Russia will build 6 units at Kudankulam NPP (India)

25.01.2007 // RIA Novosti

An agreement on the construction of 4 more units at Kudankulam NPP was signed today in the framework of the visit of the Russian President to India

Russia and India have agreed on the construction of 4 more units at Kudankulam NPP and other facilities. The agreement was signed by the Russian President and the Indian Prime Minister.

Presently, Russia is taking part in the building of the 1st and 2nd units of Kudankulam with 1,000 MW VVER-1,000 reactors designed under the NPP-92 project.

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.

VVER is a type of water-cooled reactor — the most widely spread reactor in the world: there are almost 250 water-cooled reactors worldwide, of them 49 are Russian VVERs.

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 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 sides will be able to implement the agreement as soon as the Nuclear Suppliers Group lifts relevant restrictions.