India Wants to Seal Kudankulam NPP New Unit Construction Deal With Russia

According to India's envoy to Russia, New Delhi wants to quickly sign an agreement on the construction of new units at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant with Moscow.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — New Delhi wants to sign as quickly as possible a general framework agreement with Moscow on the construction of the fifth and sixth units at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, Indian ambassador to Russia Pankaj Saran said Wednesday.

"We already have commissioned Unit 1 at Kudankulam and Kudankulam 2 is likely to be commissioned soon. The General Framework agreement for the third and fourth units has been finalized. Discussions are underway to finalize the General Framework agreement for the fifth and sixth units, and we would like to do it as soon as possible," Saran told RIA Novosti in an interview.

Saran added that a total of 12 nuclear power units would be built in India in 20 years based on Russian design, in accordance with December 2015 agreements between the two countries.

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India and Russia's Rosatom launched a much-delayed joint project to build the Kudankulam NPP in 2012. The first unit reached full capacity in July 2014, and is currently India’s most powerful reactor with a maximum operating capacity of 1,000 megawatt.

The construction of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant was initially agreed by the Soviet Union and India in 1988, but the project was in limbo.