The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh today congratulated the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and all scientists, technicians and officials upon the crossing of a significant milestone when the Fourth Reactor of the Tarapore Plant (TAPP-4) attained criticality. This 540 MW plant will be the largest indigenously-built pressurized heavy water reactor in India.
The Prime Minister described this development as an important step in our quest to attain energy security through the use of nuclear power for peaceful purposes.
TAPP-3&4 is India’s next generation 540 MWe twin unit design incorporating latest safety features in line with the prevailing international codes and practices. It is also a fore-runner to India’s 700 MWe PHWR design to be set-up in near future. The construction activities at TAPP-3&4 have progressed at a very fast pace and the first unit (TAPP-4) is expected to be complete in 5 years time – shortest ever achieved in India and also a global benchmark.
The reactor building comprises of a double containment, following a “dome-inside-dome” concept. It houses the reactor core – the heart of a nuclear reactor and all other critical nuclear components including the steam generators. The robust containment has a diameter of 60m and an overall height of 50.5m, making it one of the largest containment volume of any reactor in the world. The wall of the inner containment is 75.0 cm thick and is made out of high performance, high strength concrete of grade M60 and is a pre-stressed structure. The outer containment, also called secondary containment, 61 cm thick, is a reinforced cement concrete structure. The state-of-the-art containment system ensures that no radioactivity releases to the environment during all phases of plant operation and even under highly unlikely hypothetical accidental conditions.
Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), a public sector undertaking is spearheading India’s nuclear power programme. Eight units, six PHWRs and two light water reactors are under construction in India. The project gestation periods have been compressed substantially to 5 to 6 years, which will help to make nuclear power economically competitive.