The Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS; also ''Rajasthan Atomic Power Project'' - RAPP) is located at

Rawatbhata Rawatbhata is a city, Tehsil and Nagar Palika in Chittorgarh District, Rajasthan, India. It is 131 km from Chittorgarh city, 50 km from the nearest city, Kota. The city has eight nuclear power stations, an under-construction nuclear fuel com ...

in the state of

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

, India.

History

The construction of the Douglas Point Nuclear Generating Station Canada began in 1961 with a

CANDU The CANDU (Canada Deuterium Uranium) is a Canadian pressurized heavy-water reactor design used to generate electric power. The acronym refers to its deuterium oxide ( heavy water) moderator and its use of (originally, natural) uranium fuel. CA ...

(Canada Deuterium Uranium)

pressurised heavy water reactor A pressurized heavy-water reactor (PHWR) is a nuclear reactor that uses heavy water ( deuterium oxide D2O) as its coolant and neutron moderator. PHWRs frequently use natural uranium as fuel, but sometimes also use very low enriched uranium. Th ...

(PHWR) capable of producing 220 MW of electricity. Two years after the construction of the Rajasthan Power Project (RAPP) commenced, two similar reactors were built in the state of Rajasthan. Ten years later, in 1973 RAPS-1 was put into service. In 1974 after India conducted

Smiling Buddha Operation Smiling BuddhaThis test has many code names. Civilian scientists called it "Operation Smiling Buddha" and the Indian Army referred to it as ''Operation Happy Krishna''. According to United States Military Intelligence, ''Operation H ...

, its first

nuclear weapons test Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detonations are affected by ...

Canada stopped its support of the project, delaying the commissioning of RAPS-2 until 1981. In the context of the Indian atomic program, two more PHWR with an output of 220 MW each were built. They cost around 570 million dollars. RAPS-3 became critical on 24 December 1999, RAPS-4 became critical on 3 November 2000. Commercial operations began on 1 June 2000 for unit 3, and on 23 December 2000 for unit 4. Two more reactors (RAPS-5 and RAPS-6) with 220 MWe have also been built, with unit 5 beginning commercial operation on 4 February 2010, and unit 6 on 31 March 2010. Two of the new Indian-designed 700 MWe series of the reactor (RAPP-7 and RAPP-8) are under construction in Rajasthan. In November 2012, the

International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1 ...

(IAEA) intensively audited over several weeks two reactors at the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station for safety. It has been concluded that the reactors are among the best in the world, the indigenously made 220 MW atomic plants can withstand a Fukushima type of accident, even suggesting that the "safety culture is strong in India" and that India emerged a winner with a high global safety rank. First concrete for unit 7 was poured on 18 July 2011, with commercial operation expected by 2016. The two reactors will cost an estimated Rs 123.2 billion (US$2.6 billion).

Incidents

By 2003 RAPS-1 had experienced numerous problems due to leaks, cracks in the end-shield and

turbine blade ...

failures, had undergone repairs and appeared to be generating 100 MW of electricity, with RAPS-2 reportedly generating 200 MW. On 29 August 2006, a 90%

iron meteorite Iron meteorites, also known as siderites, or ferrous meteorites, are a type of meteorite that consist overwhelmingly of an iron–nickel alloy known as meteoric iron that usually consists of two mineral phases: kamacite and taenite. Most i ...

weighing fell in Kanvarpura village, near the power station. The Deputy Director-General (western region) of the

Geological Survey of India The Geological Survey of India (GSI) is a scientific agency of India. It was founded in 1851, as a Government of India organization under the Ministry of Mines, one of the oldest of such organisations in the world and the second oldest survey ...

, R.S. Goyal, said that devastation on an "unimaginable scale" would have ensued had the object struck the station. However, the

kinetic energy In physics, the kinetic energy of an object is the energy that it possesses due to its motion. It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. Having gained this energy during its a ...

of a meteorite of this size is smaller than that of jet aircraft frequently used as a basis for impact resistance of containment structures. In June 2012, 38 workers were exposed to

tritium Tritium ( or , ) or hydrogen-3 (symbol T or H) is a rare and radioactive isotope of hydrogen with half-life about 12 years. The nucleus of tritium (t, sometimes called a ''triton'') contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus ...

when a welding operation went wrong inside the protected environment of the reactor.

Units

References

External links

''Juggernaut''
a 1968 Canadian documentary on the delivery of the plant's calandria. {{Authority control Nuclear power stations in Rajasthan Nuclear power stations using CANDU reactors Nuclear power stations with reactors under construction Buildings and structures in Chittorgarh district Buildings and structures in Kota, Rajasthan Canada–India relations 1973 establishments in Rajasthan

History

Incidents

Units

See also

References

External links