Russians fix vibration, N-power unit restarts at Kudankulam

According to Power System Operation Corporation Limited, the atomic power plant that was shutdown on May 21, restarted power generation on Tuesday.

Chennai: The second 1,000 MW atomic power plant of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) at Kudankulam that was shutdown due to high vibrations in its generator has restarted power generation.

According to Power System Operation Corporation Limited, the atomic power plant that was shutdown on May 21, restarted power generation on Tuesday.

A team of six Russian specialists from turbine manufacturer Power Machines had come to Kudankulam to complete the vibration adjustment of the new generator stator in the second unit.

India’s atomic power plant operator — Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has two 1,000 MW power units supplied by Russia’s Rosatom.

On Tuesday, the two units together touched a peak generation of 1,304 MW and the average generation 659 MW.

“In March 2020, preventive maintenance was completed at Block 2 (Unit 2), in the framework of which the generator stator was successfully replaced,” a Rosatom official had told IANS.

The unit was operated at a lower capacity due to the need to complete the vibration adjustment of the new stator.

“This is a common world practice for this type of electrical machines,” he added.

According to the official, the first unit is at the end of its fourth fuel campaign which is due at the end of this month. The unit is planned to be stopped for the next scheduled preventive maintenance.

In order to avoid simultaneous shutdown of both the power generating units, the managements of Indian and Russian companies decided for a short-term shutdown of Unit 2 during May.

In pursuant of that decision and in connection with the partial relaxation of the Covid-19 restrictive measures, a chartered flight with specialists of turbine manufacturer Power Machines was dispatched from Russia in a timely manner, the official had said.