Madras Atomic Power Station
|Madras Atomic Power Station|
|Commission date||24 January 1984|
|Operator(s)||Nuclear Power Corporation of India LTD.|
|Units operational||2 x 235|
|Units under const.||1 x 500 MW|
Madras Atomic Power Station located at Kalpakkam about 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of Chennai, India, is a comprehensive nuclear power production, fuel reprocessing, and waste treatment facility that includes plutonium fuel fabrication for fast breeder reactors (FBRs). It is also India's first fully indigenously constructed nuclear power station. It has two units of 220 MWe capacity each. The first and second units of the station went critical in 1983 and 1985 respectively. The station has reactors housed in a reactor building with double shell containment ensuring total protection even in the remotest possibility of loss of coolant accident. An Interim Storage Facility [ISF] is also located in Kalpakkam.
Madras Atomic Power Station was built to strengthen the nuclear capability of India, and it laid the foundation for the indigenisation of India's nuclear power programme. The plant was constructed during the Prime Ministership of Indira Gandhi. The MAPS-1 reached criticality on 2 July 1983 and it was synchronised to the grid on 23 July 1983 in the presence of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
During its construction, a total of 3.8 lakh (380,000) railway sleeper (logs) were brought from all over India to lift the 180-tonne critical equipment in the first unit, due to lack of proper infrastructure and handling equipment.
The facility houses two indigenously built CANDU type PHWRs called MAPS-1 and MAPS-2. MAPS-1 was completed in 1981, but start-up was delayed due to a shortage of heavy water. After procuring the necessary heavy water, the MAPS-1 went critical in 1983 and began operating at full power on 27 January 1984. MAPS-2 obtained criticality in 1985 and began full power operations on 21 March 1986. The two Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) are capable of generating 170MWe each which is lower than the designed power of 235MWe since some zircaloy pieces from the cracked cooling system were found in a moderator pump.
A beachhead at Kalpakkam also hosts India's first indigenous Pressurized (light) water reactor (PWR). The 80 MW reactor was developed by BARC as the land based prototype of the nuclear power unit for India's nuclear submarines  This unit does not come under MAPS.
- "MAPS Silver Jubilee Celebration". India Environment Portal.
- Plants Under Operation - Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited. Npcil.nic.in. Retrieved on 2013-12-06.
- "NTI: Country Overviews: India: Nuclear Facilities Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS)". Nuclear Threat Initiative. September 2003. Retrieved 29 November 2009.[dead link]
- "PWR building shows indigenous capability, says Kakodkar". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 3 August 2009.
- Nuclear power Corporation of India Ltd
- Plants Under Operation: Madras Atomic Power Station
- NTI India Profile