NEW DELHI (Sputnik) — The first of the two 1,000-megawatt reactors was commissioned last week. The second is due to come on stream soon, construction manager Ramayah Shanmuga Sundar told reporters.
Sundar said all preoperational procedures had been completed and the atomic safety watchdog had issued a permit to increase the power output to 50 percent of its capacity, ahead of the next phase.
The power plant in India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu was built together with Russia, becoming their first joint nuclear energy project.
The NPP’s construction was agreed by the Soviet Union back in 1988 but it was left in limbo until 2012. The first power unit was connected to the grid in 2013 and reached full capacity in July 2014. It is India’s most powerful reactor to date.