Relaunch of first unit of Kudankulam comes after maintenance

The relaunch of Unit 1 of India's Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP), which Russia is helping to build, took place on Thursday, as a controlled nuclear chain reaction was started again in the unit's reactor, a KNPP press release reports.

In 2015, the first planned maintenance of the unit was successfully carried out in full with technical support from Russian specialists, and in December the nuclear fuel was loaded.

The relaunch, the release says, was overseen Russian nuclear experts and specialists from India's Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL).

Once the reactor power has been increased to the necessary level, the unit will be reconnected to India's national grid.

Russia is building the KNPP under an intergovernmental agreement from 1988 and a supplement to it from 1998. The general designer is Atomenergoproekt, and technical assistance is being provided by Atomstroyeksport. The customer is the NPCIL.

The plant's Unit 1 is currently the most powerful in India, and the safest, complying with the latest safety requirements. The unit was connected to India's national grid in 2013. At the end of 2014, it was handed over to India with a one-year warranty.

First published in Russian by RIA Novosti.

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