Kudankulam plant linked to Southern Grid but trips soon after

The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, which began generating power early Tuesday morning, faced technical glitches hours after it was synchronised with the Southern Power Grid. A report in the Indian Express, quoting senior officials, said the first 1,000 MWe unit tripped around 4.34 am after it was test-synchronised at 2.45 am. The first unit of the Kudankulam plant was synchronized to the grid on Tuesday at 02.45 am and generated 160 MWe, an NPCIL statement said. [caption id=“attachment_118899” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The Kudankulam plant. AP[/caption] RS Sundar, site director of the KNPP, said that the power will be further raised to 500 MWe, 750 MWe and 1000 MWe in stages. “At every stage, various tests are conducted and the technical parameters are verified. Based on the results of the tests at each of the stages and with AERB clearances, subsequent stages are reached,” he said in the statement. However, with the line tripping on Tuesday, sources in the KNPP grid room told the daily that the unit is unlikely to come back on before Wednesday night. On Tuesday, Sundar had said that power generation beyond 300 MW will happen in the next few days. “The power generation beyond 400 MW will happen with the permission of AERB (Atomic Energy Regulatory Board). They have asked us to do so,” Sundar added. With the addition of the KNPP Unit 1 of 1000 MWe capacity, the contribution of nuclear power in the country will rise from 4780 MWe to 5780 MWe. The Kudankulam plant is the 20th nuclear plant in the country to be connected to the national grid.