Russia completes core supply for Kudankulam Unit 3

The supply of the main equipment for the third unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu (India) was completed.

The supply of the main equipment for the third unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu (India) was completed. Andrey Lebedev, Vice-President for projects in India of ASE, Russia`s Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation Engineering Division, said that all main equipment items located within the red line of the reactor pit installation have been supplied.

Rosatom State Corporation is main equipment suppliers and technical consultants for the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant project.

The shipment consisted of the molten core catcher, embedded parts of the reactor pit, dry protection, heat-insulation of the cylindrical shell, truss buckstay, reactor vessel. These are part of the enhanced safety features in VVER-1000 reactors. A thrust truss and devices for neutron flux monitoring chambers allocation are expected to be delivered by the next shipload.

A core melt localisation device (CMLD), or a “core catcher,” is one of the most important passive safety systems of modern nuclear power plants of Russian design. CMLD is installed at the bottom of the plants’s protective shell. It is designed to localise and cool the molten core material in case of a hypothetical accident that could lead to damage to the core.

“Taking into account that four steam generators, a pressuriser, main coolant pipelines and a bubbler were delivered earlier, ASE has mostly completed the procurement of the containment equipment for the third unit to ensure uninterruptible and continuous operations for the reactor plant construction which is on the critical path of the project,” said Andrey Lebedev.

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