Nuclear Energy in India

Nuclear Energy in India The building of nuclear power stations in India was originally in the hands of a Power Projects Engineering Division. In 1984, this division was reconstituted as the Nuclear Power Board, converted later (1987) into the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL). The NPCIL is responsible for designing, construct­ing, commissioning and operating all nuclear power reac­tors in the country.

The Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS) was com­missioned in 1969, signalling the start of generation of electricity from nuclear energy. It has two 210 MW(e)­capacity boiling water reactors fuelled by enriched uranium. They were set up by an American company as turn-key projects. TAPS, that provides electricity to Gujarat and Maharashtra, has completed 20 years of commercial opera­tion.

The Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS) at Rawatbhatta has two prototype PHWR units of 220 MW(e) capacity each, using natural uranium as fueL It supplies electricity to Rajasthan. The two units attained criticality in 1972 and 1981. RAPS, an NPC station governed by the DAE, also falls under international safeguards.
The third unit of RAPS-3 at Rawatbhatta went critical in 1999, thus crossing a significant milestone in India's nuclear power programme. RAPS-3 (and RAPS-4) consists of PHWRs of a kind similar to those which have already been set up in Canada, Pakistan, Argentina, Romania and South Korea.

Rawatbhatta has a special place in our nuclear programme. It has a number of firsts to its credit. It is the first PHWRs and represents our first successful en masse coolant channels replacement and now it is the first state­of-the-art PHWR.

The Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) at Kalpakkam started commercial operation in 1984. The twq PHWRs are indigenously designed and constructed-the first such in India which provide electricity to Chennai.

The Narora Atomic Power Station (NAPS) in Uttar Pradesh has two PHWR units of 220 MW(e) each. These are standardised versions on which the design of all future 220 MW(e) PHWRs is to be based. NAPS provides electricity to Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
At the Kakrapara Atomic Power Station (KAPS), in Gujarat, a 220 MW(e) reactor has synchronised with the grid. With this the installed capacity for nuclear power generation in the country has come to 1,720 MW(e).

The first power reactor of the Kaiga Atomic Power Station in Karnataka attained criticality in September 1999 and was synchronised with the power grid in December 1999. The second power reactor attained criticality in September 2000.