Nuclear reactor RAPS-5 likely to be commissioned soon

The newly constructed Rajasthan Atomic Power Station's unit 5 (RAPS-5) of 220 mw located at Rawatbhata, which has come under the fold of international safeguards, is likely to be commissioned soon.

The imported Uranium fuel from Russia has already been loaded on it under the supervision of IAEA inspectors, atomic energy department sources said.

Following the notification of the Separation Plan of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last month under which 14 nuclear plants will be under the umbrella of India Specific Safeguards Agreement (ISSA) of international atomic watchdog, RAPS-5 is the first indigenously built unit that has come under international safeguards, the sources told PTI.

Notification of Separation Plan of the specified civilian plants and few scientific institutions to IAEA was some of the conditions to enable international civil nuclear co-operation.

The procedures for criticality (chain reaction) of RAPS-5 will begin anytime during the next seven days as the heavy water, as moderator and coolant, is being loaded on this Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) since yesterday, the sources said.

By the end of this year, the unit will be synchronised to the northern grid. The construction of RAPS-5 began in September  2002 and had to wait for the fuel for almost a year to get operated, they said.

RAPS-6 is also getting ready to be commissioned before the end of this year as the IAEA cameras are already in place for this reactor, he said.

Both RAPS-5 and RAPS-6 are the newly built reactors of 220 mw each and will use the imported fuel from Russia, a senior Nuclear Power corporation official said.

While the imported fuel from France will be used only in RAPS-2 which has been already under international safeguards and currently under the ISSA, he said.

Next year, two more indigenous PHWRs of 220 mw each — RAPS units 3 and 4, will be placed under IAEA safeguards, he added.