Rosatom begins implementing contract to supply nuclear fuel for No. 3 and 4 power units at Kudankulam NPP in India

MOSCOW. July 31 (Interfax) - JSC TVEL, the fuel division of Rosatom state corporation, has begun implementing the contract to supply nuclear fuel for the No. 3 and No. 4 power units at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in India, the company said.

The contract is valid for the entire service life of the power units, starting with the initial loading of the reactor core, the company said.

"Capacity of the Kudankulam NPP's second stage will be the first VVER-1000 power units ever to be launched immediately in an 18-month fuel cycle. This is the result of our successful collaboration in recent years, during which efficient solutions previously implemented in similar power units in Russia and China have been tested at the power plant's functioning power units," TVEL president Natalia Nikipelova said in the statement.

Russia has already constructed two power units with VVER-1000 reactors with combined capacity of 2000 MW at the Kudankulam NPP. The first and second power units went online in 2013 and 2017, respectively. India's Atomic Energy Regulatory Board in summer 2017 issued the permit to pour the first concrete for the project's second stage that includes the third and fourth power units. The planned start of warranty operations of the power units was set initially for 2023-2024. The parties have also signed a general framework agreement to construct the fifth and sixth power units at the Kudankulam NPP as part of the project's third stage.

Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev in January 2024 told Rossiya 24 TV that he expected the physical launch of the Kudankulam NPP's third power unit later this year.