Monday, June 2, 2008

First consignment of uranium from Russia arrives

Koodankulam, May 30: The first consignment of 40 cylinders of enriched uranium from Russia has arrived at the atomic power station here.

The cylinders, that reached here on Wednesday and stored in safety chambers, would be constantly monitored for uniform temperature and other safety aspects, station project director K C Purohit told reporters today.

He said another batch of 163 cylinders would arrive from Russia in the coming months.

The enriched uranium fuel is in the form of final fuel assembly and it will be loaded in to a reactor by October, he said.

He said works on two Russian reactors called VVER-1000 were progressing and it was likely to be commissioned by January 2009.

The two reactors would use enriched uranium as fuel and light water as both moderator and coolant.

While Russia is supplying the design and all the equipment for the two reactors, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is building the units.

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