25.01.2007 // Press service of Federal Agency of Nuclear Energy

Rosatom and Atomic Energy Department of India have signed a memorandum on cooperation

On Jan 25 the head of Rosatom Sergey Kiriyenko and the head of the Atomic Energy Department of India Anil Kakodkar signed a memorandum on cooperation in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

According to the memorandum, Russia will build 4 more units at Kudankulam NPP as well as NPPs on other sites in India.

Kiriyenko told journalists: «It is very important for us that the agreement on the construction of additional units at Kudankulam and NPPs in India was reflected in the joint statement of the Russian President and Indian Prime Minister. In his speech, President Putin noted that economic cooperation often needs political backing and nuclear power engineering is exactly the case: Russia supports the initiatives for lifting NSG restrictions from India as this country has perfect reputation in terms of compliance with nonproliferation requirements. Besides, the leaders of the two countries have instructed us to draft a complex program of cooperation in the nuclear power sector. I hope that we will draft it within 2007.»

Kudankulam NPP, which is being built on the basis of modern Russian technologies, is an example of Russian-Indian fruitful cooperation and paves the way for its further development. Presently, the Russian side is installing a third generation reactor at Kudankulam (NPP-92 project). This reactor meets all  international requirements.

The NPP-92 project was drafted by Atomenergoproject (Moscow), in cooperation with Kurchatov Institute, HydroPress RDB and other leading Russian enterprises. This is very promising and safe project.

The Kudankulan units have special devices that intercept, cool and localize core melt in case of an accident — a kind of «concrete trap» situated under the reactor.
 
Besides, the units are protected from possible earthquakes, hurricanes, air crashes. The two existing units, located on the Indian Ocean coast, have already survived a tsunami — the wave was stopped by a special wave cutter.

The key advantage of this project is that it uses upgraded equipment, effective protection mechanisms and passive safety systems combined with traditional active ones. This all makes Kudankulam very safe and efficient.

The 1st and 2nd units of Kudankulam are being build by Atomstroyexport, a company building NPPs in China and Iran and starting a similar project at Belene NPP in Bulgaria.

A total of 100 Russian companies and organizations are involved in the Kudankulam project. The Russian side is to draft documentation, supply equipment and materials, control the construction and equipping process, train Indian operators at Russian enterprises and NPP.