Tarapur Atomic Power Station-1&2 Upgradation: A Success Story

In 1969, Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS) became the first nuclear power station of twin-210 MWe boiling water reactors (BWRs) in Asia. The plant erection was started in the year 1964. The plant was supplied by IGE, USA, on turnkey basis and it was erected by Bechtel Corporation. The plant commissioning works were completed in 1969 and it was handed over to the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)/TAPS in 1969 by IGE after successfully completing all the tests stipulated in the contract. The plant was dedicated to the nation on January 19, 1970 by Prime Minister late Mrs. Indira Gandhi. The plant initially experienced teething trouble and had frequent outages and shutdowns. The grid was very unstable in those days and Tarapur-1&2 unit size of 210 MWe was the largest for that grid, The switchyard was also giving frequent problems in those days. It was solved by replacing insulators and hotline washing. Also, the system had many design inadequacies, which were corrected by TAPS and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) engineers by incorporating various modifications.