By Venkatachari Jagannathan

Chennai, Feb 14 (IANS): The first 1,000 MW nuclear power plant at Kudankulam has stopped generation due to reactor problem, taking the total of the atomic power capacity under outage in Southern region to 2,440 MW.

According to Power System Operation Corporation Ltd. (POSOCO), the first unit at Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) in Tamil Nadu stopped generation on February 12 due to 'reactor side problem'.

The expected date of revival of the unit is not known.

The second 1,000 MW unit at KNPP has been under shutdown since December 15, 2019 for maintenance works and is expected to restart generation on March 13 this year.

The other atomic power generating units that are under shutdown are two units of 220 MW - one at Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) and the other at Kaiga Atomic Power Station.

While the Unit 1 at MAPS was shut down two years back - on January 31, 2018 - the Unit 4 at Kaiga was shut down on January 19, 2020. Both the units were shut down for maintenance works.

All the units belong to Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL).