Chennai, Jan 31 (IANS): The fourth 1,000 MW nuclear power plant at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu achieved a major milestone with the installation of the reactor vessel recently.

The reactor vessel for the fourth 1,000 MW nuclear power plant at Kudankulam was installed in the design position a couple of days back, said Russia’s integrated nuclear power player Rosatom State Corporation.

According to Rosatom, on January 24, 2024, the reactor vessel was installed with the Open Top technology, which had been successfully tested at Unit No 3 (this technology involved installation of the reactor vessels through an open dome, which could significantly increase the installation speed).

The preparations for the operation were completed in record-breaking time, ie in the morning, the equipment was brought into the vertical position, lifted by crane to a 50m height and taken down into the reactor shaft of the reactor building, said Rosatom.

After the reactor vessel has been installed, the equipment of the nuclear steam supply system including steam generators, casings of the reactor coolant pump units, and the pressuriser will start to be installed.

The reactor vessel, weighing over 317 tons, was brought from Volgodonsk to the Kudankulam nuclear power plant construction site in 2023 as part of the extremely complicated and large-scale simultaneous shipment of two reactor vessels and eight steam generators for two nuclear power plants being built in India and China, the Russian company said.

India's atomic power plant operator Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has two functional 1,000 MW plants (Units 1 and 2) at Kudankulam, while four more (Units 3, 4, 5 and 6) are under construction. All the six units are built with Russian technology and equipment supplied by Rosatom. Major equipment for building the third and fourth units have reached Kudankulam from Russia, while a sizable number of components for the fifth and sixth units are to come.