Third unit of India’s biggest nuclear plant nearing startup – Rosatom CEO

Aleksey Likhachev says the startup phase for the Kudankulam plant’s unit 3 is expected next spring, and sees commissioning ops for unit 4 by the end of next year The third unit of India’s largest nuclear power plant, built to a Russian design, is “practically in the final stages of completion” and its physical startup is expected next spring, the CEO of Russia’s Rosatom has said.

Aleksey Likhachev said Russia has “supplied 99% of our equipment” for the unit.

The Kudankulam plant in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu is a collaborative project between the state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) and Atomstroyexport, a unit of Rosatom.

Physical startup is a testing phase, when nuclear fuel is loaded into the reactor and it attains a self-sustained and controlled chain reaction before it can start full power generation.

The plant will have six units when completed.

Russia supplies the critical nuclear components, design blueprints, and enriched uranium fuel for the plant, while Indian engineers carry out the construction alongside Russian advisers.

The first two units were connected to the grid in 2013 and 2016, respectively.

Read more BRICS New Delhi declaration rejects sanctions, nuclear threats and terrorism The commissioning operations for the fourth unit will begin by the end of next year, Likhachev told RT on the sidelines of the just-concluded BRICS Summit in New Delhi.

He added that commissioning operations for the fifth and sixth units will begin in 2028-2029.

The Russian CEO emphasized that such deep nuclear cooperation requires “a special relationship of trust between heads of state, between governments, and between peoples… it can only be developed by peoples who have been bound together by close ties for decades.” Bilateral nuclear cooperation was one of the key topics in the discussion between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit.

READ MORE: Rosatom in talks with Indian private companies to build nuclear plants – CEO Likhachev recalled that when Washington imposed sanctions and refused to supply fuel to India’s US-built Tarapur nuclear plant, Moscow stepped in to supply the fuel pellets.

“We are now expanding this practice, supplying our fuel to Western-designed power stations.” He said Rosatom’s aim is to further strengthen nuclear cooperation with India and also boost non-nuclear and high-tech sectors in the country.