India, Russia to sign GPA on Kudankulam units 5,6 this month

Joint statement, during Putin's visit to India this year stated the two countries will try to complete GFA by end of this year

India and Russia are likely to sign the General Framework Agreement (GFA) on Kudankulam units 5 and 6 by this month.

"Leaders of the two countries (Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin) had set a deadline to sign the General Framework Agreement for units 5 and 6 by the end of this month. The work is on and we are trying to stick to deadline," a top official of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) said.

The joint statement, during Putin's visit to India this year, had stated that the two countries will try to complete the GFA by the end of the year.

Negotiations for the contract are still on and details are being worked out by Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) and Rosatom, nuclear power agency of Russia.

Work on the ground breaking ceremony for unit 3 and 4 was held early this year.

The agreement for the project was inked by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and then Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1988, but the actual work started only in 1997.

The unit 1 and 2 of Kudankulam plant were built at a cost of Rs 20,962 crore. A major share of power generated in the plant goes to Tamil Nadu, followed by Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry. Unit 1 was started in October 2013, while the second unit was connected to grid in August this year.

Unit 3 and 4 of the Kudankulam are expected to be commissioned by 2022-23.

The Russian built Water-Water Energetic Reactor (VVER) reactor Kudankulam unit 1 and 2 are the largest power generating stations in the country. After all the units (1-6) of the plant are commissioned, the nuclear park will have the power generating capacity of 6,000 MW.