Kakrapar Atomic Power Project (KAPP3)

Recently, the third unit of the indigenously developed 700-megawatt electric (MWe) nuclear power reactor at the Kakrapar Atomic Power Project (KAPP3) in Tapi district of Gujarat has commenced operations at full capacity.

• The foundation of KAPP-3 happened in November 2010 and this unit was originally expected to be commissioned in 2015.
• State-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) is responsible for construction and management of the plant.
• The reactor at the Kakrapar Atomic Power Project (KAPP) had started commercial operations on June 30 but was operating at 90 per cent of its capacity till now.

• KAPP-3 is the country’s first and the biggest indigenously developed variant of the Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR).
• A PHWR is a nuclear power reactor, commonly using unenriched natural uranium as its fuel that uses heavy water (deuterium oxide D2O) as its coolant and moderator.
• PHWR technology was started in India in the late 1960s with the construction of the first 220 MWe reactors, Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS-1).
• Significance:
• The new 700MWe unit addresses the excess thermal margins (thermal margin refers to the extent to which the operating temperature of the reactor is below its maximum operating temperature) — and also marks an improvement in the economies-of-scale, without significant design changes to the 540 MWe reactor.