Russia, India Sign Nuclear Power Plant Agreement

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.