Russia starts delivering nuclear fuel for India's Kudankulam unit 3

Coinciding with Russian President Vladimir Putin's State visit to India on Thursday (December 4), Russian nuclear power agency Rosatom has announced that it has commenced delivery of nuclear fuel for the upcoming Unit 3 of India's Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) in Tamil Nadu. The Indo-Russian KKNPP is India's largest Nuclear power generation facility.

Of the KKNPP's six VVER-1000 reactors, units 1 and 2 were connected to India’s national power grid in 2013 and 2016 respectively, and currently supply electricity to the southern regions of the country. Unit 3 is in the pre-commissioning phase, and Units 4,5,6 are in various stages of construction. Each of these reactors are capable of generating 1000Megawatts of power. When fully operational, KKNPP would generate about 6,000Megawatts of power. At present, KKNPP generates 2,000Megawatts, which is about one-fourth of India's total Nuclear power generating capacity.

In November 2025, Rosatom had announced that preparations are underway for one of the key milestones- testing of safety systems on an open reactor at Unit 3 of KKNPP. The Nuclear Fuel Division of Rosatom has delivered the first consignment of nuclear fuel for the initial loading of the VVER-1000 reactor at Unit 3 of the KKNPP. The cargo flight successfully delivered fuel assemblies manufactured by the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant (an enterprise of the Rosatom’s Nuclear Fuel Division), Rosatom said.

A total of seven flights from Russia to India are planned to supply the entire reactor core and some reserve fuel. The shipments are provided under the contract signed in 2024, which includes fuel supply for units 3 and 4 of the KKNPP for the entire service life of the reactors.

Kudankulam unit 3 to use longer-lasting nuclear fuel

According to Rosatom, during the operation of Units 1 & 2 of the KKNPP, Russian and Indian engineers have worked towards increasing the reactors' efficiency through the introduction of advanced nuclear fuel and extended fuel cycles.

Starting from 2022, the KKNPP is supplied with nuclear fuel of the TVS-2M model. It provides more reliable and cost-effective reactor operation due to its rigid design, a new generation anti-debris filter and a increased mass of uranium. Its introduction has also enabled elongation of the fuel cycle of the reactors from 12 to 18 months, so the power units are being stopped less frequently for fuel re-load. Earlier, the reactors had to be refuelled every year, but now they need to be refuelled only once in 18 months, offer increased runtime after every refuelling.

The upcoming Units 3 & 4 of the KKNPP will become the first-ever VVER-1000 type reactors commence operations in an 18-month fuel cycle. This is the result of successful cooperation in recent years between Rosatom's Nuclear Fuel Division and Indian partners, as the efficient solutions that had been previously implemented at similar power plants in Russia and China were introduced at the two operational Kudankulam power units.

Throughout the entire operational life of nuclear power plants, Rosatom not only supplies nuclear fuel, but also provides engineering services, increasing the efficiency of power units introducing new fuel and fuel cycle solutions.