The abrupt shutdown of work on the 1,000 MWe first unit at the site of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP), consequent to the Tamil Nadu Cabinet's resolution on September 22, 2011, and the resultant siege laid to the project by activists of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), has led to a loss of about Rs.5 crore a day for the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL).
If the unit had not been shut down from October 12, 2011, it would have started generating about 2.5 crore units of electricity a day from December 2011. Even if the generation had been only two crore units a day, NPCIL would have made Rs.5 crore a day by selling each unit at Rs.2.50 to electricity boards in Tamil Nadu, Karnakata, Kerala and Puducherry.
Anil Kakodkar, former Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, said: A nuclear power plant cannot be put under siege the way it has happened now. It was strange that the large project had become hostage to certain forces, especially when it was ready for commissioning after meeting safety and environmental requirements. By just exploiting the Fukushima sentiment, this entire thing has been built up, Kakodkar said.
When work resumed at the KKNPP on March 19 after the Tamil Nadu Cabinet adopted a resolution on that day allowing work to start again, Srikumar Banerjee, Chairman, AEC, was reluctant to say to this writer that he was delighted at the development. He preferred instead to talk about the agony we have felt for a long time that the first reactor had come so close to generating power but could not be commissioned.
We will start the work immediately, declared S.K. Jain, Chairman and Managing Director, NPCIL. Our people are full of excitement. Our entire contingent is moving into the site at 3-30 p.m. today [March 19] itself so that work can be started on a war footing, he added.
But NPCIL faces a daunting task: how to get back about 3,000 skilled workers from Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal who were driven out of their homes in the villages around Kudankulam by the protesters. If most of them are unable to return in the coming weeks, NPCIL would be forced to recruit fresh hands. It means we have to train these new hands and qualify them in welding, cabling, insulation, and so on. Besides, the police have to check their antecedents and give them security clearance. All this will take several months, said an NPCIL engineer.
However, M. Kasinath Balaji, Site Director, KKNPP, asserted that we are undaunted in the task of generating power from the two units. The focus is on the second unit, he said. Regular shifts began from March 20, with about 1,000 full-time NPCIL employees and 70 Russian engineers reporting for work. They had been languishing for the past five months in their homes in the township at Chettikulam, 10 km from the project site. On Tuesday [March 20], we put all the technicians to work. Their enthusiasm is so high that they want to commission both units as quickly as possible, Balaji said.
Since PMANE activists allowed just 50 NPCIL employees for a shift from October 13, 2011, NPCIL could do only the minimum maintenance work on the two reactors from then on.
From October 13, 2011, to March 19, 2012, engineers were monitoring the electrical systems, ventilation, electronic systems, and so on. They kept a watch on the condition of the seawater pumps. Seawater in the pipeline was constantly chlorinated so that there was no abnormal growth in the pipeline. All these were reviewed by specialists from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and they expressed their satisfaction, said Balaji.
When work halted in October last at the KKNPP, the first unit had undergone a hot run with dummy fuel bundles, and a cool down was taking place. The hot run entailed taking the temperature of the primary coolant water to the reactor's operating temperature of 280C. On March 20, it was a big relief to the engineers that the water chemistry, which is a crucial factor in corrosion, showed no change. There was no damage to the reactor systems either, Balaji said.
Engineers and technicians from NPCIL's stations at Tarapur, Rawatbhatta, Kalpakkam, Kaiga, Kakrapara and Narora are in Kudankulam to help commission the two units quickly. On March 20 itself more than 110 engineers from other nuclear power stations reached KKNPP. A senior vice-president of Atomstroyexport from Russia would be at Kudankulam to review the status of the two units and help start both units.
Balaji added: We are working on a multi-pronged plan to start up both reactors. Although a tough task lies ahead of us, we are undaunted by it. We will meet the expectations of the Centre, the State government and the people.
T.S. SubramanianCOMMents
COMMents
SHARE