Two Indian 220MWe nuclear power plants reached operational milestones on the same day, setting a national record for days of continuous operations at the Kaiga Unit 1 nuclear plant and a personal best continuous run at the Rajasthan 3 reactor.
The Kaiga 1 reactor reached a record 873 continuous days on October 3. On the same day, the Rajasthan 3 reactor made it to 766 days of continuous operations for the first time.
With the announcements, according to Nuclear Engineering International, the head of the Department of Atomic Energy Sehar Basu said that contracts for 12 reactors – six EPR reactors slated for the Jaitapur site in Maharashtra and six AP1000 units slated for the Kovvada site in Andhra Pradesh – would not be signed before 2021.Delays on the signing have been attributed to needs to clarify responsibilities regarding ongoing concerns over supplier liabilities in the event of an accident. Contributing to the delays is, reportedly, concerns over construction problems associated with each of the reactor designs. Considerable delays have hampered progress at Westinghouse designed AP1000 reactor sites in the United States and China and at Areva (now Framatome) designed EPR reactor sites in Finland, China and France.
Basu called the recent AP1000 and EPR startups in China “good news,” but said Indian regulators were waiting for more “detailed information” describing the Chinese construction experience