Hijjah 21, 1431, Nov 27, 2010, SPA -- India's 20th nuclear power plant today became operational here taking the total installed atomic power capacity in the country to 4,780 MW. The indigenously-developed 220 MW capacity Unit 4 of the Kaiga Atomic Power Station attained criticality at 8.07.22 am making India the sixth country in the world to have 20 or more nuclear power plants in operation. A nuclear reactor is said to have attained criticality when it is ready to maintain stability of the chain reaction indicating that the unit has achieved a steady output of power, the Press Trust of India reported. The Kaiga-4 was built a few years ago but was unable to start power production for want of fuel. India's exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers' Group guidelines in 2008 that facilitated its return to global nuclear trade made the access to fuel possible. The announcement of Kaiga-4 attaining criticality was made by Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Srikumar Banerjee in the presence of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) Chairman-cum-Managing Director Shreyans Kumar Jain and a number of senior officials at the plant site. Presently, India produces 568 billion units of electricity and of that 23 per cent is from hydro-power, 64 per cent from thermal power, 10 per cent by non-conventional methods and only three per cent by the nuclear power.
