– Edited By Tom Lamar –
According to news reports, Russian nuclear projects firm Atomstroyexport is in advanced stages of discussions to set up a joint venture with Larsen & Toubro (L&T) to establish a production unit in India for manufacturing equipment for nuclear power projects.
A pact between Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) and Russia's Atomredmetzoloto for the exploration of uranium in Russia and third countries is also on the anvil. Both these partnerships are likely to be formally announced during the Russian President, Mr Dmitry Medvedev's two-day official visit to India starting December 21.
The proposed production unit that is being discussed by L&T and Atomstroyexport, which is already involved in building the first two units of the Koodankulam nuclear power project, will initially focus on the manufacture of non-core equipment and subsequently shift to making critical parts at a later stage, official sources said.
The manufacturing unit is expected to be operationalized before Atomstroyexport, an arm of the Russian state nuclear body Rosatom, starts construction of the third and fourth units at Koodankulam.
The pact will be in line with Russia's plan to shortlist three-four Indian equipment vendors for future nuclear power projects being jointly planned in India. The focus is on moving to a serial construction model, starting with localizing mechanical engineering production to produce components and equipment here in order to avoid time and cost overruns, as experienced with the first couple of units of the Koodankulam project in Tamil Nadu.
L&T has been associated with the Indian nuclear power program, supplying critical equipment such as reactor vessel (calandria), end shields, steam generators and heat exchangers at existing indigenous Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors.
The two sides are also expected to announce a second site for setting up an atomic power project using the Russian ‘VVER' reactor series, two of which are in advanced stages of commissioning at Koodankulam.
While the Haripur site in West Bengal has been under discussion, controversy over land acquisition due to local protests could see an alternative site being announced in Orissa, sources said. For the uranium partnership, negotiations have been under way between UCIL and Atomredmetzoloto (another arm of Rosatom), both for mining projects in Russia and also in third countries. Russia has already extended an invitation to India to pick up stake in one of its largest uranium deposits, Elkon, and launching joint production there.
Up to 49 per cent stake could potentially be given to UCIL for the Elkon deposits, which is located in Eastern Siberia and is the second largest source of uranium in the world, second only to Olympic Dam in Australia.
According to estimates firmed up by the Australasian Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC), one of the Elkon deposits contains 2,29,800 tonnes of uranium.
Atomredmetzoloto mines the Elkon deposits and, in turn, has already set up a project-based subsidiary of its own — Elkon Mining and Metallurgical Complex (EMMC) — with a planned production capacity of 5,000 tons of uranium a year.
According to reports, EMMC has signed memorandums of understanding with Japanese firm Mitsui and a Korean consortium comprising LG International and Korea Electric Power Corporation.