New Delhi, Nov 26 (IANS): The first unit of the Russian built Kudankulam nuclear plant, which stopped operations late last month after a malfunction in the unit's turbine, is expected to resume power generation by the first week of December, the government said Wednesday.

"The unit was shut down in view of certain observations in its turbine during its operation. The power generation is now expected to resume by the first week of December 2014," Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for the Department of Atomic Energy, told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

"The turbine was opened and its various components have been inspected. The required repair/rectification job, in accordance with the recommendations of the Russian manufacturers, is nearing completion. Efforts are on to make the turbine ready for the start up by early December 2014," Jitendra Singh added.

The first unit was shut down on Sep 26 while at the pre-commissioning stage after some damage to its turbine blades was detected.

The unit was shut down for maintenance in July this year and was restarted in September.

According to state-run Nuclear Power Corp. (NPCIL) the turbine problem is expected to be resolved by Dec 22.

Earlier this month, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission permitted NPCIL to feed infirm power into the southern gird till Jan 22, 2015, on a petition by the plant operator.

Infirm power is the one that is generated by a power unit that has not begun commercial operations.

The KNPP, located in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, is India's first pressurised water reactor belonging to the light water reactor category.

The first unit attained criticality July 2013, which is the beginning of the fission process. The unit has started power generation and has been connected to the southern grid.