Kudankulam may provide the Russian nuclear plant supplier Rosatom an early bird advantage in India's nuclear power market. Having demonstrated the working of a recent reactor design ahead of French and US firms in India, Rosatom says work will start on two units at Kudankulam in 2016.Speaking on behalf of Rosatom to TOI, Russian nuclear expert Alexander Uvarov says up to 70% of the equipment for new plants may be manufactured in India.According to the agreement signed between India and Russia during Putin's visit last December, Rosatom will build not less than 12 units in India. It is certain that the first two of them will be the units 3 and 4 at Kudankulam nuclear power plant, construction of which will start soon. Concrete pouring is planned for early 2016 for these units. The reactors will be VVER1000 similar to 1 and 2.Speaking of the additional systems that will be implemented in the units, it is important to mention Multi-D technology , which is a lifecycle management system enabling higher productivity and economic efficiency in the designed lifecycles of the facilities. In addition to the passive and active cool down safety features, the power units will be equipped with diagnostic systems which will ensure that operating and maintenance personnel of the power plant respond to signs of disruption to the work of the equip ment rather than to events.It is possible that the number of units at Kudankulam NPP can be ncreased. India believes that there should be at least six units.Localization of production is an integral part of Rosatom's offer, aimed at the implementation of the technological supply chain in the country in which the NPP is constructed. Local producers could become contractors of Rosatom in future projects, which means guaranteed employment of staff and constant supply of orders. Customers save money too. Such localization allows the customer country and its companies to acquire new experience, knowledge and technology .Localization of goods, works and services in case of stepwise construction of power units may be up to 70%.Rosatom engages national companies for supply of equipment and rendering of services on a long-term basis. It cooperates closely with design, scientific, industrial and construction organizations from client countries and involves their industrial potential in the supply of equipment and materials, as well as in performing onsite works.The roadmap developed by Russia and India provides for stepwise localization. In unit 1 of Kudanku lam, Indian specialists per formed assembling and com missioning. At present, the participation of Indian companies in the supply of equipment for the second stage is being ex panded, including organ ization of joint ventures for manufacturing of NPP equipment in India.Within the framework of project implementation, Rosatom is discussing partnerships with major Indian corporations, which are ready to take part in manufacturing of utilities and equipment for new power units. In 2012 Atomenergomash, an engineering subsidiary of Rosatom, chose an Indian partner for equipment localization and outlined a business plan for joint work.Every customer, regardless of the relations that it wishes to establish with us, asks us the same question: what will be the price of one kWh of electric power generated by your plant? Rosatom can guarantee a certain price for electrical energy generated by NPPs built by Rosatom, since we have constructed the entire process chain: from uranium production to construction of NPPs and sale of electrical energy .According to representatives of the Indian nuclear power industry , Rosatom offers the most favorable power price till date. Tariffs applied to the first stage of Kudankulam NPP -Rs 3.5 per kWh -are highly competitive. They are almost twice lower than those used in US projects proposed for India.The first power unit demonstrated safe operation during more than 4700 hours, having generated over 2.8 billion kWh of power to the power grid. A scheduled turbine generator shutdown is a “zero hazard level“ event according to INES, International Nuclear Events Scale (an IAEA scale). That is, such an event by no means impacts personnel, environment, population, or offshore water safety . Radiation leakage was also out of the question. Actually , the turbine generator shutdown was a proof of perfect operation of power plant safety systems: the slightest trouble in turbine generator operation led to activation of power unit safety systems, which, in turn, led to power unit shutdown.It is important to point out that everything has been performed in a regulated manner; the personnel operated with full understanding of the situation; and the safety systems worked in accordance with the regulations, that is, no unexpected or extraordinary event took place. This was not an unforeseen or extraordinary event. The pre-commissioning tests stage is intended to observe such malfunctions. The NPP-92 project executed at Kudankulam fully complies with the requirements of current normative technical documents of the Russian Federation and IAEA.Kudankulam was developed on the base of serial power plants commissioned in Russia and Eastern Europe for a long time. The project belongs to Advanced PressurizedWater Reactors of the third generation and meets international requirements for nuclear plants commissioned after 2000.Threats of sanctions imposed against Russia will not affect Rosatom's plans. None of the foreign partners has abandoned signed commitments to date; therefore, there are no grounds for concern.There are no failures in relations with Ukraine as well. Ukrainian NPPs continue to be provided with Russian fuel and the Ukrainian partners have no debts.