Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) says that generation from its nuclear power plants during April-September 2010 was 23% higher than for the corresponding period last year.
The state utility says that the increase was due to the augmentation of fuel supplies resulting from international cooperation, the import of uranium for some of the pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs) and also an increased supply of uranium from domestic sources.
The use of imported fuel has made a large impact at India’s largest nuclear power plant, Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS). It enabled the restart of RAPS-2 in September 2009, following its en-masse feeder replacement (EMFR), the start of commercial operation at RAPS-5&6 in the first quarter of 2010 and operation of units RAPS-3&4 at full power from May 2010.
Similarly, the increased uranium supplies from indigenous sources has enabled operation of PHWRs fuelled by domestic uranium at a higher power level of about 70% and also the restart of Narora Atomic Power Station, unit-2 after en-masse coolant channel replacement (EMCCR). Provision has also been made for the start of commercial operation of Kaiga-4 towards the end of this year.
NPCIL expects the total generation in the financial year 2010-11 to be about 10% higher than the target fixed for the corresponding period. Significantly a target of about 32,000 million MWh, 45% higher than the target for 2010-11, is being proposed for the year 2011-12.
