Kudankulam II Goes Critical: Why India Needs Hundreds More  

The second unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) went critical, or started nuclear fission, on 28 August 2016, paving the way for a 1,000 MW increase in electricity generation, even as India needs hundreds of such reactors to satiate its power needs.

The unit will boost the country’s collective nuclear power generation capacity to 6,780 MW from the existing 5,780 MW. India operates 22 nuclear power reactors and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) is planning to commission four more soon.

However, all this is just a drop in the ocean.

India currently generates a little more than 250 GW of electricity, and according to a study, it would require an electricity generating potential of 1,400 GW by 2060. An average Indian today consumes much less power (917 kWh a year) than his European counterpart (nearly 3,000 kWh a year). But when this gap is bridged by increasing incomes and overall economic development, power demand will naturally go up significantly.

Swarajya author Jaideep Prabhu, therefore, presents a case for hundreds of more such reactors:

The KKNPP achieved first criticality on 28 August, which is likely to be connected to the southern grid after it starts generating 400 MW of power within 45 days.

The 1,000 MW first unit attained criticality on 13 July 2013 and was synchronised with the grid in October the same year.