Nuclear Power Corp hopes to commission first unit by Sept

The state-run Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) has lost power generation of 6,000 million units and is incurring a loss of Rs 5 crore daily due to the stoppage of work at the 2,000 Mw Kudankulam nuclear project.

The company, which has so far incurred expenditure of Rs 14,000 crore, expects six to eight month from the day the work starts for the commissioning of first unit of 1,000 Mw, while the second unit of equal capacity would take another eight to nine months.

However, NPC has said it depends on the Tamil Nadu government's clearance, the time required to re-mobilise the contractors (Indian and Russian) and the over 5,000 contract workers.

Despite the loss, NPC is expected to achieve generation of 32,000 million units by the end of March. Currently, 20 of NPC's plants are operating at 90 per cent availability, and at 78-79 per cent plant load factor due to the unavailability of adequate fuel.

NPC director (technical) S A Bhardwaj told reporters that since mid-October last year, when the protests were launched, around 100 employees were able to report for duties inside the plant and carry out maintenance job.

"Once the Tamil Nadu government gives clearance, NPC will carry out a thorough survey of the plant and launch the necessary works for the completion of the first unit. We will have to inspect whether there is a corrosion or fungus, which will take two to three months. We are quite close to zero date to restart work," he said.

Despite the delays, Bhardwaj said the per unit tariff of Kudankulam power would be less than Rs 3.

The first unit of the project was to be commissioned last December and the second unit in March. The schedule was disrupted after villagers and NGOs launched protests raising safety concerns.

Bhardwaj said the experts panel appointed by the Central government and similar group formed by the state government have addressed all issues relating to safety and security of the project. The panels concluded the plant has adequate safety applications.