India, Russia to sign deal on new nuclear reactors

Moscow, Dec 3 (RIA Novosti) India and Russia would sign an agreement to build four reactors at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, the Russian nuclear power chief said Tuesday.

The bilateral agreement, initialled in February 2008, will be signed during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's official visit to India Dec 4-6.

'We plan to sign on Friday an intergovernmental agreement with India to build another four reactors for the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, and envisaging cooperation at new sites,' said Sergei Kiriyenko, who heads the state nuclear power corporation Rosatom.

A spokesman for the Rosatom said that Russia and India could also sign an agreement to supply Russian nuclear fuel to Indian nuclear power plants.

Atomstroyexport, Russia's nuclear power equipment and service export monopoly, has been building two reactors for the Kudankulam plant in the southern province of Tamil Nadu since 2002 in line with a 1988 deal between India and the Soviet Union and an addendum signed 10 years later.

Atomstroyexport, established in 1998, has completed or is working on reactors in Iran, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and China.