India, Russia sign pact for N-units at Kudunkulum

New Delhi, Jan 25: India and Russia today resolved to expand civilian nuclear energy cooperation and signed an agreement for construction of four additional units at the 1000 MW Kudunkulum Atomic Power plant in Tamil Nadu.

India also undertook that the reactor facilities and nuclear fuel supplied by Russia shall remain under the IAEA safeguards during the entire period of their actual use in accordance with the Safeguards Agreement to be concluded by India and the international nuclear watchdog.

The decisions were taken at a meeeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin here today.

The agreement, a Memorandum of Intent, between the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency for cooperation in construction of additional power plant units at Kudunkulum as well as in the construction of Russian design nuclear power plants at new sites, was signed by Dr Anil Kakodkar, Secretary, DAE, and Mr Sergey Kiriyenko, Director of Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency.

A 'Joint Statement' on cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy, issued after the talks between the Prime Minister and Mr Putin said the two countries also resolved to further expand scientific and other exchanges and bilateral dialogue on peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

Russia said it would continue to work with the participating governments of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to create conditions through amendment to its guidelines to facilitate expansion of civilian nuclear energy cooperation with India. Reaffirming the importance of their Strategic Partnership, the two countries underlined the need to further develop international cooperation in promoting the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in accordance with their respective international commitments and national legislations.

''India and Russia, as responsible States, share an objective of ensuring non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery including possible linkages with terrorism,'' the Joint Statement said.

They also recognised the importance of Research and Development for development of innovative technologies which reduce the risk of nuclear proliferation, to further facilitate the wide scale development of nuclear energy.

They expressed willingness to further expand and strengthen bilateral civilian nuclear energy cooperation by broad-basing cooperation covering both power (fission and fusion energy) and non-power applications in areas of mutual interest to be identified by both sides.

The DAE and the Federal Atomic Energy Agency would work out a comprehensive programme of cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of atomic energy between India and Russia.

UNI

Related Stories