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Kakrapar nuclear power plant 4

Operating India
Gross capacity
700MW

Kakrapar nuclear power plant 4 is a pressurised heavy water reactor unit at Kakrapar nuclear power plant in India rated at 700 MW gross. It is operating. Commercial operation began 31 Mar 2024.

Corrected against a later source

GNPT records the commercial operation date as identical to the grid connection date (2024-02-20), which appears to be a field-copy error. The IAEA records commercial operation on 31 March 2024.

commercial_operation: 2024-02-20 → 2024-03-31 · IAEA Power Reactor Information System, reactor record KAKRAPAR-4 · verified 2026-09-06

Specification
Reactor type Pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR)
ModelPHWR-700
Size classLarge
CoolantHeavy water
ModeratorHeavy water
Gross capacity700MW
Net capacity (reference)630MW
Net capacity (design)630MW
Thermal output2,166MWt
Typical enrichmentNatural uranium, 0.71% U-235
Ownership & location
SiteKakrapar nuclear power plant
Unit4
CountryIndia
OwnerNuclear Power Corporation Of India Ltd100%
OperatorNuclear Power Corporation Of India
Coordinates 21.2384, 73.3489
Fuel chain for this unit
Fuel form
Natural uranium dioxide bundles
Enrichment
Natural uranium, 0.71% U-235 no enrichment required
Who makes this assembly
Upstream

This unit runs on natural uranium, so its fuel chain has no enrichment step at all: mine → mill → conversion → fabrication. That is the shortest fuel chain of any commercial reactor type, and it makes the operator independent of the four organisations that control enrichment worldwide.

Conversion
CamecoCNNCConverDynOranoRosatom
Fabricator capability is recorded against reactor type and model line, not against named units — utilities do not publish fuel contracts. See the fuel chain.

Timeline

  1. 22 Nov 2010Construction start
  2. 17 Dec 2023First criticality
  3. 20 Feb 2024Grid connection
  4. 31 Mar 2024Commercial operation

Other units at Kakrapar nuclear power plant

UnitStatusGross MW
Kakrapar nuclear power plant 1 Operating 220
Kakrapar nuclear power plant 2 Operating 220
Kakrapar nuclear power plant 3 Operating 700

Other PHWR-700 units

16 units worldwide share this model designation.

UnitCountryStatusGross MW
Kakrapar nuclear power plant 3 India Operating 700
Bhimpur nuclear power plant 1 India Cancelled 700
Bhimpur nuclear power plant 2 India Cancelled 700
Bhimpur nuclear power plant 3 India Cancelled 700
Bhimpur nuclear power plant 4 India Cancelled 700
Chutka nuclear power plant 1 India Pre-construction 700
Chutka nuclear power plant 2 India Pre-construction 700
Gorakhpur Haryana nuclear power plant 1-1 India Pre-construction 700
Gorakhpur Haryana nuclear power plant 1-2 India Pre-construction 700
Gorakhpur Haryana nuclear power plant 2-3 India Pre-construction 700
Gorakhpur Haryana nuclear power plant 2-4 India Pre-construction 700
Mahi Banswara nuclear power plant 1-1 India Pre-construction 700

Sources