Nuclear Power Corp. of India Limited (NPCIL) completed the first pour of concrete for two 700 MW heavy water reactors at the Rawatbhata nuclear power plant in India.
Units 7 and 8 are scheduled to be completed in 2016 and 2017. When they are completed, 1,400 MW of capacity will be added to the Northern Electricity Grid, of which half will be allocated to the state of Rajasthan.
The PHWR was designed by scaling up NPCIL's 540 MW pressurized heavy water reactor. The two new nuclear reactors have passive safety systems that work on gravity and natural convection and need no operator intervention or motive power to ensure reactor safety.
The company said the design incorporates two systems to shut down the reactor: a passive decay heat removal system to ensure cooling of the reactor core even in a total loss of power, and steel-lined inner containment to contain radioactivity within the reactor building in a severe accident scenario.
