India Shuts Down Unit at Largest Nuclear Plant for Maintenance

13 Aug 2025

India shut down a unit at its Kudankulam nuclear power plant, the country’s largest, for scheduled maintenance last week, according to an outage report. The move could lead to a potential rise in electricity prices in southern regions.

Unit 1 of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, with a capacity of 1,000 MW and located in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, was taken offline on August 3, according to a report dated August 7 from the Central Electricity Authority, the national power advisory body.

A senior official from the Tamil Nadu Distribution and Generation Company confirmed that one of the units at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant is currently undergoing maintenance. The official also noted that the state may need to rely on market sources to meet any potential increase in electricity demand.

The state government official requested anonymity, as oversight of India’s nuclear facilities falls under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Earlier, the Kerala State Electricity Board Ltd (KSEBL) submitted a petition to the state’s electricity regulator, stating that the shutdown is likely to exacerbate peak-hour electricity shortages in certain southern states, leading to an increase in short-term power procurement costs.

The 65-day outage, along with reduced trading volumes on power exchanges and rising demand from neighbouring states, compelled it to purchase 300 MW of peak-hour electricity at prices reaching up to 9.18 rupees (\$0.1048) per unit. According to the petition, the utility finalised power purchases for the 7:00 PM to 12:00 AM IST slot throughout August, securing rates of ?8.75 per unit from Tata Power and ?9.18 per unit from Greenko Energies.