Atomic energy board grants operational licence to two home-built 700 MWe reactors in Gujarat

The Hindu

6 days ago

India's nuclear regulator, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), has granted operation licence for two indigenously developed 700 MWe Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors at the Kakrapar Atomic Power Station (KAPS) in Gujarat.
The KAPS-3 reactor was commissioned at full power in August 2023, while the KAPS-4 unit followed the same month a year later.
"The AERB has concluded the design and commissioning safety reviews and issued the Licence for Operation of Units 3 and 4 of KAPS, the country's first 700 MWe indigenous Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors [PHWRs]," a statement from the regulator said.
Since the 700 MWe reactor was the first of its kind, the licensing process involved rigorous multi-tiered safety reviews and assessment of the reactor design, covering the entire life cycle in multiple stages from siting, construction to commissioning at full-power.
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) received the Licence for Operation for KAPS 3&4 from the AERB for a period of five years on July 3.
The issuance of the licence is a shot in the arm for the NPCIL, which is spearheading building 10 PHWRs of 700 MWe each in fleet mode.
India has 15 PHWRs of 220 MWe and two of 540 MWe capacity operational at various sites across the country.
The 540 MWe PHWR design was upgraded to 700 MWe and the first pair of such reactors are operational at Kakrapar. A similar 700 MWe reactor at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan began commercial operations in March this year.
Besides the AERB, several reactor safety experts from the technical support organisations made significant contributions towards review of the design and commissioning results, which spanned almost 15 years.
As a part of Phase-C commissioning, KAPS-3 received permission for full power operation in August 2023, followed by KAPS-4 in August 2024.
After further review of plant performance close to rated power, the AERB has now granted the License for Operation to the NPCIL for five years.