Rosatom open to signing NPCIL contract for six 1200 MW nuclear reactors at one go

Russia’s nuclear power corporation Rosatom is open to signing a contract with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) for supply of six 1,200-MW nuclear reactors at one go so as cut costs and time, said a senior official on Thursday.

“One of the options given by NPCIL is to sign the contracts for supply of all six 1,200-MW nuclear power reactors together. We are considering that option as well,” Sergey P. Oriov, Head of Atomstroyexport (ASE) Representation in India, told reporters here. ASE is the export arm of Rosatom. He also said that by the end of this month, ASE and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) will sign important contracts, including for long manufacturing cycle equipment, contract for drawings and first priority design - pertaining to the proposed fifth and sixth 1,000 MW units at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli districts, around 650 km from here. Oriov said signing of agreements for six reactors all at once would save time and costs, and added that now the contracts for supply are signed for two units at a time. India is planning to buy six more nuclear power plants from Russia with 1,200 MW capacity each. The location for the proposed six more units is yet to be decided though they have to be in a coastal state, Oriov said. At present, India and Russia have signed an agreement for six 1,000-MW nuclear reactors, of which two have been built and are operational at Kudankulam. Construction work on the third and fourth units has already started. Speaking about the price of units 5 and 6, Oriov said it would be around the price at which the contract for supply of units 3 and 4 was concluded. India will be paying around Rs 40,000 crore to the Russian supplier for the third and fourth units to be built in Kudankulam. Oriov said the Russian company hopes to see one nuclear power unit getting commissioned every year between 2023 and 2026 in Kudankulam (units 3 to 6). Speaking about the first two units at Kudankulam, Oriov said the first unit has been fully handed over to NPCIL after the warranty period and the second unit is now running under the warranty period. The second unit will be shut down in December 2017 for refuelling purposes. The first unit which is currently shut down for refuelling will start operations early August, he said.