Kudankulam Unit-2 to switch to new 440-day fuel cycle soon

CHENNAI: The 1,000 MW Unit 2 of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) will soon continuously generate for 440 days from the present 290 days without having to shut down for refuelling.

The new fuel cycle will start when it commences operation after the 63-day refuelling shutdown starting May 13. Unit 1 had shifted to the new fuel cycle in 2022.

Despite strong demands from southern states, including Tamil Nadu, to operate the unit under the partial load till the end of May citing unprecedented power demand, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) decided to go ahead with the planned shutdown. However, it reduced the shutdown period from the initial plan of 75 days (May 4 to July 8) to 63 days.

In a letter to the joint secretary, Ministry of Power, NPCIL chairman and managing director Bhuwan Chandra Pathak said that units based on light water reactor technology (like KKNPP Units 1&2) should be shut down for refuelling after completion of the fuel cycle length. Due to this and other technical reasons, the second unit could not be operated beyond May 13, he said.

“However, we have initiated actions, based on similar requests from the Southern Regional Power Committee earlier, to extend the fuel cycle length so that the unit’s continuous operation period will increase to about 440 days from the present period of 290 days or so. This will increase unit availability and address to a large extent the concerns of SRPC. This would however be possible only after the present refuelling outage, “ he wrote.

The two units of KKNPP supply a total of 1,152 MW to the state grid. “Though increasing unit availability is a welcome one, the refuelling shutdown should not be planned during the January to May period when the power demand is high,” a senior Tangedco official said.