Kudankulam Unit-3 nears major milestone

Pre-commissioning activities are underway at the third unit of the 1,000 MW Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) in Tamil Nadu’s coastal Thoothukudi district, Russian integrated atomic power major Rosatom announced on Sunday. “At Unit-3, pre-commissioning activities are underway, with preparations for one of the key upcoming milestones—testing of safety systems on an open reactor,” the company said. Rosatom added that construction and equipment installation works are continuing at Unit-4, while Units 5 and 6—part of the plant’s third phase—are also actively under construction. A high-level meeting took place in Mumbai between Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom State Corporation, and Ajit Kumar Mohanty, Chairman of India’s Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). The discussions centered on strengthening bilateral cooperation in the field of nuclear energy. During the meeting, both sides reviewed the progress of the Kudankulam project, which remains India’s largest nuclear facility and a flagship of Russian–Indian technological and energy collaboration. Units 1 and 2 of KNPP were connected to India’s national power grid in 2013 and 2016, respectively, and continue to supply electricity to southern India. The officials also explored the expansion of cooperation, including future projects for large- and small-scale nuclear power plants and joint work in the nuclear fuel cycle. Special emphasis was laid on the localization of equipment production in India, Rosatom said. Highlighting India’s ambition to raise nuclear generation capacity to 100 GW, Likhachev reiterated Rosatom’s readiness to support this goal by offering efficient and proven reactor technologies. @@@