India-Russia energy ties: Nuclear cooperation to be deepened; Kudankulam, SMRs on December summit agenda
Ahead of the summit, Rosatom director general Alexei Likhachev met Ajit Kumar Mohanty, director general of the department of atomic energy (DAE), in Mumbai on Monday to discuss new areas of collaboration.
According to ET, their discussions centred on developing both large-scale and small-scale nuclear power projects in India and expanding cooperation across the nuclear fuel cycle.A statement from Rosatom, cited by ET, said the two sides also conducted a detailed review of progress at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) in Tamil Nadu — the largest nuclear facility in India and a flagship project of India-Russia energy cooperation.Units 1 and 2 of KNPP were connected to India’s national power grid in 2013 and 2016, supplying power to southern India.
Work on Unit 3 has reached the pre-commissioning stage, with preparations under way for a key milestone — testing of safety systems on an open reactor.
Meanwhile, construction, installation and equipment deliveries continue at Unit 4, while Units 5 and 6 — part of the project’s third phase — are actively under construction, as per ET.The discussions also explored avenues for expanding nuclear energy collaboration beyond Kudankulam, including joint development of SMRs and advanced fuel cycle technologies.
