The road map agreed upon by India and Russia on Friday for the construction of Russian reactors in India provides for building two more reactors (that is units 5 and 6) at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu and two reactors at Haripur in West Bengal during the 12th Plan period (2012 to 2017). It outlines the timeline for the steps to be taken for the construction of Kudankulam units 3 and 4.
India and Russia signed five agreements, including two each in the nuclear sphere and fertilizers and one in the civilian space programme, in New Delhi in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
In a press statement on Saturday, S.K. Malhotra, spokesperson and Head, Public Awareness Division, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), said that the construction of more Russian reactors would be considered during the formulation of the 13th Five-Year Plan.
The road map called for progressive indigenisation of supplies for the reactors to be built with Russian collaboration beyond the level already envisaged for the Kudankulam units 3 and 4.
Informed officials of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) said the first unit at Kudankulam might reach first criticality by the end of this year. The second unit would be started in 2011.
Kudankulam units 1 and 2 are Russian reactors with a capacity of 1,000 MW each. The NPCIL is building them.
A total of six Russian reactors will come up at Kudankulam. While Russia will provide the equipment and components for the six reactors, the NPCIL will build them.
