India's atomic power plant operator Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) early Tuesday started generating 75 MW power at its first unit in Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP), said a senior official.

 

 "Unit 1 synchronisation with the power grid done at 2.45 a.m. Tuesday, generating 75 MW of power," R.S.Sundar, site director, KNPP told IANS.

 

 The NPCIL is setting up two 1,000 MW Russian reactors at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district, around 650 km from here. The total outlay for the project is over Rs.17,000 crore.

 

 KNPP is India's first pressurised water reactor belonging to the light water reactor category. The first unit attained criticality, which is the beginning of the fission process, for the first time in July 2013.

 

 In August, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) gave its nod to KNPP to raise the reactor power levels to 50 percent and synchronisation of the unit with the power grid. The NPCIL earlier said it would connect the first unit to the grid end-August, generating 400 MW power.

 

 But that did not happen due to two condenser valve problems which seemed to have got stuck. According to officials the power generation will be increased gradually.