At the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, “Rosatom” is building new power units. In late August, four steam generators sailed from Russia to the southern Indian port of Tuticorin. Two reached the power plant’s port and were unloaded at the Nos. 5 and 6 power unit construction sites.
However, an incident occurred during the delivery of the last two steam generators. The cable between the barges and the tugboat severed on September 8 near the mouth of the navigation channel at the unloading pier of the nuclear power plant. Due to the rocky bottom, the barge drifted towards the shore but could not reach it.
The equipment has finally been brought ashore nearly three weeks. To access the barge, the Indian Navy constructed an embankment road.
The Hindu stated that after 19 days of hard work, two steam generators put onto a barge stuck on rocks near the mini-port of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant were successfully brought ashore.
A tugboat from Sri Lanka was dispatched to the stranded barge 300 metres from the shore, but it lacked the strength to draw it out of the shallow water. As a result, a road on an embankment was constructed from the shore to the vessel.
According to The Hindu, the route was fortified, and a party of naval personnel affiliated with the Eastern Naval Command was hastily deployed to evaluate the situation and prepare the strategy for the secure retrieval of the steam generators.
According to the report, welders on the barge removed the middle portion of the supports beneath the steam generators and affixed trailers beneath them. A truck then dragged the equipment onto the shoreline. The successful operation relieved the nuclear power facility management and insurance company representatives at the operation site.
Rosatom reports power units No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6 are the second and third stages of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, constructed under the AES-92 project with VVER-1000 reactor technology.
