OREANDA-NEWS. December 1, 2008. The exhibition took place in New Delhi on Nov 25–28 2008. It was organized on the instruction of the Government of the Russian Federation and has become one of the key events of the Year of Russia in India.

300 organizations from 22 regions of Russia presented the most promising directions of Russian-Indian cooperation.

Atomenergoprom OJSC presented detailed information about the capacities of Russia’s nuclear industry. Presently, Russia is the only country building a nuclear power plant in India. Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant. The owner of the project is Nuclear Power Corporation of India.

Atomenergoprom’s exposition presented Russia’s plans to build nuclear power plants at home and abroad, information on Russian-Indian cooperation in the field of  peaceful use of nuclear energy, Russia’s investment projects and engineering services in the field of NPP construction and use of radiation technologies in medicine.

The exhibition presented the key priorities of Russian-Indian economic and scientific-technical cooperation.

On Nov 25 2008 Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia Viktor Khristenko and President of San Group, member of the Board of the Indian-Russian Business Council Nand Khemka opened the exhibition. Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin had sent a greeting message to the participant and guests of the exhibition. He said that the exhibition offered wide opportunities for Indians to familiarize themselves with Russia’s innovative capacities, particularly, in the field of electric power engineering.

On the eve of the exhibition Director General of Rosatom State Nuclear Power Plant Sergey Kiriyenko pointed out the strategic nature of Russian-Indian cooperation and said that Kudanulam NPP was one of the key directions of Russian-Indian partnership.

Kudankulam NPP is being built by Atomstroyexport CJSC in Tamil Nadu. The project complies with all modern international safety requirements. The plant consists of two WWER reactors of third generation with a capacity of 1,000MW each. The key peculiarity of the project is use of improved equipment and introduction of passive safety systems in addition to traditional active ones. In Feb 2008 the parties coordinated a draft inter-government agreement for joint construction of four additional reactors at Kudankulam site.

The Russian-Indian cooperation in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy has wide prospects now that the Nuclear Suppliers Group has lifted its restrictions on India. Presently, India has the world’s second demand for new power plants. Only 80% of its territory has electricity. By 2025 the Indian Government is planning to have nuclear power plants with a total capacity of 40GW.

Atomenergoprom OJSC (Atomny Energopromyshleny Kompleks) is a state holding that is supposed to comprise 89 nuclear companies and to cover the whole range of nuclear services: from uranium mining to NPP construction and electricity production. Atomenergoprom’s companies will have a total of 175,000 employees and an annual production of 200bln RUR (5.5bln EUR). Atomenergoprom is one of the biggest players on the world market: it has a 40% share in the world’s uranium enrichment services, 17% in nuclear fuel production, 8% in uranium mining, 28% in NPP construction (10 reactors). The director of Atomenergoprom is Vladimir Travin, the chairman of the board of directors – Sergey Kiriyenko.