Kaiga's 4th unit all set for power generation

The fourth unit at the Kaiga Nuclear Power station is all set to start power production from November 27. The operation of the plant had been delayed owing to the non-supply of uranium. Now that the problem has been solved, the criticality will commence on November 27.

According to sources at the Kaiga Nuclear Power station senior officers of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) will be present on the occasion.

Criticality of the reactor means it is poised for the power production on a continuous basis. A senior officer said the actual power generation will begin in December if everything goes according to plan. He said three units are already generating electricity at the Kaiga nuclear station and work has been satisfactory. Each unit has a capacity to produce 220 Mw of electricity and presently all the three units are producing at 64 per cent of their capacity.

 

Of the electricity produced by the Kaiga plant, 27 per cent of the power is supplied to

Karnataka and the rest is distributed among southern states like Tamil Nadu. Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry by the Central Electricity Authority.

India is the third biggest economy in the world after United States and China, and the need to generate electricity is very high. Though India is the fifth largest producer of electricity in the world, it ranks 151st in the per capita electricity generation.

Presently India produces 568 billion units of electricity and of that 23 per cent is from hydro electricity, 64 per cent by thermal power, 10 per cent by non-conventional methods and only 3 per cent of the electricity is produced by the nuclear power.

Many Indian and foreign agencies and independent bodies have inspected the plant in Kaiga for its safety. The unit 4 of Kaiga Nuclear Power Plant has undergone the inspection by USA and Asian experts and all have certified about its safety. The officer claimed that the radiation from the plant is negligible. “Even after 15 years of commissioning the first plant there is no major change in the air, water and environment composition in the areas around Kaiga plant,” he asserted.

The unrestricted energy energy requirement of the state for the year 2009-10 was estimated at 51,019 milion tonnes. But, the availability from all the sources was 42,900 million units. Thus the state experienced a shortage of about 8,119 million units.