Rosatom’s fuel division TVEL has delivered the first supply of nuclear fuel for the initial load of the VVER-1000 reactor at unit 3 of India’s Kudankulam NPP. The delivery of the nuclear fuel coincided with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s arrival in New Delhi on a two-day state visit.
The fuel assemblies were produced by the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant (NZKhK – Novosibirskii Zavod KhimConsentratov), part of TVEL. To supply the entire reactor core and a certain amount of fuel to the reserve, a total of seven flights from Russia to India are planned. Deliveries are carried out under a contract signed in 2024 including fuel supply to Kudankulam 3&4 for their entire service life, starting from the initial load.
Kudankulam NPP will comprise six units with VVER-1000 reactors. Work began following an intergovernmental agreement between India and Russia signed in 1988. Units 1&2 (Phase I) are already in operation and work is underway to build units 3-6 (Phases II and III). The customer and operator of the station is the National Power Company of India Ltd (NPCIL), the general contractor is JSC ASE JSC (Rosatom’s Engineering Division), general designer Atomenergoproject and equipment designer OKB Gidropress.
Units 1&2 began operation in 2016. The general framework agreement with Rosatom on the construction units 3&4 was signed in 2014 and, in 2017, the engineering division of Rosatom and NPCIL signed an agreement on the construction units 5&6. Work on units 5&6 began in 2021.
Since units 1&2 began operation, Russian and Indian specialists have done significant work to increase their efficiency through the introduction of improved nuclear fuel and increased fuel cycles. Since 2022, advanced TVS-2 M fuel has been supplied with a rigid design, a new generation anti-debris filter and a larger mass of uranium. This made it possible to increase the operating cycle of power units from 12 to 18 months.
The second phase units (3&4) will be the first ever VVER-1000 power units to be launched immediately with a 18-month fuel cycle. Throughout the entire life cycle of the NPP, Rosatom only supplies nuclear fuel, but also provides engineering services, increasing the efficiency of the power units through new solutions for the fuel and fuel cycle.
TVEL includes enterprises engaged in fabrication of nuclear fuel, uranium conversion and enrichment, manufacturing of gas centrifuges, as well as research and development and design institutions. As the sole supplier of nuclear fuel for Russian nuclear power projects, TVEL provides fuel for more than 70 power reactors in 15 countries worldwide, research reactors in nine countries as well as for the propulsion reactors of the Russian nuclear fleet.
