Atomstroyexport, Russia's nuclear power equipment and service export monopoly, has been building the Kudankulam plant in the southern province of Tamil Nadu since 2002 in line with a 1988 agreement between India and the Soviet Union and an addendum signed in 1998. The plant is designed to have the capacity of 2,000 MW.
"In the second quarter of this year, we will deliver nuclear fuel to the first power unit of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant," Sergei Kiriyenko, currently on a visit to India, said, adding that the first delivery had already been coordinated with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Kiriyenko said Russia was prepared to provide the Kudankulam plant with nuclear fuel throughout its entire operational life, which is expected to begin later this year.
"Russia believes that India has an unimpeachable reputation in the nuclear non-proliferation sphere, and therefore we are going to push for an end to relevant sanctions against India," said the head of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Power.
India, one of the world's eight confirmed nuclear powers, has never been party to the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and has been under U.S., Japanese and European sanctions since 1998 when it tested nuclear weapons.
Kiriyenko visited the construction site of the plant and said it was his second visit in the past 10 months, adding that a great deal of work had obviously been done since then.
He also said the Russian and Indian partners had agreed to accelerate the plant's construction in a bid to finish it ahead of schedule.
Russia has offered India a government loan on favorable terms for the Kudankulam project.
