CHENNAI: The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) is expected to start commercial operations of its first 1,000 MW unit at Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) next month, said a senior official. “We have to get the AERB’s (Atomic Energy Regulatory Board) permission to restart the unit. The meeting with AERB is slated on August 30,” the official said. He said the unit, after restarting, would take around one week to reach its full power levels. He said all the mandatory tests have been completed and the reports have been submitted to AERB. India’s atomic power plant operator NPCIL is setting up two 1,000 MW Russian reactors at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district, 650km from here. The total outlay for the project is over Rs17,000 crore. The KNPP is India’s first pressurised water reactor belonging to the light water reactor category. The first unit attained criticality July 2013, which is the beginning of the fission process.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala has decided to drop the proposed mono rail project planned for the state capital and Kozhikode on grounds of the high cost involved and will study the option of light metro instead, a minister said. Speaking to reporters here, after a high level meeting of experts, Public Works Minister V K Ebrahim Kunju said the decision was arrived to drop the project because it was so expensive. “We had just one company who had participated in the tender and the cost was high. Now we have asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to prepare a project report on light metro to replace the mono rail project and they would submit it in four weeks time,” he said.
CHENAI: India’s Mars Orbiter spacecraft has completed 90 percent of its journey to the red planet while scientists are gearing up to meet the challenge of restarting the onboard liquid fuel engine, an official said. “The spacecraft has completed 90 percent of its journey to Mars. On September 14, its trajectory would be corrected,” a senior official of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said. According to him, on September 24, the spacecraft is slated to enter into the Mars orbit. The ISRO officials said the spacecraft and its payloads are in good condition. The Mars Orbiter was launched on November 5, 2013.
IANS
