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

– It is very good that our cooperation with India is continued

India is considering the possibility of building four more units (3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th) at Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant with reactors of Russian design, senior official of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited Ashok Chauhan said during Moscow-Delhi video bridge. He said that the 1st unit of Kudankulam NPP might be ready by the end of 2009. Ravi B. Grover, Director of the Strategic Planning Group of Homi Bhabha Atomic Research Center, said that the Indian authorities were going to cooperate with the Russians under other NPP construction projects in other region of India.

This is just the first step as India has concluded nuclear power agreements with a whole number of countries. Just like the Chinese, the Indians will try to bring together all the best things available on the market today. Their proposal to build four more WWER reactors at Kudankulam NPP implies that they are satisfied with the WWER project and the work done by our specialists at the first two reactors. They want to move further in this direction but their plans are very extensive and cover many other states.

The statement of our Indian colleagues that they are going to cooperate with the Russians not only at Kudankulam but under other projects in other regions is a small step towards declaration of intention. We enjoy quite good partnership in the fields of NPP construction and nuclear fuel supplies: in the latter field we have already delivered one batch of uranium pellets and have signed an agreement for long-term supply of fuel to Indian nuclear power plants. It is very good that this cooperation is continued.