Indian engineering firms mark steam generator milestones

Monday, 14 March 2022

BHEL marked the dispatch from its plant in Tamil Nadu of the 42nd nuclear steam generator to be made by the company. The component is destined to be installed at Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL)'s Rajasthan nuclear power plant. The steam generator flagged off by L&T from its Hazira complex in Gujarat is the fourth to be made for the PHWRs that are planned for construction at Gorakhpur, and was completed six months ahead of schedule, the company said.

BHEL said it has been a partner for more than four decades in the development of India's nuclear power programme, designing, manufacturing, testing and supplying components such as reactor heads, steam generators, steam turbine generators, heat exchangers and pressure vessels.

Twelve of the 18 operating indigenous PHWRs are equipped with BHEL-supplied steam turbine generator sets. "BHEL has proven its capability as a designer and manufacturer of both primary (reactor headers, end shields, etc) and secondary (turbine, generator, heat exchangers, etc) side equipment for nuclear power projects," the company said.

L&T's steam generator was flagged off on 10 March (Image: L&T)

The first four of India's indigenously designed 700 MWe PHWRs are being built at Kakrapar and Rajasthan - also known as RAPP. Further reactors are planned at Gorakhpur, Chutka, Mahi Banswara and Kaiga.

NPCIL placed the order for the steam generators the two Rajasthan units - RAPP 7 and 8 - with BHEL in 2009, through a limited tender. In July 2021, the company was contracted by NPCIL to supply 12 steam generators for 700 MWe pressurised PHWRs to be constructed at four locations in the country, and later in the year it received an INR108 billion (USD1.5 billion) order for turbine island engineering, procurement and construction for six nuclear power units to be built at Gorakhpur and Kaiga.