Indian NPP operator Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has begun loading fuel at the second 700 MWe unit at the Kakrapar Atomic Power Plant (KAPP) in Gujarat (KAPP 4). NPCIL said the Initial Fuel Loading began after getting clearance from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB).
NPCIL has three operational units at KAPP – two 220 MWe units (KAPP 1&2) and one 700 MWe unit (KAPP 3), which began commercial operations in August. All four units at KAPP are indigenously designed pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs).
India’s reactor fleet comprises two boiling water reactors (BWRs), 19 PHWRs, including one 100 MW PHWR at Rajasthan owned by the Department of Atomic Energy, as well as two Russian-supplied 1000 MWe VVER reactors.
Construction of 700 MWe PHWRs is also underway at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan (RAPS 7&8) and at Gorakhpur in Haryana (GHAVP 1&2). The government has approved construction of 10 more PHWRs in fleet mode at four locations – Gorakhpur, Chutka in Madhya Pradesh, Mahi Banswara in Rajasthan and Kaiga in Karnataka.
Image: Kakrapar nuclear power plant in Gujurat, India
