MUMBAI, JAN 16: Unit II of the Kaiga Atomic Power Station in Karnataka is all set to be commissioned in July this year, six months before Unit I, which will go critical in January 2000, according to the Nuclear Power Corporation India Ltd (NPCIL) sources.The second unit has been given precedence for being taken up first for commissioning due to construction delays suffered by the project on account of reengineering of the domes after the fateful collapse of the dome of Unit I while under construction some time in May 1994. The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) undertook structural examination of both the units and gave the green signal to restart the construction works. ``Domes of both the units has now been redesigned and completed in conformity with the AERB directives. The works were carried out in consultation with a French firm,'' NPCIL spokesperson, B K Bhasin, said.The incident set the project three years behind the original schedule. ``However due to indigenous engineering excellence, thework is fast nearing to completion, keeping pace with the revised schedule,'' Bhasin said. Unit II will go critical in July and it will be synchronised with the grid by November this year. The first unit will go critical in January 2000 and three months later it will synchronised with the grid, the spokesperson said. The NPCIL has been long toying with the idea of reducing the gestation period of nuclear power plants construction.Bhasin said that both the units in the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) at Kalpakam and Narora Atomic Power Station (NAPS) are producing power to their full capacity continuously since last July and November respectively. He said the present total power generation from all the ten nuclear plants stood at 1880 MW and another 440 MW would be added to it when the two units at Kaiga start power generation. Work on Tarapur Unit III and Unit IV - country's first two units of 500 MW each capacity atomic power projects - started last October and is expected to be commissioned bythe year 2005.``The company earned a net profit of approximately Rs 221 crore (provisional) during the financial year 1998-99 up to December 1998,'' Bhasin said.
