Russia in India's Nuclear Build Mix as Kudankulam Plant Readies First 1,000 Megawatts

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--India continues to develop projects and increase capacities to reach its target of attaining 20,000 MW of nuclear power by 2020.

Commissioning of the first of two 1,000-MW Russian reactors at the Kudankulam nuclear power station project in Tamil Nadu is scheduled to take place in the next two weeks. In mid-2012 the second 1,000 MW unit is scheduled to begin operating, according to Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) (Mumbai), which is in charge of construction at the site.

The Russians have been at pains to stress the safety factors at the plant in the face of sustained protests by some of the local population. There are plans to build a further two reactors in the second phase of the project, which could see the nuclear power station with the capacity to generate a total of 4,500 MW. Russia has offered a multibillion-dollar loan to India to advance the project, in which $2.8 billion has already been invested. Russia is hoping to build a total of 12 nuclear power reactors in India, of which six will be built between 2012 and 2017.

The Indian government sees the nuclear-build program as vital to efforts to close the base power shortage gap. The hopes for all the coal-fired plants planned to provide additional power must be qualified by the uncertain nature of power stations' coal supply chains, which have been hindered by a number of problems, including transportation inefficiencies and clashes over coal allocations in the bureaucracy.

Looking to the nuclear power plant program, state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) (New Delhi) (BSE:500312) is exploring the feasibility of building nuclear power plants in association with NPCIL. The two companies have signed a nondisclosure agreement that allows for the exchange of key information.

Currently, NIPCL operates 20 nuclear reactors with an aggregate installed capacity of 4,780 MW and is building a further six, including Kudankulam, which will add another 4,800 MW to the country's nuclear power base.

In pursuit of the capacity to reach the 20,000 MW target by 2020, NPCIL has already signed agreements with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (BSE:530965) and National Aluminum Company Limited (NALCO) (BSE:532234) (Bhubaneswar, Orissa) to form partnerships for nuclear power project building.

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