NUCLEAR POWER CORPORATION OF INDIA LTD. Vs. THE MEMBER SECRETARY, SOUTHERN REGIONAL POWER COMMITTEE AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition has been filed by the petitioner, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. under Clause (7) of Regulation 8 of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Grant of connectivity, Long -term Access and Medium -term Open access in inter -state transmission and related matters) Regulations, 2009 and Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Unscheduled interchange charges and related matters) Regulations, 2012 with the following prayers:

(2.) KUDANKULAM Nuclear Power Project ('the project') of the petitioner is located at Kudankulam, Tirunelveli District in the State of Tamil Nadu and is being implemented in two stages consisting of Unit -I and Unit -II of 1000 MW each. The project is being setup with the technical cooperation of Russian Federation which is based on WER -1000 type of reactors. The first unit of the project has been test synchronized on 22.10.2013 and numerous commissioning tests are to be performed in 3 Phases of commissioning of the unit to evaluate the system responses to various transients. The tests results are to be evaluated internally and submitted to Regulatory Authority, namely Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) for review and acceptance. The consent for proceeding to the next Phase of commissioning is obtained from Regulatory Authorities which is repetitive process till AERB grants permission for continuous operation of the unit at 100% power before declaration of COD.

(3.) THE petitioner has submitted that tests of Phase A and Phase B of Unit -1 of the project have been completed before synchronization. Subsequently, all test of Phase C1 were carried out and continued till 3.1.2014. On 24.1.2014, clearance from AERB was obtained to carry out Phase C2 activities which were started on 24.1.2014. The petitioner has submitted that the following transients and dynamic tests are conducted: