NEW DELHI: The construction work for unit 5 of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) commenced on Tuesday with the first concrete pouring into the foundation plate of the reactor building, said Rosatom -- the Russian company tasked with building the atomic reactor.
The first concrete pouring into the foundation plate is a critical development in building of a nuclear plant. "On June 29, an official ceremony was held that was dedicated to the first concrete pouring into the foundation plate of the reactor building for Kudankulam NPP Unit 5 (Republic of India). The concrete pouring commemorated the official commencement of the main stage of the nuclear power plant stage 3 construction. Due to anti-epidemiological restrictions, the ceremony was held via video conference," the state-run Russian company said in a statement.
The first concrete pouring was preceded by continuous preliminary work --- concrete bedding for foundations of the reactor building, auxiliary reactor building with the main control room, turbine building and power supply building for normal operation, emergency power supply and safety control systems, the company said.
The General Framework Agreement (GFA) between India and Russia was signed on April 10 2014, on construction of Units 3 and 4.
Negotiations between the two countries began over construction of Kudankulam NPP Units 5 and 6 and upon the results of which the agreement was reached that these units would be constructed in compliance with the same design as it was stipulated for Units 3, 4.
On June 1 2017, the credit protocol to the Intergovernmental Agreement of December 5 2008 and the GFA for Kudankulam NPP Units 5, 6 were signed.
"For many years, the Kudankulam NPP construction project has been a symbol of close cooperation between Russia and India. However, we do not want to stop at what had already been achieved. Rosatom has all the most advanced nuclear power technologies. Together with our Indian colleagues we are ready to launch the serial construction of the state-of-the-art Generation III+ Russian-designed nuclear power units at a new site in India. It is stipulated by the existing agreements," Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev said during the event.
Russian enterprises are already manufacturing equipment required for the first priority installation, the equipment for the reactor facilities and turbine hall for Unit 5, the company added. Roastom and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), a public sector undertaking of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), are building six power reactors of 1,000 MW each at Kudankulam.
It is, so far, the largest nuclear power generation park. Unit 1 and 2 have already been commissioned and work for unit 3 and 4 is in the advance stage.