Following talks on between Russian President
Vladimir Putin and India’s Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
on June 1 in St Petersburg, Russia and India have reportedly signed an
agreement on setting up two more Russian-designed units for the
Kudankulam nuclear power station in Tamil Nadu.
Putin says Russia is ready to build a dozen nuclear reactors in India
over the next 20 years to back Modi’s growth strategy for Asia’s
third-largest economy, which continues to suffer chronic power
shortages, Reuters reported, adding that Atomstroyexport, a unit of
Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, will carry out the work.
Putin said Russian-Indian economic cooperation is returning to a
growth trajectory, and “we both have a stake in consolidating this
positive trend”.
Russia will provide India with a state loan for the construction of
the fifth and sixth units of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant (NPP) in
the amount of $4.2 billion for a period of 10 years, Sputnik quoted
Russian Finance Minister
Anton Siluanov as saying on
June 1. “It will be $4.2 billion. Starting next year [2018] for next 10
years,” Siluanov told reporters on the sidelines of the St Petersburg
International Business Forum (SPIEF).
Russia and India also said in a joint declaration, according to
Reuters, that the “wider use of natural gas” which they hailed as an
economically efficient and environmentally friendly fuel that would help
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help them fulfil the terms of the
Paris climate change accord.
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/russia-india-sign-nuclear-power-plant-agreement/