Atomstroyexport asks RNIP about conditions for Kudankulam NPP insurance of up to $10 bln
MOSCOW. Jan 17 (Interfax) - CJSC Atomstroyexport has asked the Russina Nuclear Insurance Pool (RNIP) about terms for liability insurance for suppliers against nuclear risks when building the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in India to a sum of $10 billion, Pavel Rudenskiy, the president of the pool's management company - National Association of Nuclear Industry Insurers, told the press Thursday.
RNIP received a request from CJSC Atomstroyexport about this a few days ago, he said. However, RNIP thinks it unlikely that the required reinsurance capacity for the request can be found on the international specialized market.
Rudenskiy said "recently amendments were made to Indian legislation that have not yet been put into practice in other countries." They include mandatory liability insurance for technology suppliers against the consequences of radiation. This affects the construction of the Kudankulam NPP in India.
"The country's legislation does not, of course, specify the amount of liability, the wording is that there be insurance for the full value of the property. If we consider that construction of one unit of the NPP costs around $2 billion to $3 billion, clearly the Russian company's request comes from the need to insure liability for construction of 4 power units," Rudenksiy said.
Nikolai Galushin, a representative of RNIP leader - OJSC SOGAZ , told the press that selecting one risks out of a number of others is unusual in agreement practice.
"Usually the nuclear risks covered by the agreement include operating risks, the so-called human factor, which accounts for 50%-70% of insurance cases, as well as natural disaster risks. In this case we are not talking about this kind of protection. Under the terms of the request India expects a guaranteed period of NPP operation, covered by insurance, of five years after the launch of the facility," he said.
At the end of December 2012, it was announced that an agreement had been reached on the technical parameters for construction of the third and fourth units of the NPP (phase two). Rosatom Chairman Sergei Kiriyenko told the press about this.
"All price parameters have also been settled. We have agreed the entire package on the third and fourth units. We can organize planning for the laying the first concrete. This will depend on the Indian customer's decision," Kiriyenko said.
As reported earlier, Russia and India signed a protocol to a Russian-Indian intergovernmental agreement on the conditions for Russia to provide a state loan for power units NN 3 and 4 (phase two of the NPP), according to which Moscow is willing to provide a $4.2 billion export loan (the cost of the Russian work in the project), of which $3.4 billion is for equipment supplies and $800 million for financing nuclear fuel deliveries.
Russia said it hoped to sign the general contract for phase II of the NPP in the first half of 2013.The launch of the first unit at the Kudankulam NPP is scheduled for February.
The launch of the second power unit at the Kudankulam NPP was postponed from March first to July and then to September 2013. Fuel loading was launched in the reactors of the first power unit on September 19 and was completed in early October.
Kudankulam NPP is being built in India within the framework of a Russian-Indian agreement of November 20 1988 and additions made on June 21 1998. Construction of the first of two power units with VVER-1000 reactors and capacity of 2,000 megawatts began in 2002 under the management of Atomstroyexport (part of Rosatom).