Madras Atomic Power Station
 Location of in India
|
|
| Country | India |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Construction began | 1970 |
| Commission date | 24 January 1984 |
| Operator(s) | Nuclear Power Corporation of India LTD. |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | 2 x 235 |
| Units under const. | 1 x 500 MW |
| Annual generation | 2,311 |
| Website Nuclear Power Corporation of India |
|
Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) located at Kalpakkam about 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of Chennai, India, is a comprehensive nuclear power production, fuel reprocessing, and waste treatment facility that includes plutonium fuel fabrication for fast breeder reactors (FBRs). It is also India's first fully indigenously constructed nuclear power station. It has two units of 220 MWe capacity each. The first and second units of the station went critical in 1983 and 1985 respectively. The station has reactors housed in a reactor building with double shell containment ensuring total protection even in the remotest possibility of loss-of-coolant accident. An Interim Storage Facility [ISF] is also located in Kalpakkam.
History
Madras Atomic Power Station was built to strengthen the nuclear capability of India, and it laid the foundation for the indigenisation of India's nuclear power programme. The plant was constructed during the Prime Ministership of Indira Gandhi. The MAPS-1 reached criticality on 2 July 1983 and it was synchronised to the grid on 23 July 1983 in the presence of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
During its construction, a total of 3.8 lakh (380,000) railway sleeper (logs) were brought from all over India to lift the 180-tonne critical equipment in the first unit, due to lack of proper infrastructure and handling equipment.[1]
Reactors
The facility houses two indigenously built PHWRs called MAPS-1 and MAPS-2. MAPS-1 was completed in 1981, but start-up was delayed due to a shortage of heavy water. After procuring the necessary heavy water, the MAPS-1 went critical in 1983 and began operating at full power on 27 January 1984. MAPS-2 obtained criticality in 1985 and began full power operations on 21 March 1986.[2] The two Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) are capable of generating 170MWe each which is lower than the designed power of 235MWe since some zircaloy pieces from the cracked cooling system were found in a moderator pump.[3]
A beachhead at Kalpakkam also hosts India's first indigenous Pressurized (light) water reactor (PWR). The 80 MW reactor was developed by BARC as the land based prototype of the nuclear power unit for India's nuclear submarines [4] This unit does not come under MAPS.
The Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor ist expected to begin operation in 2015.
See also
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Plants Under Operation - Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited. Npcil.nic.in. Retrieved on 2013-12-06.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Nuclear power Corporation of India Ltd
- Plants Under Operation: Madras Atomic Power Station
- NTI India Profile
| District Headquarters |
 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Country | ||
| State | ||
| Region | ||
| Taluks | ||
| Blocks | ||
| Municipalities | ||
| History | ||
| Places of interest |
|
|
| Religious and monastic institutions | ||
| Universities | ||
- Articles with dead external links from October 2010
- Use Indian English from June 2015
- All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English
- Use dmy dates from May 2012
- Nuclear reprocessing sites
- Nuclear power stations in Tamil Nadu
- Nuclear power stations with reactors under construction
- Economy of Chennai
- Kanchipuram district
- Power plants in Chennai
