Construction of Kudankulam nuclear reactors 5 and 6 begins

The light water reactors will be built on an outlay of ₹49,621 crore

The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project started the construction of the fifth and sixth reactors on its sprawling premises on Tuesday. It is already operating 2 x 1,000 MWe VVER nuclear reactors and constructing two similar reactors with Russian technical assistance. With Kamlesh Nilkanth Vyas, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy; Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom; and Satish Kumar Sharma, Chairman and Managing Director of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), the project proponent, pressing the button through video conferencing from various destinations, 6,200 cubic metres of concrete was poured during the ‘first pour of concrete’ in the reactor raft at 11.32 a.m. on Tuesday, to mark the commencement of construction of the nuclear reactors. The light water reactors (VVER) will be built on an outlay of ₹49,621 crore. While the fifth reactor will be commissioned in December 2026 after 66 months of construction, the sixth reactor will be ready for operations in September 2027.