India's first domestically built 700 MW nuke reactor starts ops in Gujarat

India's first indigenously developed 700 MW nuclear power reactor at the Kakrapar Atomic Power Project (KAPP) in Gujarat started commercial operations on Friday, a senior official said.

"With great pleasure, this is to inform that our first indigenous 700 MWe Unit, KAPP-3, has become commercial on 30th June 2023 at 1000 Hrs," a senior KAPP official said.

Presently, the unit is operating at 90 per cent of its total power, he said.

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is building two 700 MW pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs) at Kakrapar, which is also home to two 220 MW power plants.

Various commissioning activities were underway at KAPP 4, which had achieved 96.92 per cent progress by May end, according to officials.

The NPCIL plans to build sixteen 700 MW PHWRs across the country and has granted financial and administrative sanction for the same.

Construction of 700 MW nuclear power plants is underway at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan (RAPS 7 and 8) and at Gorakhpur in Haryana (GHAVP 1 and 2).

The government has sanctioned building of 10 indigenously developed PHWRs in fleet mode at four locations -- Gorakhpur in Haryana, Chutka in Madhya Pradesh, Mahi Banswara in Rajasthan and Kaiga in Karnataka.