As efforts continue to push the Indo-US nuclear deal in the face of Left opposition, two units of Tarapur Atomic Power Project (TAPP) will be dedicated to the nation.
NEW DELHI: As efforts continue to push the Indo-US nuclear deal in the face of Left opposition, two units of Tarapur Atomic Power Project (TAPP) will be dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on August 31.
The Units III and IV of 540 MWe each have been built in the shortest time and will come as a big relief to Maharashtra and other states in meeting their power requirement.
The TAPP comprises Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) which use natural uranium fuel and heavy water both as moderator and coolant.
The Units III and IV are the largest PHWRs to be built indigenously as other 12 reactors of the kind have only a capacity of 220 MWe each.
The atomic plants are being commissioned at a time when the Left parties have demanded a freeze on Indo-US civil nuclear deal which is aimed at boosting the country's atomic power generation.
The government is determined to go ahead with the deal and is in the process of convincing the Left allies.
Built by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), a public sectory undertaking under the Department of Atomic Energy, the TAPP units have been constructed in less than five years using entirely indigenous concept, design, equipment and fabrication technology. The capacity of these units is intended to be increased to 700 MWe.
The TAPP I and II, built by General Electric of the US in 1969, have the capacity of 160 MWe each.
Tarapur I and II were on the verge of closure last year due to paucity of fuel but Russia stepped in time to supply 60 metric tonnes of uranium.
During his visit, Singh will also address graduates of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre at Trombay near Mumbai.
Singh, to be accompanied by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, will also review the state of farming sector there.
The Prime Minister had visited Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in this regard earlier.
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