JOIN USThe steam flow path and steam release device testing for the 1,000 MW Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) will be conducted on Saturday.
KNPP sources said that the plant had obtained Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) clearance recently to carry out the tests, also called hot run.
KNPP’s site director R S Sundar said the hot run would focus on steam flow path and steam release device.
"During these tests, only steam release (water vapour) to the atmosphere will take place for a very short period of 2-3 minutes", he said in a statement.
Sundar said the ambient noise level is likely to go up marginally during the tests, which will be conducted during the day time.
"The tests are likely to commence from 28 February 2015 for one week," he said. “After a months time these tests will be repeated.”
The NPCIL has said commercial operations at the second unit of KNPP will begin in June. As of January 2014, the unit has achieved a physical progress of 97.68 per cent.
Following a series of delays and technical snags, commercial operations at the 1,000 MW first unit began on December 31, 2014 and it has since generated 644 million units of power.
Construction for KNPP’s third and fourth units, for which India signed an agreement with Russia recently, has begun.