Indian & Russian officials inspect India's largest nuclear power plant

The chiefs of the Indian and Russian Nuclear Power establishment paid an inspection visit to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu, which is a joint project between the two nations and the flagship project of bilateral technological and energy cooperation.

Rosatom State Corporation and Ajit Kumar Mohanty, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India, inspected the power units being constructed in the second and third stages of the Kudankulam NPP and discussed the long-term cooperation agenda.

According to the Rosatom, following the discussions between the officials, a significant document was signed under the joint Russian-Indian project, namely a protocol to the intergovernmental agreement on the construction of power units of the second and third stages of the Kudankulam NPP as of 2008.

India's largest nuclear power project Kudankulam is meant to have six 1,000 Megawatt Power plants, with a total installed capacity of 6,000 Megawatts. Of this, the first plant was operationalised in 2013 and the second was operationalised in 2016.

The four remaining plants are in various stages of construction. At present, the construction and erection work is underway and the supply of equipment is being completed at units three and four, whereas construction of units five and six is underway.

All of these reactors are of the VVER-1000 class, which is a Water-Water Energetic reactor design developed in the erstwhile Soviet Union.

“India is our strategic partner. The Russian-Indian nuclear cooperation lies deep in the first intergovernmental documents on the Indian NPP of Russian design that were signed back in the eighties of the last century. The end of last year was marked by a wonderful joint 10-year anniversary of the Kudankulam NPP power unit No.1 being connected to the power grid of the Republic of India. Our work continues as part of joint projects in various areas of the nuclear energy use and we are optimistic about the further development of our cooperation,” said Alexey Likhachev.

Located in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, the Kudankulam plant is operated by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL).

In addition to the construction of nuclear power units, Russia's Rosatom State Corporation arranges for the supply of reliable and efficient nuclear fuel for VVER-1000 to India, while increasing the operating efficiency of these reactors through the introduction of extended fuel cycles.

A host of Russian establishments are involved in putting together this project - the general contractor is Atomstroyexport JSC, its general designer is Atomenergoproekt JSC, and its chief designer is OKB Gidropress.