India hopes to make up for lost time due to Covid-19 on Kudankulam NPP units 5 and 6
VOLGOGRAD/MOSCOW. Feb 25 (Interfax) - India hopes to make up for lost time due to Covid-19 and resume preparations to build the fifth and sixth generating units at the Kundankulam Nuclear Power Plant before long, Venkatesh Varma, the Indian ambassador to Russia, said during a working visit to Volgograd.
The fifth and sixth units constitute the third stage of the KNPP project. The first and second units, the first stage, are already operating, and construction of the third and fourth units is under way, he said.
"Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, work has been slowed down, but we are confident that work on units and 6 will resume in the near future, and that we will be able to make good the time that has been lost," the ambassador said.
The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant is being built in India under a bilateral agreement of November 20, 1988 and supplements to it signed on June 21, 1998. Construction of the first two VVER-1000 reactors with 2,000 megawatts of combined capacity began in 2002 under the supervision of Atomstroyexport.
The Indian Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) in June 2017 granted clearance to pour the first concrete for stage two of the Kudankulam plant, which includes units No. 3 and No. 4. Russia and India signed a general framework agreement to build the second stage of the Kudankulam NPP in April 2014. At the St. Petersburg International Economic Eastern Economic Forum in June 2017, Russia and India signed a general framework agreement to build the third stage of the KNPP consisting of the fifth and sixth reactor units. A road map for cooperation in nuclear power between Russia and India provides for construction of 12 units in India, including between four and eight units at Kudankulam. In addition, an agreement was reached on India allocating another site for an NPP of Russian design.
The Indian ambassador told Interfax on February 25 that India was considering a site in the state of Andhra Pradesh for a new NPP. He said engineering research was under way and that the countries would decide on a site after that.
"One of the sites under consideration is in the state of Andhra Pradesh, but the engineering research has to be completed before a final decision can be made," he said.
The coronavirus pandemic has beencomplicating negotiations between Russia and India on a new site for a nuclear power plant. "As for India, construction of the third and fourth units [of the KNPP] is in full swing there, and preparations are being made to start building the fifth and six units. Negotiations on a new site are underway, but one must understand that any negotiations this year are taking place in difficult circumstances," the first deputy CEO of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, Kirill Komarov told reporters at the end of November.
