India restarts Kudankulam production ahead of Putin visit

December 9, 2014, 6:50 am

Days head of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India, the first power unit of the Russian-Indian nuclear facility, the Kudankulam NPP in southern India’s Tamil Nadu state, has been rebooted for power production after repair works that shut down the plant for 81 days.

The reactor was commissioned on Sunday and power generation stood at 69 MWe around 10.45 pm (India time).

In October 2013, India started pumping electricity for the first time from its much-delayed Kudankulam nuclear power plant.

The project involves 1,000 MW reactors of the VVER-1000 model being constructed by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and Russia’s Atomstroyexport, a Rosatom subsidiary.

Unable to rely on a coal sector crippled by supply shortages and mired in scandals, India is pushing ahead with construction of up to 14 or 16 Russian-design power units in India.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra has invited Putin to visit the Kudankulam plant during his trip to India.

Moscow and New Delhi have long-standing economic and defence ties.

Modi, who is being courted aggressively by US and its ally Japan, after his massive win in the Indian elections this summer, said in Brazil that Russia is India’s “greatest friend”.

“If you ask anyone among the more than one billion people living in India who is our country’s greatest friend, every person, every child knows that it is Russia. Everyone knows that Russia has always stood side by side with India during the toughest moments and without demanding anything in return,” Modi told Putin in July this year.

Putin thanked BRICS members India and China for their support to Russia during the post-Crimea-annexation crisis.

“We are grateful to all those who understood our actions in Crimea. We are grateful to the people of China, whose leadership sees the situation in Crimea in all its historical and political integrity. We highly appreciate India’s restraint and objectivity,” said Putin during a Kremlin address in March this year.

New Delhi has said earlier that Moscow has “legitimate” interests in Ukraine and they should be discussed to find a satisfactory solution to the issue.

Ahead of a US visit in September, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi backed BRICS member Russia, refusing to criticise Moscow for its annexation of Crimea.

Russia’s trade with India is currently about $15 billion per year, and by 2015 the Russian government hopes to boost it to $20 billion.

TBP