Work to start up the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu resumed after police arrested dozens of protesters who had blocked access to the site for months, in a breakthrough for the power-short emerging economy.
Twenty-four years in the making, the Russian-built plant was supposed to be switched on last year, but protesters surrounded it after the nuclear accident in Japan. The Kudankulam project will initially provide 2 gigawatts of electricity - enough to power 20 million homes. This will be one of the largest N-power plants in India. So which are the world's ten largest nuclear power plants? Find out...
The Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu will be one of the largest N-power plants in India. So which are the world's ten largest nuclear power plants? Find out:
1) Cattenom nuclear power station is located in Lorraine in the Cattenom commune in France. The plant consists of 4 pressurized water reactors with an electric output of 1300 megawatt from each reactor. The plant became operational in 1986 and is run by Électricité de France and employs over 1200 employees.
2) Gravelines nuclear power station: Located in Nord, France the Gravelines nuclear power station and uses six nuclear plants. The plant became the first of its kind to generate over one thousand terawatt hours of electricity. The cooling water from the plant that carries waste heat is used by local fish farmers to help raise seabass, gilt-head breams and other fish.
3) The Yonggwang nuclear power plant has six nuclear reactors and is operated by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Company. The plant became operational in 1978. Situated in Jeollanam-do province of South Korea, the power plant produces over 5400 megawatts of power.
4) The Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant is located in 170 miles north of Tokyo, Japan. The plant became operational in 1971 but was badly damaged in the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in 2011. Managed by the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the plant was the world's tenth largest nuclear power plant.
5) The Bruce nuclear generating station is situated in Ontario, Canada. The plant has eight nuclear plants out of which only six are operational. The Bruce station is the largest nuclear facility in North America and employs over 3800 employees. The current output with 6 of the 8 reactors is 4,640 megawatt.
6) Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is the largest nuclear power generating station in the world. Situated in towns of Kashiwazaki and Kariwa in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, the plant covers 4.2-square-kilometer and is operated by The Tokyo Electric Power Company. The plant was built in 1985 but all seven reactors were operational in 1997. The plant was shut down for 21 months after radioactive leaks were discovered following an earthquake in 2007.
7) Paluel Nuclear Plant: Situated in the French town Paluel in Normandy, the nuclear power station consists of four reactors that generates over 1330 megawatts of power per hour and employs over 1200 workers. The plant generates 32 billion kilowatt-hours of energy every year. The plant became operational in 1984 and is run by Électricité de France.
8) Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station: Situated in Enerhodar, Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station is the largest in Europe and produces over half of the country's nuclear energy. The plant has six VVER pressurized light water nuclear reactors, each generating 1000 MWe. The plant became operational in 1985 and is operated by Energoatom.
9) The Oi nuclear power plant is located in Fukui Prefecture, Japan and is operated by Kansai Electric Power Company. The plant is spread across 1.88 square kilometers and has four nuclear reactors which generate over 1000 megawatt of power per hour.
10) Uljin nuclear power plant: Situated in the Gyeongsangbuk-do province of South Korea, the Uljin nuclear power plant has been built to withstand 6.5 magnitude earthquakes. The plant is fortified by walls to protect it from a 10-meter-high tsunami. There is one 942 MW unit, one 945 MW unit, one 994 MW unit, one 998 MW unit, and two 1,001 MW units. Unit-1 was commissioned in 1988, Unit-2 in 1989, Unit-3 and Unit-4 in 1998, Unit-5 in 2003, and Unit-6 in 2005.
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