India's atomic power plant operator, NPCIL Friday said it would Saturday commence testing of steam flow path and steam relief devices or "hot run" at its second unit in Kudankulam.

 

 

 In a statement issued here, the Nuclear Power Corporation of  India Ltd (NCPIL) said it got the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board's (AERB) nod to carry out the hot run Feb 26.

 

 "During the test related to hot run, steam flow path and steam relief devices will be tested. During these tests, only steam release (water vapour) to the atmosphere will take place for a very short period of 2-3 minutes," said R.S.Sundar, site director, Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) in the statement.

 

 During the testing, the ambient noise level is likely to go up marginally, he said, adding the tests will be conducted during day time only.

 

 "The tests are likely to commence from Feb 28 for a period of one week and again after about a month these tests will be repeated," Sundar said.

 

 According to NPCIL, the KNPP second unit is expected to start commercial operation this June.

 

 As on January 2014, the second unit has achieved a physical progress of 97.68 percent.

 

 The NPCIL is setting up two 1,000 MW Russian reactors at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district, 650 km from here.

 

 The first unit attained criticality, which is the beginning of the fission process, July 2013.

 

 Subsequently it was connected to the southern grid in October 2013 but the commercial power generation began only Dec 31, 2014.