Kakrapar-3 Atomic Power Plant: All you need to know

Team Udayavani, Jul 23, 2020, 4:37 PM IST

The Kakrapar Atomic Power Plant 3 (KAPP-3) in Gujarat has successfully achieved its first criticality (meaning that the reactor has started giving out controlled and sustained nuclear fission reaction) on July 22, 2020, around 25 years after last unit was commissioned.

Pm Modi tweeted saying, “ Congratulations to our nuclear scientists for achieving criticality of Kakrapar Atomic Power Plant-3! This indigenously designed 700 MWe KAPP-3 reactor is a shining example of Make in India. And a trailblazer for many such future achievements!”

Congratulations to our nuclear scientists for achieving criticality of Kakrapar Atomic Power Plant-3! This indigenously designed 700 MWe KAPP-3 reactor is a shining example of Make in India. And a trailblazer for many such future achievements!

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 22, 2020

The first unit of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) was commissioned on 6th May 1993 and the second unit was commissioned on 1st September 1995.

The third unit of Kakrapar Atomic Power Station is located in the Tapi district of Gujarat.It is India’s first biggest indigenously developed nuclear power plant of 700 MWe of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR).

Till now the biggest reactor size of indigenous design was the 540 MWe PHWR, which have been deployed in Tarapur, Maharashtra

There have been several added features to the Kakrapar Atomic Power station such as:

A dedicated ‘Passive Decay Heat Removal System’ which can remove decay heat (released as a result of radioactive decay) from the reactor core without requiring any operator actions.

It is also equipped with a steel-lined containment to reduce any leakages, and a containment spray system to reduce the containment pressure in case of a loss of coolant accident.

There is a thin-walled pressure tubes instead of the large pressure vessels that are used in pressure vessel type reactors which results in lowering the severity of the consequence of an accidental rupture of the pressure boundary.