Moscow, Delhi agree on Kundankulam 3, 4 unit loan terms
MOSCOW. Dec 16 (Interfax) - Russia and India have agreed on the terms for a Russian loan to build the third and fourth generating units at the Kundankulam nuclear plant, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said at a press conference following his meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
"The sides have reached agreement on the terms for a Russian loan for the third and fourth blocks of the Kundankulam plant," Singh said.
Russia plans to issue a loan to India to build the third and fourth units "for the whole volume of Russian supplies," Sergei Kiriyenko, the chief of Russian state nuclear concern Rosatom, told reporters.
Kiriyenko did not say how much the credit would run to, citing commercial secrecy, but he did say it would be "several billion dollars.
Russia and India were due to sign a protocol on an inter-governmental cooperation agreement to build the third and fourth Kundankulam blocks during Friday's meeting between Medvedev and Singh, but they did not. Nor did they sign a protocol on an agreement to build additional nuclear plants to Russian designs in India. Both agreements were signed in 2008.
Rosatom's Kiriyenko did not comment, but a source in the Russian delegation said India had asked for a little more time to resolve the problem over local protests and explain and prove the station's absolute safety. "All the paperwork was ready and the issues have been agreed on," the source said.
The Kundankulam NPP is being built for the Nuclear Power Corporation of India under an agreement of November 20, 1988 and a supplement to the agreement of June 21, 1998. In 2002, under Atomstroyexport management, construction began of the first two power blocks with light water (VVER-1000) reactors with overall capacity of 2,000 MW.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday that the first generating unit at Kundankulam nuclear could be commissioned in the next two weeks and the second in the next six months. He said the first two units were almost built. "We're close to commissioning them," he said.
"Certain problems arise with assuring nuclear safety, with the possible impact of the plant on the population. I'm confident we'll overcome the concerns of these people. Our nuclear program is safe. We and Russia will convince people that there are no grounds for concern," Singh said.
The first block was originally due to be commissioned in the autumn, but the even was postponed several times due to local protests. Russian state nuclear concern Rosatom has said specialists would need another few months to prepare the block for first criticality, due to a strike by specialists.
Russia and India said in a joint statement on December 16 that they were rounding off talks on the loan for the third and fourth units and that "talks on a technical-commercial offer to build these blocks are at the final stage."
The statement said Russia and India would "strive to commission these blocks as soon as possible" and that they would "adhere to the most rigorous nuclear safety standards."
Russia and India signed a "road map" for the construction of 14-16 generating units with capacity of 1,000 MW each in March. They signed an agreement on the construction of a second phase of the Kudankulam NPP in 2010.
Rosatom's Kiriyenko has said contracts for the construction of the second phase could be signed by the end of 2011.
As for the allocation of a site for the construction of another NPP, the previously proposed option in Haripura, West Bengal turned out to be unsuitable geologically. Protests against the construction of a nuclear plant in Haripura began after the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan.