By Venkatachari Jagannathan

Chennai, Jun 28 (IANS): After restarting power generation for some time on Sunday, the Unit 2 at Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) belonging to Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) stopped operation due to steam leak.

According to Power System Operation Corporation Ltd (POSOCO), the 220 MW Unit 2 of MAPS stopped generation at 4.35 p.m. on Sunday due to "H/T to attend steam leak".

The unit which was shut down on April 7, 2021 for annual maintenance was revived on Sunday at 00.52 hours and had generated 78 MW and later stopped generation.

The 220 MW Unit 1 at MAPS was shut down on Januar 30, 2018 for maintenance work.

The MAPS Station Director disconnected the landline call without answering when contacted by IANS for clarifications.

Assuming a technical glitch for the disconnection, IANS again contacted his office and was told, "the Station Director was busy and it is not possible to call back and tell the reason."

He also added: "I had addressed you as 'Sir' four times. You didn't call me even once as 'Sir'. Henceforth I will not attend your call."

Meanwhile, the 220 MW Unit 4 at Kaiga Atomic Power Station (KAPS) in Karnataka restarted power generation on June 24, 2021 after it stopped generation on June 22, 2021 for 'Reactor Protection Operated'.

The KAPS has four 220 MW units and on Sunday the total generation was 844 MW out of total capacity of 880 MW.

India's southern atomic power company NPCIL has a total of 3,320 MW capacity -- 2,440 MW in Tamil Nadu and 880 MW in Karnataka. A total of 1,440 MW (1,000 MW in Kudankulam and 440 MW in MAPS) in Tamil Nadu are shutdown for maintenance.