Russia starts fuel production for Kudankulam Units 3 & 4

The Russian Nuclear Power agency Rosatom has commenced the production of Nuclear fuel that will power India’s Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) Units 3 and 4, which are under construction in Tamil Nadu, Southern India.

Typically, modern-day Nuclear power plants have a lifetime of 40-60years. Kudankulam comprises a total of six VVER-1000 type power units, each of which are capable of generating 1000Megawatts of power.

For nearly ten years, Units 1 and 2 of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power plant have been operational. Thus far, during the operational period of Units 1 and 2 of KKNPP, Russian and Indian specialists have accomplished a large amount of work to improve their efficiency by introducing advanced nuclear fuel and extended fuel cycles.

Since 2022, Kudankulam NPP has been supplied with nuclear fuel of improved design ‘TVS-2M’. The new fuel ensures more reliable and cost-efficient operation of reactors due to its rigid skeleton, new-generation anti-debris filter and higher uranium mass.

The introduction of TVS-2M also enabled the increase of the continuous operation period of the reactor – from 12 months to 18 months.

The newer fuel meant that the reactor could operate for six months longer than usual. Typically, after a 12-month period of operation, the reactor has to be shut down and its irradiated fuel has to be unloaded and the fresh fuel has to be loaded.

Now this process needs to be done only once in 18months, thanks to the new type of fuel that is in use. Longer periods of continuous operation boosts the economic efficiency of the nuclear reactor, as it can produce more power during the year and faces less number of shutdowns overall.

his is a result of our successful cooperation in recent years, as the efficient solutions which have been previously implemented at similar reactors in Russia and China were also introduced at the Kudankulam operational power units.

KKNPP in Tamil Nadu involves the construction of 6 power units of VVER-1000 reactors with an installed capacity of 6000 MW. The first stage, consisting of power units No. 1 and No. 2, was commissioned in 2013 and 2017, respectively.

Power units No. 3, 4 and No. 5, 6 are the second and third stages of the Kudankulam NPP. Currently, power units 3,4,5,6 are under construction.

TVEL Fuel Company of Rosatom (the Fuel division of the State Corporation Rosatom) includes enterprises for the manufacture of nuclear fuel, conversion and enrichment of uranium, production of gas centrifuges, as well as research and design organisations.

Being the only exclusive supplier of nuclear fuel for Russian nuclear power plants, TVEL provides fuel to a total of more than 70 power reactors in 15 countries, research reactors in nine countries of the world.

Every sixth power reactor in the world is powered by TVEL fuel. Rosatom’s fuel division is the world’s largest producer of enriched uranium.