India / Installation Complete Of Steam Generators At Kudankulam-4 ( www.nucnet.org )

The installation of the steam generators has been completed at Unit 4 of the Kudankulam nuclear power station in Tamil Nadu state, southern India, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said.

All four steam generators – each about 14 metres long with a diameter of four metres and weighing 340 tonnes – were installed using the ‘open top’ method, first used at Kudankulam-3.

This method allows large equipment to be loaded into the reactor building using a heavy-duty crane before the reactor dome is closed. Rosatom said it can significantly cut the time taken to carry out the installation.

Construction of the Generation III Kudankulam-4, a 917-MW VVER pressurised water reactor unit supplied by Russia, began in October 2017.

There are three other units of the same design under construction at the site. Construction of Kudankulam-3 began in 2017 and of Kudankulam-5 and -6 in 2021.

Kudankulam-1 and -2, also both VVER V-412 units, have been in commercial operation since December 2014 and March 2017.