Further cargo flights planned from southwestern Siberia to India
Russia’s state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom has made the first delivery of nuclear fuel for India’s Kudankulam-3 nuclear power plant, in Tamil Nadu state, a statement said.
Rosatom said a cargo flight transported the first batch of VVER-1000 fuel assemblies from the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant in southwestern Siberia to India. Seven flights are planned to deliver the full initial load and reserve fuel.
The deliveries are being carried out under a 2024 contract covering lifetime fuel supply for Kudankulam-3 and -4, said Rosatom.
The Russian side said that since 2022 newer TVS-2M fuel had been introduced at India’s two operational VVER-1000 plants Kudankulam-1 and -2, which led to “improved performance” and longer 18-month operating cycles.
According to Rosatom, Kudankulam-3 and -4 will be the first VVER-1000 units to begin operation directly on an 18-month cycle.
There are two operational unts at Kudankulam and four more – units 3, 4, 5 and 6 – under construction.
Construction of Kudankulam-3 and -4 began in June and October 2017. Kudankulam-1 and -2 started commercial operation in 2014 and 2017.
India has 21 reactor units in commercial operation with a total capacity of about 7.5 GW, providing just about 3.5% of the country’s electricity generation. Five large-scale reactors are under construction.
