrete containment domes have been completed. The construction of the third containment is in progress. The containment structure, with a hermetically sealed steel liner inside the inner containment, is the first of its kind, incorporating the latest pre-stressing system,” Mr. Purohit said.

The turbine generator was erected, and the work on the associated circuits of turbine generator was in an advanced stage.

Pre-commissioning activities

Recently, the first part of the mammoth Caisson structure, weighing 3,000 tonnes, for the intake structure for the cooling water intake was successfully installed by floating from the dry dock area in the temporary dyke and towing to the mouth of the breakwater dyke. The work on the erection of further parts of the Caisson structure was in progress, he said.

“The commissioning group of the project has started pre-commissioning activities, as power from this complex to the grid will be cascading from March, 2009,” Mr. Purohit said.

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