The Gorakhpur Haryana atomic power project, also known as the Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojana (GHAVP), is located at Gorakhpur, in Fatehabad district, Haryana, India.
The power station is planned to be developed with four indigenously developed 700MW pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) units by the state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL).
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The £2.26bn ($2.9bn) project is being developed in two phases with each phase comprising two reactors.
Although the environmental clearance for the project was issued in 2013 and the foundation stone was laid in January 2014, the development suffered delays due to local opposition and a long land acquisition process.
Site excavation works were started in January 2019, while key civil construction contracts were awarded by April 2019. The phase one of GHAVP is expected to commence operations in 2025.
The nuclear power project is expected to generate approximately 8,000 jobs during the construction phase and 2,000 direct and indirect jobs during operations.
Project location and site details
The nuclear power plant is being developed in a 535ha-site in the Gorakhpur village in Haryana, approximately 22km south-east of the Fatehabad district headquarters. The project site mostly comprises private agricultural land.
The GHAVP site is accessed from the national highway (NH10) that lies approximately 6km away, via the Kharakheri-Gorkhapur road.
Uklana Mandi is the nearest railway station, located 23km away, while the nearest airport is in Hisar, approximately 40km away from the project site.
Gorakhpur Haryana atomic power station make-up
Each reactor unit of the Gorakhpur Haryana atomic power station will be housed in a seismic-proof double-containment reactor building. The primary containment will be made of pre-stressed concrete, while the secondary containment will be made of reinforced concrete. The inner containment wall of the reactor building will be made of steel.
Each reactor will consist of two end shields and a horizontal, single-walled and austenitic stainless steel Calandria vessel submerged in the water-filled vault.
Uranium dioxide in the form of 37 rod clusters will be used as fuel, while deuterium oxide (heavy water) will be used as coolant and moderator.
The Calandria shell will have a total of 98 nozzles to facilitate reactor control and monitoring.
Each reactor building will house four steam generators to drive the steam turbine for power generation in the adjacent turbine building.
Each unit will also have a dedicated reactor auxiliary building to house spent fuel storage bay (SFSB), back-up control room, heavy water vapour recovery systems, air-conditioning and ventilation systems, and primary heat transfer (PHT) purification systems.
The power station will also feature a common control building, two station auxiliary buildings for each unit, to house emergency power systems, two induced draught cooling towers for each unit, a heavy water upgrading plant building, waste management facility, a diesel oil storage area, and fire water and safety-related pump houses.
Power transmission
The electricity generated by the GHAVP will be evacuated by Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) through a 400kV transmission system.
Infrastructure at Gorakhpur Haryana atomic power project
The Government of Haryana has committed to supply 320 cusec (32,652m³/hr) of water from the Bhakra Canal, which will be stored in a 1.5 million m³ storage reservoir.
A dedicated township with residential facilities for approximately 1,700 employees is planned to be developed on a 75ha-site.
The township will be developed with all necessary amenities including school, hospital and a shopping complex.
Contractors involved
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Heavy Engineering was awarded a contract worth £81m ($115m) to supply steam generators and end shields for the PHWR units of the Gorakhpur atomic power station in March 2018.
Tata Projects was awarded a £245m ($321m) civil construction contract for the main plant buildings, structures, and other associated works for the phase one of Gorakhpur Haryana atomic power project, in April 2019.
