Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has synchronised to the grid the third unit of the Kakrapar nuclear power plant in Gujarat (India). The company had loaded fuel into the 700 MW Indian-designed pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) in March 2020 and the reactor achieved first criticality in July 2020.
The Kakrapar nuclear power plant consists of two 220 MW PHWRs that were commissioned in 1993 and 1995. The first reactor was offline due a leakage of heavy water from its coolant channel between March 2016 and May 2019 and the second one was also taken offline for the same reasons in 2015 and restarted in September 2018. Two new 700 MW PHWR are currently under construction, with first concrete for Kakrapar-3 in November 2010 and in March 2011 for Kakrapar-4. These reactors are expected to be commissioned in 2021.
In addition to Kakrapar, NPCIL is also building two other 700 MW domestically-designed PHWRs in Rajasthan, which are expected to start commercial operations in March 2022 (unit 7) and 2023 (unit 8).
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