TAPP-3 all set to commence commercial production next month

Mumbai, Jun 13 (UNI) Maharashtra, which faced acute power shortage this summer, will soon get a big relief with synchronisation of the 540 MWe third unit of Tarapur Atomic Power Project (TAPP-3) with the western grid in the next 48 hours.

''The unit is all set to commence commercial production next month,'' the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited(NPCIL) sources said here today. The unit had attained its criticality on May 21 last, two months ahead of schedule while its synchronisation with the western grid in less than half the time for TAPP-4 is yet another feather in it's cap, the sources added.

The 540 MWe TAPP-4 , predecessor of TAPP-3 , which had achieved criticality last year on March 6 has already started commercial production from September 12 last.

The achievement of criticality is a major milestone in any atomic power project as it signifies the start of self-sustaining nuclear fission chain reaction in the reactor core.

The TAPP-3, a totally indigenous nuclear power unit, is the 16th nuclear power reactor in the country. It has been designed and built by NPCIL, a public sector undertaking under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).

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