The installation of the reactor vessel marked a significant achievement for the fourth 1,000 MW nuclear power plant at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu. The reactor vessel for the fourth 1,000 MW nuclear power plant at Kudankulam was installed in the design position a couple of days back, said Russia’s integrated nuclear power player Rosatom State Corporation. The reactor vessel was installed with the Open Top technology, which had been successfully tested at Unit No 3 (this technology involved installation of the reactor vessels through an open dome, which could significantly increase the installation speed).
The preparations for the operation were completed in record-breaking time, in the morning, the equipment was brought into the vertical position, lifted by crane to a 50m height and taken down into the reactor shaft of the reactor building, said Rosatom. After the reactor vessel has been installed, the equipment of the nuclear steam supply system including steam generators, casings of the reactor coolant pump units, and the pressuriser will start to be installed. The reactor vessel, weighing over 317 tons, was brought from Volgodonsk to the Kudankulam nuclear power plant construction site in 2023 as part of the extremely complicated and large-scale simultaneous shipment of two reactor vessels and eight steam generators for two nuclear power plants being built in India and China, the Russian company said.
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), the operator of India’s atomic power plants, currently has two operational 1,000 MW units (Units 1 and 2) at Kudankulam. Additionally, four more units (Units 3, 4, 5, and 6) are in the construction phase. All six units utilize Russian technology, and equipment is provided by Rosatom. Significant components for the third and fourth units have already arrived in Kudankulam from Russia, while a substantial number of parts for the fifth and sixth units are yet to be delivered.
Source: Silicon India