Four nuclear plants being built by Russia at site
All four steam generators have been installed at the Kudankulam nuclear power station in India. Courtesy Rosatom.The installation of the steam generators has been completed at Unit 4 of the Kudankulam nuclear power station in Tamil Nadu state, southern India, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said.
All four steam generators – each about 14 metres long with a diameter of four metres and weighing 340 tonnes – were installed using the ‘open top’ method, first used at Kudankulam-3.
This method allows large equipment to be loaded into the reactor building using a heavy-duty crane before the reactor dome is closed. Rosatom said it can significantly cut the time taken to carry out the installation.
Construction of the Generation III Kudankulam-4, a 917-MW VVER pressurised water reactor unit supplied by Russia, began in October 2017.
There are three other units of the same design under construction at the site. Construction of Kudankulam-3 began in 2017 and of Kudankulam-5 and -6 in 2021.
Kudankulam-1 and -2, also both VVER V-412 units, have been in commercial operation since December 2014 and March 2017.