India’s 1st Nuke Power Plant Built Domestically Achieves Criticality

India’s first domestically-built 700 MWe Atomic Power Project at Kakrapar in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat reached criticality on Wednesday morning. Criticality is the normal operating condition of a nuclear reactor, which is reached when nuclear fuel sustains a fission chain reaction. During criticality, each fission releases a sufficient number of neutrons to sustain an ongoing series of nuclear reactions.

Kakrapar-3 is the single largest reactor in India, which has attained criticality, and was built as a Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor [PHWR]. It uses heavy water as a moderator, heavy water coolant and natural uranium dioxide as fuel.

Congratulating Indian nuclear scientists, Modi said it is a trailblazer for many such future achievements.

The plant was developed and operated by state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation. The first two 220MW capacity KAPS-1 and KAPS-2 units were commissioned in May 1993 and September 1995 respectively. India has several other nuclear plants but relied heavily on foreign corporations for their construction.