The Nuclear Power Plant in India

                 

1.   Tarapur Atomic Power Station-

           The Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS), located near Boisar in Maharashtra, is India's oldest nuclear power facility.The power plant consists of two 120MW boiling water reactor (BWR) units, which were commissioned in October 1969, and two pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) units, which were commissioned in 2005 and 2006.

              The state-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NCPIL) owns and operates the Tarapur nuclear power facility, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in October 2019.After 30 years of operation, the plant's first two units were extensively rebuilt following a rigorous safety review conducted by India's Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB).

                As of September 2019, the power plant generated more than 193 billion units of energy, with the two older units accounting for more than 98 billion.

              

Project Type : Atomic power station

Location  : Tarapur, Maharashtra, India

Owner and Operator : Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NCPIL)

Capacity : 1.4GW

  Background of Tarapur Atomic Power Station-

                        After the US and Indian governments signed a deal in May 1964 to work together to build India's first nuclear power plant on the country's west coast, construction on the Tarapur nuclear power station began in October 1964.One hundred and twenty Americans worked on the building phase, and GE provided the plant's two BWR units.Following India's nuclear bomb test at Pokhran in 1974, the US withdrew its 30-year agreement to supply enriched uranium for the Tarapur atomic power plant.

                  Later, the power plant began using imported uranium fuel that was provided by other nations, such as France, Russia, and China, in accordance with the safety measures set forth by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Details of TAPS units three and four-

                        

             The third and fourth reactor units of Tarapur Atomic Power Station, which were   created and developed by NPCIL, are the first PHWR reactors to be utilised in India. With physically independent safety and shutdown systems, each unit of a horizontal pressure tube reactor has a 540MW design net capacity.The third and fourth TAPS units, respectively, saw the start of construction in May and March 2000. Unit three was put into service in August 2006, while Unit Four was linked to the grid in June 2005.

Contractors in contention-

         For TAPS units one and two, GE served as the turnkey engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor.For the main plant's civil works, service water system, primary steam pipes, composite chilled water, HVAC packages (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), and electrical and instrumentation work for Tarapur units three and four, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) was hired.
               The final two units of the plant were completed by Gammon India, Afcons Infrastructure, and Metcon, among other building companies.The steam generators for each of the Tarapur nuclear power station's four reactor units were designed by Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL).
In January 2019, the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, contracted with TVEL Fuel Company, a subsidiary of Russia's state-run Rosatom, to supply uranium fuel pellets for the BWR reactor units of the Tarapur nuclear power station.