# Tarapur Atomic Power Station

Tarapur Atomic Power Station (T.A.P.S.) is located in Tarapur, Palghar, India. It was the first commercial nuclear power station built in India. It is one of the largest nuclear power plant in the country. It has 4 reactors, 2 BWR-1 of 160 MWe each and 2 IPHWRs Of 540 MWe each.

## History

Tarapur Atomic Power Station was constructed initially with two boiling water reactor (BWR) units under the 1963 123 Agreement between India, the United States, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It was built for the Department of Atomic Energy by GE and Bechtel. Units 1 and 2 were brought online for commercial operation on 28 October 1969 with an initial power of 210 MW of electricity. Later on this was reduced to 160 MW due to technical difficulties. These were the first of their kind in Asia.
More recently, an additional two pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) units of 540 MW each were constructed by BHEL, L&T and Gammon India, seven months ahead of schedule and well within the original cost estimates. Unit 3 was brought online for commercial operation on 18 August 2006, and unit 4 on 12 September 2005.
The facility is operated by the NPCIL (Nuclear Power Corporation of India).
The personnel operating the power plant live in a residential complex called T. A. P. S. colony, 19°48′58″N 72°44′35″E﻿ / ﻿19.816°N 72.743°E﻿ / 19.816; 72.743 which is a fifteen-minute drive from Boisar, the nearest railway station. The residential complex was also constructed by Bechtel to house both Indian and American employees. Due to this, the residential complex has a very Indian small-town look, with neat sidewalks, spacious houses, a club with tennis courts, swimming pool, a commissary etc.
In 1974 after India conducted Smiling Buddha, its first nuclear weapons test the West chose to no longer honour its agreement to supply the plant with enriched uranium. Nuclear fuel for TAPS has subsequently been delivered from France, China and Russia under IAEA safeguards.
The residential colony features 3 central schools namely - Atomic Energy Central School No. 1 (AECS-1), Atomic Energy Central School No. 2 (AECS-2) and Atomic Energy Central School No. 3 (AECS-3), all running under Atomic Energy Education Society (AEES). The local beach at Chinchani is approximately 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) from the colony.

## Units

| Phase | Unit No. | Reactor | Reactor | Status | Capacity in MWe | Capacity in MWe | Construction start | First criticality | Grid Connection | Commercial operation | Closure | Notes |
| Phase | Unit No. | Type | Model | Status | Net | Gross | Construction start | First criticality | Grid Connection | Commercial operation | Closure | Notes |
| I | 1 | BWR | BWR-1 | Operation suspended (under maintenance) | 150 | 160 | 1 October 1964 | 1 February 1969 | 1 April 1969 | 28 October 1969 | — | First commercial nuclear power reactors in India |
| I | 2 | BWR | BWR-1 | Operation suspended (under maintenance) | 150 | 160 | 1 October 1964 | 28 February 1969 | 5 May 1969 | 28 October 1969 | — | First commercial nuclear power reactors in India |
| II | 3 | PHWR | IPHWR-540 | Operational | 490 | 540 | 12 May 2000 | 21 May 2006 | 15 June 2006 | 18 August 2006 | — | |
| II | 4 | PHWR | IPHWR-540 | Operational | 490 | 540 | 8 March 2000 | 6 March 2005 | 4 June 2005 | 12 September 2005 | — | |

## Incidents

In 1980s, the BWR units faced extreme technical issues and difficulties. This lead to repeated shutdowns. Finally in 1989, the gross capacity of the units was reduced to 160 MWe from the original 210 MWe to eliminate the issues.
During maintenance of Tarapur-1, a blast occurred which damaged the chimney. Tarapur-2 was subsequently shut down to avoid any potential issues, completely shutting down the power generation capability of Phase-1 of TAPS in January 2020.

## Current status

T.A.P.S.-1 & 2 were shut down in 2020 following the explosion at T.A.P.S.-1. Later cracks were found in the primary recirculation system in both units. Restart of the two units is planned for Nov. 2024 after replacement of the damaged parts. This will increase the operational life of the older BWR units by an additional 10 years. The parts are to be delivered from Italy says plant director Mulkalwar. T.A.P.S.-3 & 4 are currently operational.
On 16th February 2025, the chairman of the Adani group, Gautam Adani paid a visit to the plant seeking information about its history and working along with officials from adani power and adani green. In the wake of the budget 2025, and proposed changes in the nuclear liability act, and opening the nuclear power sector for private companies, this visit has attained significance.

## AHWR prototype

As a part of India's 3 stage nuclear power program, the design oh the Advanced heavy water reactor 300 Prototype is planned for the site. Though no ground development has taken place, mainly due to delay in design at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.

## Safety concerns

The Boiling water reactors (BWRs) at Tarapur 1 and 2 units are similar to the reactors involved in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. The age of the reactors, coupled with their old design, have raised safety concerns and, according to one local leader in 2011, the reactors had already been in operation for 16 years longer than their design lives.
In 2007, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) evaluated seismic safety features at Tarapur 1 and 2 and reported many shortfalls, following which NPCIL installed seismic sensors. In 2011, AERB formed a 10-member committee, consisting of experts from Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and India Meteorological Department (IMD), to assess the vulnerability of the Tarapur to earthquakes and tsunamis. A. Gopalakrishnan, former director of AERB, said that since Tarapur's reactors are much older than the Fukushima units, they should be immediately decommissioned.
But the reactors are planned for restart in November 2024 after replacement of parts in the primary recirculation system. The units are planned to operate for another ten years. The cost per KWh may increase slightly. AERB has assessed the units thoroughly and has said that they can operate up to 60 EFPYs while they have operated for only around 20 EFPYs.