India's first N-park nearing completion

Criticality of the 220 MW unit signifies the start of the reactor, which in a few months will be synchronised with the northern grid. Its immediate predecessor, RAPS-5, was connected to the grid just in December.

The final two units at RAPS would be of 700 MW capacity each for which Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd has commenced the construction. The two large units will take 60 months to be completed.

RAPS at the moment houses four 220 MW units, one 200 MW and one 100 MW unit, which incidentally was the first nuclear power station at RAPS that became operational way back in 1973.

All units at India’s first nuclear park would be under the International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. The fifth and sixth reactors were placed under the IAEA safe guards last year and have been powered with the imported fuel.

The operation of the sixth unit at RAPS — overall the 19th reactor of NPCIL — has increased India’s installed nuclear power capacity to 4560 MW, which will be increased to 7280MW by March 2011 when a 220 MW unit in Kaiga and two 1000 MW units at Kudankulam will be operational.