CHENNAI: The Unit 1 of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant (KNPP) has reached full capacity generation of 1,000MW on Saturday. The Russian-designed Voda Voda Energo Reactor (VVER) achieved the final milestone nearly eight months after power generated at the plant was connected to the grid. This is the first nuclear power plant in the country to touch 1,000MW of power generation."At exactly 1.20pm on Saturday, power generation in the unit 1 of the plant touched 1,000MW. The unit will continue to generate 1,000MW for nearly a day. Subsequently, we will scale down generation to 900MW as per the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) stipulations," site director RS Sundar told TOI.On May 1, the AERB had given approval for officials of the KNPP to scale up power generation to 750MW and later to full capacity after fulfilling some mandatory tests. "Russian engineers were present when unit 1 achieved full capacity. There is celebration at the plant since then. We have been waiting for this moment for a long time," said Sundar.In the coming days, the unit 1 will generate less than 1,000MW and after some dynamic tests are conducted, the plant will apply for permission from the AERB to maintain the power generation at 1,000MW. "The formal commissioning will be decided by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited ( NPCIL ) authorities after we maintain the generation at 1,000MW continuously for a specified period," said Sundar.The final milestone should have been reached a few days earlier but for the shutdown in unit 1 due to some technical problems. For nearly 10 days the unit was not generating power and it was re-started only on June 4.The unit 1 reaching full capacity is good news for power managers in Tamil Nadu, which will now get its full quota of 465MW. A new agreement has to be signed between the Tamil Nadu government and the NPCIL, after which the state will get an additional 100MW from the unit as per the announcement made by Union power minister in Parliament last year.Power produced from unit 1 is shared amongst Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Puducherry. An unallocated portion of the 1,000MW is still with the Centre. Recently, chief minister J Jayalalithaa had sought the un-allocated portion from unit 1 and submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister in New Delhi to press her demand.