ACHIEVING a major milestone despite the challenges of COVID-19, L&T has delivered a critical component for a plant in Haryana that will provide clean nuclear power.
The component – an End Shield – is critical to Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) nuclear plants and is an integral support to the reactor assembly, supporting coolant channel assemblies in which the fuel resides and heavy water coolant flows. It also limits the radiation dose rate in the fueling machine vault to an acceptable level.
L&T is a pioneer in nuclear equipment manufacturing, technology development and site/plant services right from the launch of India’s nuclear programme several decades ago. It has manufactured all the End Shields for 500 and 700 MWe PHWR plants in the country.
Reaffirming its trust in L&T, in March 2018 the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) awarded L&T the contract for a 700 MWe End Shield for the Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidhyut Paryojana (GHAVP). L&T Heavy Engineering vertical manufactured the critical component in a benchmark cycle time of 36 months – despite the numerous challenges triggered by the pandemic.
On 6 April, the End Shield was flagged off from L&T’s Hazira Manufacturing Complex in Gujarat for the GHAVP plant. Senior officials from NPCIL and L&T graced the occasion.
To achieve the major milestone, L&T and NPCIL teams made several process improvements. This has turned out to be yet another example of L&T’s expanding green portfolio – in this case, contributing to the production of eco-friendly clean energy.
