Leonid Bolshov, Director of Nuclear Safety Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences

– Russian-Indian nuclear cooperation has great future

On February 11, 2009 in Mumbai (India) JSC «TVEL» and the Department of Atomic Energy, the Government of India, signed long-term contracts for fuel pellet’s supply to India’s nuclear power reactors . The total cost of contracts is more than $700 million.

By signing a contract for supplying fuel pellets to Indian nuclear reactors Russia has entered the door it has helped to open itself. I mean the lifting of the restrictions imposed on India by the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group. It is very important that we have got the first contract in India but this does not mean that there will be no competition on the Indian market.

We will not be India’s only partner in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy. But the fact that we are the first, that we are building a modern nuclear power plant in that country, will give us certain competitive advantages. Russia’s key achievement in India is that we have signed an agreement for building four more reactors at Kudankulam. I am sure that the Russian-Indian nuclear cooperation has great future.