File photo of the Kudankulam nuclear plant

The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) is likely to start generating power by the month end, a senior NPCIL official said today.The first unit will add 1000 MW to the southern grid, helping Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Puducherry to tide over their power crisis to an extent."The first unit (reactor) attained criticality on July 14 this year, so we are hoping that power generation should start by the end of September or early October. This would be connected to the Southern grid so that the generated electricity could be put to use," the official said.The KKNPP project that has two units (reactors) of 1000 MW each built with the help of Russia would be the largest power generating nuclear unit in India."Initially, the plant will generate 400 MW of electricity, but would start generating more electricity in a phased manner," the official added.NPCIL said the second unit is also likely to attain criticality by mid-2014 and subsequently start generating power.Of the 2000 megawatt that is to be generated by the KKNPP, Karnataka will get 442 MW, Kerala will get 266 MW while Puducherry has been allocated 67 MW. Tamil Nadu, where the project site is, has been allocated the lion's share of 925 MW.

Incidentally, the Tamil Nadu government had asked the Ministry of Power to allocate entire power generated by the KKNPP to the state, but this was refused with an assurance that an additional 100 MW would be given to Tamil Nadu.