22.3.14

Of Kudankulam #3 & #4....

India and Russia are set to sign the much delayed techno-commercial agreement for Kudankulam 3 and 4 reactors later this month. Government sources said all differences, resulting from India’s contentious Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Act, 2010, had been taken care of with Moscow finally agreeing to bring the pressurised water reactors under the purview of the law.
Confirming that the techno-commercial agreement is likely to be signed next week, Russian sources, too, said the liability issue had been sorted out.
Russia had until now maintained that the liability law, which makes suppliers of equipment financially accountable in the event of an accident, was a recent and an unnecessary invention in its civil nuclear partnership with India.
Unlike Kudankulam 3 and 4, the first and second Kudankulam units will function independent of the liability law. India had officially conveyed to Russia in 2012 that both the units will have to operate under the liability law.
Russia had responded by saying that the 2010 law was not in keeping with the spirit of the 2008 civil nuclear cooperation agreement between the two countries and that the cost of the supplied equipment would increase significantly if the suppliers were made accountable.
India and Russia had in 2013 signed an agreement for a $ 3.4 billion Russian line of credit for the reactors. The cost for the two reactors is expected to be more than $ 7 billion.
While the details of the agreement are not known, sources here said the agreement addresses Moscow’s demand for increasing the equipment cost. 

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