Rosatom offers to build low-capacity NPPs in India, calls for Indian investment in several northern projects - Likhachev

TIANJIN/MOSCOW. Sept 1 (Interfax) - Rosatom Group has offered to partner with India in projects to localize low-capacity nuclear power stations (NPPs), Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev told journalists, asked about the parties' cooperation on the Northern Sea Route (NSR).

"It [the partnership] could be linear, by which I just mean the direction of shipments and the icebreaker escort of these shipments in a systematic, organized manner. But we will not stop at that - we are offering our Indian partners work in terms of localizing small NPPs, taking into account the shipbuilding expertise which India has. We are inviting them to invest in a range of northern projects, and not only in the energy sector," Likhachev said.

Rosatom is expecting to expand its energy partnership with India and China, Likhachev told journalists in August.

To date, Russia has built two reactor units with a capacity of 2000 MW at India's Kudankulam NPP. It plans to commission a third unit in 2026 and a fourth in 2027. It has signed a general framework agreement to build two more reactor units. It has been reported that India could also be interested in another large power plant designed in Russia, and small NPPs were also discussed.