During Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent state visit to Russia increased nuclear energy co-operation was discussed among a wide range of other topics. Rosatom said: “New areas of cooperation are being discussed as well. On the table is the construction in India of six more Russia-designed high-powered power units and Russia-designed small nuclear power plants. Joint work on closing the nuclear fuel cycle seems promising.”
Russia is already constructing India’s largest NPP at the Kudankulam NPP in Tamil Nadu. Kudankulam NPP will comprise six units with VVER-1000 reactors. Work began following an intergovernmental agreement between India and Russia signed in 1988. Units 1&2 (Phase I) are already in operation and work is underway to build units 3-6 (Phases II and III). The customer and operator of the station is the National Power Company of India Ltd (NPCIL), the general contractor is JSC ASE JSC (Rosatom’s Engineering Division), general designer Atomenergoproject and equipment designer OKB Gidropress.
Units 1&2 began operation in 2016. The general framework agreement with Rosatom on the construction units 3&4 was signed in 2014 and, in 2017, the engineering division of Rosatom and NPCIL signed an agreement on the construction units 5&6. Work on units 5&6 began in 2021 and the NPP is expected to be operating at full capacity by 2027. The roadmap for nuclear cooperation between Russia and India provides for the construction of a total 12 units in India, including 4-8 at Kudankulam.
Modi, accompanied by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev, visited Rosatom’s Pavilion at the All Russian Exhibition Centre (VDNKh – Vistravka Dostizhenii Narodnovo Khozyaistva) in Moscow. VDNKh Inaugurated in 2023, is one of the world’s largest permanent scientific and technological exhibitions.
“Russia offers cooperation in building small tropical nuclear power stations to India with the possibility of a high level of localisation, including transfer of the construction work to New Delhi,” Likhachev told Modi during the tour of the pavilion.
Putin and Modi also discussed non-energy applications of nuclear technology such as desalination of water, irradiation of seeds and food products to improve their quality, transportation of goods from India to Europe and Russia along the Northern Sea Route, and a floating NPP. Detailed explanations were provided by Likhachev.
Putin and Modi also watched a video about the construction the Kudankulam NPP, training for the Indian nuclear programme, and the supply of isotopes for the Indian lunar programme and medicine.
“Visited the Atom Pavilion with President Putin. Energy is an important pillar of cooperation between India and Russia and we are eager to further cement ties in this sector,” Modi posted on his official X platform along with photographs from the visit. “Prime Minister Modi was also shown the ‘Atomic Symphony’, a permanent working model of the VVER-1000 reactor, which is the heart of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant,” a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. “Cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear technology is an important pillar of the multifaceted cooperation between India & Russia,” MEA posted on X after the visit.
“We are ready for a serious expansion of cooperation with India in the field of using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, Likhachev noted. “This is, first of all, serial construction of high-capacity Russian-designed NPP power units at a new site in India, implementation of small-scale generation projects in land-based and floating design, cooperation in the field of the nuclear fuel cycle, as well as in the field of non-energy applications of nuclear technologies.”
Likhachev also said that Rosatom wants to develop Generation 4 nuclear technologies in India. “We are currently developing the agenda for further cooperation. As we have tested each other and constructed very efficient relations in the current Generation 3+ technologies, we would like to move toward the fourth generation together,” he said.
In an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV noted that fourth generation technologies include fast reactors, fast-neutron reactors, further modification and development of VVER technologies, fuel cycle closure, as well as such basic areas such as quantum technology.
In May India’s Department of Atomic Energy Secretary, Ajit Kumar Mohanty, had met with Likhachev and discussed ways to further bolster the nuclear energy cooperation. They had visited the Brest-OD-300 reactor, which is part of the pilot demonstration power complex (ODEK – Opitno Demonstratsionovo Energo-Kompleksa) being developed under the Breakthrough (Proryv) project intended to demonstrate closed fuel cycle technology. The ODEK project includes a module for fabrication and refabrication of nuclear fuel and a module for reprocessing irradiated fuel. The reactor is scheduled for grid connection in 2027.
The Russian President’s website confirmed that new areas of interaction discussed included the construction in India of six more units of Russian design nuclear units on a new site and low-power NPPs as well as cooperation in the field of closing the nuclear fuel cycle.
Another important topic was the serial construction in India of power units for a Russian-designed NPP based on VVER-1200 reactors. “Profile organisations are in the process of preparing the terms of reference for the construction in India of a new Russian design NPP with VVER-1200 reactor facilities.”
The report said Russia and India have great potential for the development of cooperation in scientific and technical spheres, including nuclear fusion and India’s involvement in Russia’s fast neutron multi-purpose research reactor (MBIR), which is being built in Dimitrovgrad. Rosatom and Indian enterprises are studying the prospects for interaction in the field of quantum computing, including the creation of quantum computers.
At the same time, there is a dialogue with Indian partners on the joint development of the transit potential of the Northern Sea Route (one of Rosatom’s responsibilities). The relevant organisations in Russia and India are discussing the possibilities of systemic supplies of Russian energy resources (oil, coal and liquefied natural gas) from the northwestern ports of Russia to the ports of India with transshipment in Russian Far Eastern ports.
