Moscow: In the wake of Fukushima Daiichi atomic disaster and enhanced security measures sought by India, Russia is ready to use a number of unique technical solutions for units 3 and 4 of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP).


This will put the implemented project and its nuclear safety almost close to fourth generation projects. An official representative of Rosatom told the this reporter, who was on an official visit to Moscow, that like units 1 and 2, the new units (3 and 4) would be based on the Russian VVER (water-water-energetic reactor) project. ”In addition to traditional active safety systems, these units would be based on a number of unique technical solutions, which make the implemented project and its nuclear safety as close to Generation IV projects as possible,” the official said.


He explained, ”These measures include double containment and protection building, passive cooling systems for the reactor unit, a molten core catcher, passive system for fast injection of high pressure boron, extra tanks for long-term supply of borated water to the reactor in a passive way, and the system for inter-containment area passive filtration, a closed water withdrawal system for service water for an NPP (which is actually a breakwater).


”These systems ensure an unprecedented level of nuclear and environmental safety of the design of the NPP under construction.” The two reactors that have already been built at Kudankulam in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu are advanced models of the Russian VVER-1000 MW Pressurized Water Reactor, which is a leading type of reactor worldwide. VVER is a Russian nomenclature for water-cooled and ater-moderated reactors. Each reactor is having the nstalled capacity of 1000 MW. It uses low-enriched uranium fuel in oxide matrix, housed in sealed zirconium-niobium alloy tubes. The first and second units of KKNPP VVER 1000 adopts the basic Russian design with enhanced safety features to make it in line with IAEA GEN III reactors.


”The design of all modern Russian reactors, including those at the KKNPP, includes core catchers as a passive safety system, ensuring safety of the reactor using laws of nature rather than automated equipment or human intervention. The core catcher is a unique development of Russian scientists.


”This is a container installed below the bottom of a reactor vessel. In case of hypothetical accident, the ‘core catcher’ will be able to contain liquid and hard fragments of nuclear reactor core and parts of materials of which the reactor has been constructed; this prevents damage to containment building and escape of radioactive materials,” the official explained. The core catcher was filled with sacrificial materials which cause a number of chemical reactions and enable containment of the molten
core and cooling it for a long time, he added.


The first core catcher in the world was installed at the Tianwan NPP in China in 2007. Now Russian nuclear power engineers have installed
it at the Kudankulam NPP. The design of the Kudankulam NPP fully complies with the strictest requirements of Russian supervisory bodies and the IAEA, as well as considers the nature of the region.



The Russian design of the core catcher is unparalleled in the world’s NPP construction practice. NIAEP-ASE, the Russian engineering
company, is the general designer and contractor of the construction.
It is to be mentioned here that India had sought ”enhanced security measures” for the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant after the Fukushima Daiichi atomic disaster in Japan.


”We had received a request from India for enhanced safety measures. Of course India had to pay more for such kind of system.
Now, we are in the process to contain Indian government by putting the safety measures of the third and fourth units of KKNPP close to fourth generation plants,” the representative said. Nuclear power is the fourth-largest source of electricity in India after thermal, hydroelectric & renewable sources of electricity.


After years of deadlock on liability, India and Russia had signed an agreement for building units 3 and 4 of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) at a cost of Rs 33,000 crore.