Russia to build 12-14 n-reactors in India

Moscow: India and Russia are set to take their civil nuclear cooperation to a new level with a freshly signed nuclear pact behind them. With the agreement, India is virtually assured of a disruption-proof supply of fuel and technology for the future, even as Russia bags contracts for the construction of as many as 12-14 nuclear reactors in India. No surprises that India has now become Russia's key partner in the civil nuclear field.

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh meeting the President of the Russian Federation, Mr. Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev, in Moscow, Russia

''India is the key destination for our foreign contracts,'' head of Rosatom Sergei Kirienko mentioned in the course of a meeting with prime minister Vladimir Putin which was televised on Wednesday.

''We have signed an inter-governmental agreement and are finalising a commercial contract,'' Kirienko said. ''Between 12 and 14 Russian-design reactors will be built at two sites in India.''

Of these numbers, four reactors would be built at the Koodankulam power plant, where Russia is already completing construction of two 1,000 MW units, and another four to six reactors would be set up at the Haripur site in West Bengal.

The Indo-Russian civil nuclear deal, signed in the course of prime minister Manmohan Singh's visit here last week, will not only ensure construction of state-of-the-art Russian reactors in India but also the transfer of enrichment and nuclear technology, as well as allow joint development and design of next generation reactors.

In contrast to the 123 Agreement with the US, which is still struggling to get past the NPT-infested Washington bureaucracy, the Indo-Russian pact guarantees uninterrupted fuel supplies even in case of termination of cooperation and allows India reprocessing rights.