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RAS question

The Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS) Units 1 and 2, India's oldest nuclear power plant, use which type of reactor?

Correct answer: (B) Boiling Water Reactor (BWR).

TAPS Units 1 and 2 at Tarapur use Boiling Water Reactor design, making BWR the reactor type used in India’s oldest nuclear power plant units.

  1. (A)

    VVER (Pressurized Water Reactor)

  2. (B)

    Boiling Water Reactor (BWR)

  3. (C)

    Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR)

  4. (D)

    Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR)

Explanation

Tarapur Atomic Power Station Units 1 and 2 are Boiling Water Reactors. The PIB release on AERB’s 2026 restart permission for Unit 2 states that TAPS Units 1 and 2 were India’s first nuclear power reactors based on the Boiling Water Reactor design and began commercial operation in 1969. The two units are 160 MWe BWRs supplied by General Electric, and PIB still describes Unit 1 as operational at its rated power of 160 MWe. The contrast with later Tarapur units matters: Units 3 and 4 are PHWRs, so the reactor type of the older Units 1 and 2 is not the same as the reactor type of the whole station.

Why the other options are wrong

  • (A) VVER is a pressurised water reactor type associated with Kudankulam, not with TAPS Units 1 and 2.
  • (C) PHWR does apply to later Indian reactors and to TAPS Units 3 and 4, but the older TAPS Units 1 and 2 are BWR units.
  • (D) Fast Breeder Reactor is linked to the PFBR at Kalpakkam, whereas Tarapur Units 1 and 2 use BWR design.

Concept

The nuclear-power section of Science and Technology covers reactor types, plant locations, and India’s reactor-development sequence. RAS repeats such facts because they connect technology basics with major Indian energy institutions.

Source

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