First unit can be up 6 months after states ok: NPCIL
The second unit will be commissioned about nine months after the first unit is commissioned,other officials added.
The Koodankulam project,which includes two units of the advanced model of Russian VVER-1000 MW pressurised water reactor,is incurring a loss of Rs 5 crore daily, said S A Bhardwaj,director-technical at Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited.
The expert groups constituted to study the safety issues and public concerns/opinion related to the Koodankulam project have submitted their reports to the Tamil Nadu government. The next step is that the state government should come out with the final answer and it could happen any day. As soon as we get a go ahead from the state government,we will be able to commission the first unit in six months. However,despite the delay,the electricity tariff will be less than Rs 3, said Bhardwaj.
The second unit will be commissioned about nine months after the first unit is commissioned,other officials added. However,they could not specify the month when the project could start. According to the NPCIL website,the physical progress of the first unit has been 99.2 per cent as on January 2012,while it stands at 94.6 per cent for the second unit. But the expected date of commercial operation draws a blank on the NPCIL site. The project cost is up from Rs 13,000 crore to Rs 14,000 crore.
The first unit was scheduled for fuel loading in September 2011 and was to go critical by December 2011. However,work had to be suspended after protests started. The hot run of the first unit was completed in August-September last year,which means that without loading the actual fuel,the systems are operated and tested to ensure that requirements prescribed by the regulatory authority have been met to satisfaction. Currently,minimum maintenance work is on. We couldnt proceed further. But we have to ensure that systems and equipments are in proper shape. Hence,total surveillance,maintenance and preservation work is being attended to regularly, Bhardwaj said.
Officials confirmed that the plant is operating in a healthy manner and there is no undue stress on the system. As against a requirement of 600 people for plant maintenance,NPCIL is able to send 80-100 people currently. Officials said that once they can send in more people,a thorough check will be conducted and some upkeep will be required. In parallel,we will try to call back all the contractors who have left our place. It may take two-three months. They should have interest to come back. They were almost finishing work when they left. We have started sending feelers to the contractors that things are getting back to shape, Bhardwaj added.
Among the Russians too,while some specialists are there at Kudankulam and are playing an important role with respect to preservation of the systems,some Russian sub-contractors are also gone. Well have to remobilise them, said K C Purohit,director-projects at NPCIL.
As the first anniversary of Fukushima draws near,NPCIL officials said that the implementation of the additional safety features recommended by the task forces,which were set up to review the safety of 20 operating Indian nuclear plants in the wake of Fukushima,is on schedule.
All additional measures meant at further augmenting safety at Indian nuclear plants would be in place in the next 14 months,said the timeline released in July 2011. The critical work is over. It implies that even if power supply and water support is lost,the safety of the nuclear plants wont be jeopardised, said Bhardwaj.
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