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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Kudankulum N-plant: Moscow sees rivals' hand in stir by Sachin Parashar

Kudankulum N-plant: Moscow sees rivals' hand in stir by Sachin Parashar

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published Published on Dec 7, 2011   modified Modified on Dec 7, 2011

Just ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Moscow, Russia lashed out at protests against the Kudankulam nuclear power project saying that the disruptions may have been stage managed by its rivals.

Russia's ambassador to India Alexander M Kadakin said Russian authorities had "great suspicion" about the events at Kudankulum, where the final stage before commissioning of two power plants built with Russian cooperation has been on hold due to post-Fukushima protests. The two units are 98% complete.

"We still don't know why it took six months for the protests to erupt after Fukushima and also who are the people paying for the food and shamiana used by the protesters," said Kadakin. While he didn't name any country, he did not rule out the involvement of Russia's rivals in stoking trouble.

Protesters at the site are local fisher-folks but the activities of foreign anti-nuclear activists, reportedly from US, has been spoken of while church organizations have also supported the stir.

The ambassador, however, said the trouble at Kudankulam will not impair Indo-Russian nuclear cooperation and Moscow will implement plans including units 3 and 4 at the Tamil Nadu site. Negotiations have intensified in the run up to the PM's two-day visit to Moscow next week.

The likelihood of Russia bargaining hard is evident with Kadakin suggesting Moscow does not just want these two remaining units at Kudankulam to be covered completely by India's new civil nuclear liability law, rules for which were notified recently. Russia is expecting "same terms of liability" as Kudankulam units 1 and 2 that are not under the purview of the new law.

The new law has caused discomfort to nuclear suppliers as they are open to being legally prosecuted by operators of nuclear plants under the "right to recourse" for faulty parts or design.

This has been partially circumscribed by rules providing a time limitation and a cap on liability but foreign suppliers are worried by higher insurance costs as well as the risk of legal cases.

"I would not say we are happy or not happy with the rules. Talks are in active stage for Kudankulam 3 and 4 and we really hope that India's liability law and rules don't interfere with our grand plans for nuclear energy expansion here. We believe that if everything from our side is the same as earlier, we too must get the same terms of liability," said Kadakin.

During Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to India in December last year, even as they signed an agreement for expansion of nuclear energy cooperation, the two countries did not finalize a deal for Kudankulam 3 and 4 due to concerns over the liability law and pricing issues.

On the contentious issue of NSG effectively banning any enrichment and reprocessing technology transfer to India, a non-NPT nation, the ambassador said Russia was the only country to have offered India a way out by proposing a joint reprocessing plant on Russian soil.

TOI reported on November 3 that Russia is insisting on setting up such a plant in Russia to take care of its international obligations as well as bilateral commitments in the civil nuclear deal with India.

"It is a dual approach plan and if the Indians want, they can even own shares in the unit. The plant will be in accordance with all international laws," he added. The PM has said that the nuclear deal with Russia is crucial because it goes beyond supply of reactors "to areas of research and development and a whole range of areas in nuclear energy".


The Times of India, 8 December, 2011, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Kudankulum-N-plant-Moscow-sees-rivals-hand-in-stir/articleshow/11026368.cms


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