Largest nuke park soon

The two units will be built by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL). ‘‘With the commencement of construction of RAPS-5 and 6 and the ongoing projects of Tarapur 3 and 4 (2X540 MW), Kaiga 3 and 4 (2X220 MW) and Kudankulam (2 X1000 MW), NPCIL has the largest number of nuclear reactors under concurrent construction in the world,’’ NPCIL chairman and MD V.K. Chaturvedi said.

However, Chaturvedi said, operating such sophisticated reactors on Indian grids is like driving a Mercedes on village roads. ‘‘We lose five per cent power because of operating on Indian grids. Give me a European or Japanese grid and we’ll save five per cent.’’

Meanwhile, preparations are on for January 2003 when RAPS 3 and 4 will go under inspection by the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) for its first international peer review.