New Delhi
4 April 2006
Head of Federal Agency of Russia for Atomic Energy (or Rosatom) and
Putin aide Sergei V Kirienko will seek to leverage the predictability in Indo-Russian
strategic partnership when he holds talks with Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Dr
Anil Kakodkar on the possibility of Moscow bagging the orders for building four more
nuclear reactors at Kudankulam.
Mr Kirienko will arrive in India on a five-day visit that will take him to Mumbai,
Thiruvananthapuram, the Kudankulam nuclear power plants near Nagercoil in Tamil
Nadu, New Delhi and a short sightseeing trip to Agra. His visit will come in sharp
contrast to the prevailing uncertainty in the United States Congress about the nuclear
deal with India.
As Washington battles a sceptical Congress, Anatoly Antonov, director of Russian
Foreign Ministry's Security and Disarmament Department has said, "[India] is a rapidly
developing country with a good non-proliferation record. We should probably make an
exception in this case without adopting new norms that may erode the non-proliferation
regime."
Russia has agreed to supply up to 60 tonnes of low-enriched uranium tablets as fuel for
the first and second reactors of Tarapur nuclear power plants. The first consignment has
been delivered. In 2001, Russia had exported 58 tonnes of fuel to India. Two units of
1000 mw each at Kudankulam, which are under international safeguards, have been
supplied by Russia.
Mr Kirienko's visit follows a tour by the officials from the US Nuclear Regulatory
Commission. The Russian official will arrive in Mumbai on Thursday and travel to
Thiruvananthapuram the next day for talks with Dr Kakodkar. He will visit the
Kudankulam nuclear plants on Saturday and reach Delhi on Sunday evening. He is
expected to visit Agra.
Mr Kirienko will begin his visit a day after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has
testified before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She will testify before the
House International Relations Committee on Thursday. Mr Kirienko's visit precedes the
visits by the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Dennis Hastert and other
Congressmen.
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