OREANDA-NEWS. On 17 February 2009 was announced, that the Russian delegation was headed by the President of JSC "TVEL" Yuri Olenin. The Indian Party was represented by Mr H. C. Soni, Director, Directorate of Purchase & Stores of the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India.

The Russian company was the first to sign a long-term contract to supply nuclear fuel to India after the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) on September 6, 2008 lifted restrictions for supply of uranium, reactors and technologies to India. The contract results from series of discussions and negotiations the two sides had in this connection.

JSC "TVEL" also fabricates and delivers fuel for Kudankulam NPP being set up in India in co- operation with the Russian Federation.

"Long-term relations and comprehensive approach to cooperation bring forth predictability and improve the possibilities of the Russian nuclear fuel cycle companies, including TVEL, to plan the engagement of their production capacities, investments in the facilities’ upgrading, R & D. As the result, TVEL’s partners receive the most modern product that meets their demands and the requirements of the future" – said the President of JSC "TVEL" Yury Olenin right after the contracts were signed.

The Vice-president of JSC "TVEL" Vasily Konstantinov, who had been present at the ceremony of signing of contract documents as a member of the Russian delegation, underlined: "All technical details of cooperation had been studied together with the Indian partners very quickly – coordination took not more than three months. This clearly demonstrates TVEL’s capabilities to tackle the whole range of cooperation issues efficiently basing on mutual goodwill of the Parties".

Konstantinov specially put an emphasis on India’s strategic approach to development of atomic energy including "preparedness to build long-term relations and to sign "package" contracts, which provide the opportunity to make certain preferences". "Currently, TVEL has long-term fuel supply contracts practically with all its partners. Our plans for the nearest future include finalizing the document package with Ukraine, a process, which started, by the way, much earlier than with India, and which is not over yet"- said Konstantinov.

The Chairman & Managing Director of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, Dr. Shreyans K. Jain, said that this contract signifies yet another land mark in the relationship between NPCIL and Russian Companies in furthering the role of nuclear power as a clean generating technology.