Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 29 June, an official ceremony was held that was dedicated to the first concrete pouring into the foundation plate of the reactor building for Kudankulam NPP Unit 5 (Republic of India). The concrete pouring commemorated the official commencement of the main stage of the nuclear power plant stage 3 construction. Due to anti-epidemiological restrictions, the ceremony was held via videoconference. 

First concrete pouring was preceded by continuous preliminary work: concrete bedding for foundations of the reactor building, auxiliary reactor building with the Main Control Room, turbine building and power supply building for normal operation, emergency power supply and safety control systems. 

“For many years the Kudankulam NPP construction project has been a symbol of close cooperation between Russia and India. However, we do not want to stop at what had already been achieved. Rosatom has all the most advanced nuclear power technologies. Together with our Indian colleagues we are ready to launch the serial construction of the state-of-the-art Generation III+ Russian-designed nuclear power units at a new site in India. It is stipulated by the existing agreements,” Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev stated during the ceremony. 

Russian enterprises are already manufacturing equipment required for the first priority installation, the equipment for the reactor facilities and turbine hall for Unit 5. Even today, on the construction horizon of up to two years, construction is provided with the detailed design documentation.

After signing the General Framework Agreement (GFA) on April 10, 2014, on construction of Units 3, 4, the negotiations with the Indian party began regarding construction of Kudankulam NPP Units 5, 6, upon the results of which the agreement was reached that these Units would be constructed in compliance with the same design as it was stipulated for Units 3, 4. On June 01, 2017, the Credit Protocol to the Intergovernmental Agreement of December 05, 2008 and the GFA for Kudankulam NPP Units 5, 6 were signed. 

Units 3,4 and 5,6 are stages 2 and 3 of Kudankulan NPP respectively, which are under construction in compliance with the NPP-92 design with the WWER-1000 (B-412) type reactor facility. The technical solutions implemented in the Kudankulam NPP project characterize the paths of further evolutionary development of NPP power units with the WWER high-power reactor and transition to creation of the  qualitatively new, reliable, safe and economical power unit.

New Kudankulam NPP Units meet the latest IAEA safety requirements.

The Developer - the technical customer of the facility – is Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited. The General Designer and the Supplier of the equipment is JSC ASE.

Currently Kudankulam NPP Units 1,2 are operating at the capacity fixed in the dispatch schedule.