BHEL lowest bidder for NPCIL steam turbine tender
State-owned engineering firm Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has emerged as the lowest bidder for the supply of equipment for the fleet mode tender floated by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) for the 6x700 MW Turbine Island Package Projects.
BHEL has retained its market leadership position of being the sole Indian supplier of nuclear steam turbines with this tender.
The Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) are the mainstay of the Indian Nuclear Power Programme, and 12 out of 18 operating PHWRs of the NPCIL are equipped with the BHEL-supplied Steam Turbine Generator sets (10x220 MWe + 2x540 MWe) with the balance from Ukraine and Canada.
These sets have continuously been exhibiting excellent performance, with Kaiga Unit-1 creating a world record of uninterrupted operation for 962 days.
BHEL has already supplied 2x700 MWe Steam Turbine Generator sets each for Kakrapar Atomic Power Plant (Unit 3 and 4) and Rawatbhata Atomic Power Plant (Unit 7 and 8).
A pressurised heavy-water reactor (PHWR) is a nuclear reactor that uses heavy water (deuterium oxide D2O) as its coolant and neutron moderator. PHWRs frequently use natural uranium as fuel but sometimes also use very low enriched uranium. The heavy water coolant is kept under pressure to avoid boiling, allowing it to reach a higher temperature (mostly) without forming steam bubbles, exactly as for a pressurised water reactor.
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