India And Russia Likely To Sign A Pact On Kudankulam Nuclear Plant Units 5, 6

After the talk between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Goa, a general framework could be announced for setting up units 5 and 6 of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP), according to an official of the Russian atomic energy corporation Rosatom.

The first unit of the Kudankulam project was dedicated to the nation on 10 August jointly by Prime Minister Modi and President Putin, who had participated in the ceremony from Moscow through video-conferencing. That same day, Modi had said five more 1,000 MW units would be built at Kudankulam with Russian partnership. The second unit at Kudankulam went critical later in August, when the physical startup stage was completed successfully. It is expected to be commissioned later this year.

According to KNPP site Director R S Sundar, Unit 1 has so far generated 10,900 million units of electricity since its synchronisation with the Southern Grid following the reactor's criticality on 13 July 2013.The ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of units 3 and 4 was conducted earlier this year.

With inputs from IANS