The 360 ton Russian stator for the upcoming fifth 1,000 MW nuclear power plant has reached the jetty in Kudankulam from Tuticorin, said a person in the know.
A stator, mainly a set of coils, is a stationary part in an electric motor.
It creates a rotating magnetic field when power is passed through it and interacts with the rotor to generate electricity.
The stator reached Tuticorin Port about six months ago.
Owing to unfavourable weather conditions and for want of a barge the stator was not moved to Kudankulam earlier, a source not wanting to be quoted by name told this correspondent.
From Tuticorin port, the stator was mounted on a barge on Thursday.
The barge began its journey to Kudankulam on Friday morning.
India's atomic power plant operator Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has two functional 1,000 MW plants (Units 1 and 2) at Kudankulam, while four more similar plants (Units 3, 4, 5 and 6) are under construction.
All the six units are built with Russian technology and equipment supplied by State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom (Rosatom).
Major equipment for building the third and fourth units have reached Kudankulam from Russia.
Now the equipment for the fifth and sixth units are reaching India from Russia.
Recently, another critical equipment -- the 32 tone reactor pressure vessel -- for Unit 6 reached Tuticorin port from Russia.
The reactor pressure vessel will be taken to Kudankulam once the barge is available.
Rosatom will provide fuel to the nuclear power units in Kudankulam throughout their entire life cycle.
Kudankulam will house the largest nuclear power plants in India and is the flagship project of Russian-Indian technological and energy cooperation.
Venkatachari Jagannathan can be reached at venkatacharijagannathan@gmail.com
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
© 2025