Tarapur Atomic Power Station

Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS) is India's first nuclear power station — opened in October 1969 in Tarapur, Maharashtra. The project was India's flagship demonstration of nuclear-power technology, executed under the Indo-American civilian nuclear agreement of 1963 (the 'Atoms for Peace' programme).

The original Units 1 + 2 use General Electric Boiling Water Reactors (BWR-1) — the same reactor type as Fukushima Daiichi (which operated 1971-2011). These US-supplied reactors were among the earliest commercial BWRs deployed worldwide, with India hosting the largest BWR fleet outside the United States in the 1970s. The reactors operated continuously for 50+ years before being progressively decommissioned in the 2010s — Unit 1 in 2018, Unit 2 still operational at reduced capacity.

Units 3 + 4 are indigenous Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs, 540 MW each), commissioned 2005 + 2006. These PHWRs used the indigenously-designed Indian 540 MW PHWR design — a key proof-of-concept for India's nuclear self-sufficiency programme after the post-1974 US-India nuclear cooperation freeze.

The Tarapur site has been politically significant: the 1974 Indian Pokhran-I 'Smiling Buddha' nuclear test triggered US sanctions that froze Tarapur's fuel supply — leading to Indian indigenous fuel cycle development at Trombay-Tarapur. Total Tarapur installed capacity: 1,400 MW (2 BWR + 2 PHWR).