All four steam generators have been installed at unit 4 of India’s Kudankulam NPP, under construction in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, according to Rosatom’s Engineering Division. They were installed using the open top method, which allows large equipment to be loaded into the reactor building using a heavy-duty crane before the building dome is closed.
“The installation of steam generators at unit 4 by our Indian partners was carried out regularly and quite quickly, said Anton Chistyakov, Deputy Director for Projects in India for Atomstroyexport (ASE). “The open top installation technology, proposed by Russia for unit 3 again confirmed its effectiveness during this installation. All installation procedures were performed by contractors with such high quality.”
The key equipment for unit 4 was manufactured at the Atommash plant, the production site of AEM Technologies (part of the Mechanical Engineering Division of Rosatom – Atomenergomash). Kudankulam NPP will comprise six units with VVER-1000 reactors. Work began following an intergovernmental agreement between India and Russia signed in 1988. Units 1&2 (Phase I) are already in operation and work is underway to build units 3-6 (Phases II and III). The customer and operator of the station is the National Power Company of India Ltd (NPCIL), the general contractor is JSC ASE JSC (Rosatom’s Engineering Division), general designer Atomenergoproject and equipment designer OKB Gidropress.
Units 1&2 began operation in 2016. The general framework agreement with Rosatom on the construction units 3&4 was signed in 2014 and, in 2017, the engineering division of Rosatom and NPCIL signed an agreement on the construction units 5&6. Work on units 5&6 began in 2021 and the NPP is expected to be operating at full capacity by 2027. The roadmap for nuclear cooperation between Russia and India provides for the construction of a total 12 units in India, including 4-8 at Kudankulam.
