TIRUNELVELI : After nearly 82 days, Unit I (reactor 1) of Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project resumed power generation on Thursday. Two nuclear reactors had been installed in the nuclear power plant, each with capacity of 1000 MWe power generation.
The Unit I had attained criticality (start of controlled self sustaining fission chain reaction) on July 13, 2013, and was synchronised with the Southern Grid on October 22.
Following this, the Unit-I achieved power generation of 1000 MWe for the first time on June 7, 2014. The unit was declared open for commercial operation from midnight on December 31, 2014. Later on June 24, 2015, the unit was shut down for annual maintenance and refuelling outage.
However, the second cycle of power generation in the same unit started at the end of January 2016. After 278 days of power generation, the reactor was shut down on November 26.
Although it was mentioned that the unit I was shut for 10 days, the reactor resumed power generation only after 82 days.