ROSATOM Looks for Collaboration with India to Develop Small & Medium Reactors

Rosatom looks for collaboration with India for developing small and medium-sized reactors New Delhi: Rosatom has expressed interest in collaborating with Indian companies not only for the construction of large nuclear power plants, but also to jointly work on small and medium-sized reactors. Nikita Mazein, Vice President of Rusatom Overseas (a division of Russia’s Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation) revealed this during the 11th edition of Nuclear Energy Conclave organised by the Indian Energy Forum.

Mazein said that Rosatom is developing small and medium-sized solutions based on the light water reactor unit of Russian design. In Russia, they have commissioned and will so be operationalizing the first Floating Nuclear Power Plant this year. He contended that there is a need to explore the possibility of such projects in the coastal areas of South Asia. The segment can provide an opportunity for furthering the nuclear cooperation between India and Russia.

He said that for those countries that don’t have significant demand or the system capacity to absorb large capacity power units, a similar solution with 50-100 MW units can be useful. The Russian company is also in talks with some international partners for the development of such units in third countries. They want to enhance our cooperation beyond the execution of present projects, he added.

Making a case for nuclear energy, the Rosatom representative said that besides coal, only nuclear can provide the baseload energy required to curb Carbon Dioxide emissions. He said that they all need to understand the importance of baseload energy solutions. So far, coal has been meeting this requirement, but the need is to shift to nuclear power plants. In NPP it is easier to forecast the economic cost as the operation cost remains more or less the same.

Rosatom is the main equipment supplier and technical consultant in the construction of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant. Russia and India have an action plan document for the construction of the second nuclear power plant. The two countries are planning to develop a project of up to six nuclear power units of Russian design at a new site in India.

Citing the success of nuclear reactors based on Russian design, which has seen one reactor being commissioned almost every year for the last 14 years, he said that they are looking for cooperation to execute projects not only in India but also in third countries. They are discussing with our partners in India how to execute the localization agreement signed three years ago. They are talking with stakeholders about developing new power plant projects.

Mazein also articulated India’s need to reduce cost and recurring costs for nuclear power to make it more competitive. He said that cooperation could also be expanded to other sectors like health and agriculture.