Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (or KKNPP) is the largest nuclear power station in India, situated in Kudankulam in the Tirunelveli district of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Two reactors (KKNPP-1 and 2) have been operating since 2013 and 2016, respectively, while two more (KKNPP-3 and 4) are currently under construction after the ground-breaking ceremony held on February 2016.

KKNPP-3 and 4 are pressurized water reactors of Russian design (model VVER-1000/V-412). These reactors are repeated designs of KKNPP-1 and 2, with further improvements based on commissioning and feedback from operational experience.

For the construction of these two units, Dextra supplied 350,000 Bartec couplers for the connection of rebars in the reactor building, auxiliary building and spent fuel storage structures.

Bartec is a trusted splicing system, well-known for its high performance in tension, compression, and fatigue. It is widely used in the construction of buildings, bridges, metros, nuclear reactors and more.

Unit 3 is scheduled to be completed in March 2023, and unit 4 in the subsequent year.

Upon its completion, these two reactors will add 2000 MW of electricity to the existing units, resulting in a total site production of 4000 MW per year.

Sources of images: https://twitter.com/daeindia/status/881395402171404288, https://www.deccanherald.com/content/619873/building-units-3-4-kudankulam.html

China is one of the world’s largest producers of nuclear power, and it’s consistently expanding its nuclear power production capacity with new reactors.

The Unit 1 and 2 of the Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Plant have been operational since 2016, and Unit 3 and 4 are currently under construction.

A total of six reactors are anticipated to be operational at the Fangchenggang site. Units 1 and 2 are both CPR-1000 reactors, while units 3–4 are Hualong One reactors, with projected units 5-6 planned to be Hualong One reactors as well.

Unit 3 began construction in December 2015, with unit 4 following a year later. Dextra has supplied more than 500,000 sleeves of Griptec coupler for the reinforcement of the APC structure.

Griptec is well-known for its reliability and performance in tension, compression, and fatigue, thanks to the unique design of the product that complies with the world’s most stringent projects specifications, especially for nuclear reactor building construction.

The Rajasthan Atomic Power Project (RAPP) is a nuclear power plant in Rawatbhata, Rajasthan, India, with 6 pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) units and a total installed capacity of 1,180 MW.

The plant’s owner and operator, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL), is expanding the plant’s capacity by building 2 additional reactors, Units 7 and 8.

In July 2011, the first pour of concrete (FPC) for the 7th reactor, with a capacity of 700MW, was completed. The unit’s start-up transformer (SUT) was also commissioned.

The 8th reactor, which will similarly have a capacity of 700MW, is scheduled to be finished in December 2021.

Dextra has supplied almost 500,000 Bartec couplers for the reinforcement of reactor buildings, auxiliary buildings, and spent fuel storages.

The 2 PHWR reactors will boost the plant’s existing capacity by 1,400MW, 700MW of which will be allotted to the state of Rajasthan.

Kakrapar Atomic Power Station is a nuclear power station in India, which lies in the proximity of Surat and Tapi river in the state of Gujarat.

Unit 3&4 is India’s first pair of indigenously designed Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) of 700 MW unit size located at Kakrapar in Gujarat, where two units of 220 MW PHWRs are already in operation.

First concrete for Kakrapar 3 and 4 was in November 2010 and March 2011 respectively, after Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) approval.

Since then, Dextra had supplied 540,000 Bartec rebar couplers, to connect slabs and columns of reactor and control buildings.

Moreover, Unitec bolted couplers were installed to connect rebars without the need of any thread preparation.

Finally, headed bars were mounted onto the reinforcement bar end, drastically reducing rebar congestion.

The commercial operation of Unit-3 is expected to be in March 2021 while its twin unit, Unit-4, is anticipated a year later after.

Sources of images: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakrapar_Atomic_Power_Station, https://www.nucnet.org/news/kakrapar-3-indigenous-phwr-achieves-first-criticality-7-3-2020, https://www.asiavillenews.com/article/a-look-at-the-kakrapar-3-reactor-54367