JOIN USIndia to offer site in AP for Russian nuke plants
India is set to offer Russia a second site — possibly in coastal Andhra Pradesh — for building atomic power projects, even as the two nations are keen to ink an agreement for the fifth and sixth units of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) in Tamil Nadu during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow for annual summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Modi is likely to visit Moscow in the third week of December. The Prime Minister and Putin will hold the 16th annual India-Russia summit and discuss a range of bilateral, regional and international issues.
Modi and Putin will review the progress in bilateral civil nuclear cooperation, particularly over the past one year since they agreed on a roadmap for future cooperation in civil nuclear energy sector, envisaging not only construction of at least 12 atomic power plants in India with reactors designed in Russia, but also technology transfer between the two countries and cooperation in third countries.
Officials told Deccan Herald in New Delhi that Modi’s visit to Moscow might see India formally offering Russia a second site to set up nuclear power plants.
Apart from Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, Haripur in West Bengal was initially proposed to be the second site for building nuclear power plants with technology from Russia. The ruling Trinamool Congress and opposition Communist Party of India (Marxist) in West Bengal, however, were not in favour of having a nuclear power plant in the state. Moscow has since been nudging New Delhi to declare an alternative site in any other state. The scouting, however, took more than four years and the Centre and the Government of Andhra Pradesh identified a site in the coastal region of the state to be offered to Russia for building at least six nuclear power plants.
The first unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant with 1000 MWe VVER reactor from Russia is already operational, while the second with similar capacity and technology is likely to be commissioned soon.
India and Russia also inked agreements for the third and fourth units of KNPP.
Officials in New Delhi said that negotiations on a proposed agreement for the fifth and sixth units of KNPP were at an advanced stage and the deal could be signed on the sidelines of Modi-Putin summit in Moscow. Moscow already agreed to progressively enhance scope of orders for materials and equipment from Indian suppliers for construction of Russian reactors and establish joint ventures, including by transfer of technology.