The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : First Koodankulam reactor to generate power by mid-2010

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 29, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

First Koodankulam reactor to generate power by mid-2010

Staff Reporter

Measures taken to protect environment, people: Station Director

— Photo: A. Shaikmohideen

Science expo: Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project Station Director M. Kasinath Balaji (centre) at an exhibition on nuclear energy held at the District Science Centre, Kokkirakulam in Tirunelveli on Wednesday.

TIRUNELVELI: The first of the two 1,000 MWe reactors of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project is expected to start generating electricity by mid-2010, according to the Station Director of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP), M. Kasinath Balaji.

He was delivering the keynote address after inaugurating an exhibition on ‘Nuclear energy in the service of mankind’ at the District Science Centre at Kokkirakulam here on Wednesday.

Mr. Balaji said the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), while constructing 2 X 1,000 MWe reactors at Koodankulam with Russian assistance, had taken all precautionary measures to protect the environment and people living around the project site.

The first unit was likely to start generating electricity from mid-2010; the second reactor of the KKNPP would attain criticality a couple of months after the first reactor became fully operational.

The former senior scientist of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, K.S.V. Nambi, wanted to have a permanent pavilion at the District Science Centre on nuclear energy.

Scientific Officer of KKNPP Lakshmi Gopi Das gave a presentation on ‘nuclear energy in the service of mankind’. The exhibition consists of 21 eye-catching panels, each carrying vital message with accurate data and appropriate diagram or photograph.

Director of the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, Bangalore, K. Vasudeva Bhatta, and District Science Officer R. Gopalakrishna spoke.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu