Through an article titled “Resolve Koodankulam Issues” in TNIE (April
19, 2013), I had brought out certain serious safety issues emanating
from the supply of substandard components and equipment imported and
installed in the Russian VVER 1000 MWe Units 1 and 2 at the Koodankulam
Nuclear Power Project (KKNP) under construction in Tamil Nadu, India. I
had also pointed out that a major Russian government company,
ZiO-Podolsk, might have supplied components and equipment of poor
quality to KKNP, possibly impacting the reliability and safety of the
two nuclear reactors there.
NPCIL, in an additional clarification released on April 20, admitted
that “four valves in the passive core-flooding system, though initially
tested in factory premises under simulated conditions, showed variations
from expected performance during integrated testing at the KKNP site.”
This underplays the gravity of the entire situation. These four are
“special check valves”, and they are crucial to the long-term
core-cooling under severe accident conditions, including a total loss of
electric power. It is a fact that no adequate testing of these valves
was done in Russia. How could this happen in spite of the highly-lauded,
multi-tier quality control programme under which NPCIL claims that an
inspection team of theirs, stationed in the Russian factory, has
witnessed and signed off on this testing?
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