The 1000 megawatt facility is India’s single largest nuclear generation unit and was dedicated by the leaders through video conferencing from Delhi and Moscow.
They were joined by Tamil Nadu chief minister J.Jayalalithaa from Chennai. The VVER type light water reactor and its ancillary equipment were supplied by Russian atomic agency Atomstroyexport under an Indo-Russian agreement of 1988.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address said in Kudankulam, five more nuclear reactors would come up. He said the first unit of Kudankulam project signals the joint commitment of India and Russia towards green growth.
He emphasised that induistrial growth needs to be driven by clean energy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin while lauding the Indo-Russian cooperative venture said by this year end agreements for the third part of the project would be signed.
Tamil Nadu chief minister J.Jayalalithaa wanted the second unit of the Kudankulam project to be commissioned at the earliest. She favoured nuclear energy saying it is a clean source.
In Kudankulam, the second unit has already attained criticality and is expected to get connected to the grid in a month’s time. Preliminary works are also going on for the construction of third and fourth reactors with Russian technical expertise.
The first unit of Kudankulam nuclear power plant attained criticality in July 2013. Till now more than 10,800 million units of power has been generated from the first unit.
The 1000 Mega watt nuclear power plant was built with Russian expertise following a pact between the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Soviet leader Mikahil Gorbachev in November 1988.
AIR correspondent reports that the dedication of the first unit of the Kudankulam Atomic Power project is a landmark nuclear event as it has seen the light of the day after overcoming several major hurdles including local and national opposition.
It has also braved the political uncertainties in the erstwhile Soviet Union with which bilateral agreement was signed in November 1988. The pact got revived in 1998 with Russia and construction works started in March 2002.
Enhanced safety features were incorporated in the water cooled, water moderated reactor complex after the Fukushima nuclear incident in Japan, and the first unit got connected to the power grid in October 2013. After much delay, it began commercial operation in December 2014.
The second unit is also soon to be commissioned. Though the project was planned at a cost of Rs 13,171 crore, inordinate delays led to cost escalation and got shot up to Rs 17,270 crore.
Newer reactors may cost much higher as insurance costs are to be added to the project cost, say experts. Kudankulam has become synonymous with nuclear energy and is set to help the southern states to ensure their energy security, with Tamil Nadu getting a major share of the clean energy.
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