A New Indian Nuclear Plant

A few hours ago, a new Indian nuclear reactor went online. No this isn't going to lead to a situation where we have no power cuts at all. But, still it's significant news. The second of two Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor units went critical at 9:53pm on Saturday night at Kota, Rajasthan. Designated RAPP-6, this last unit adds 220MW of power. Construction of RAPP-5 and RAPP-6 started way back in 2002-2003.

There are 2 more reactors RAPP-7 and RAPP-8 that will be under construction soon. Each will provide 700MW.


A typical PHW Reactor design, from which the most recent reactors were derived:



Here's the PTI report.

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Kota, Jan 23 (PTI) Indias 19th nuclear power reactor went into operation tonight at the Rajasthan Atomic Power Plant near Kota, giving a boost to availability of electricity in North India. The indigenous reactor of Rajasthan Atomic Power Project (RAPP-6) at Rawat Bhata, near Kota, attained its first criticality at 21:53 hrs today, posting a major milestone in the project completion process.

Rajasthan Atomic Power Project 5 and 6 comprises of two Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) of 220MW each. The first unit, RAPP-5 achieved first syinchronisation on December 22, 2009 and RAPP- 6, the second unit, an indigenous nuclear power reactor has now joined the fleet of 18 nuclear power reactors in operation.

With the operation of RAPP 5 and 6, the installed capacity has risen to 1180MW. The power will be shared by the beneficiaries of Northern Electricity Grid.

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