NEW DELHI: Describing the nod of the Tamil Nadu Cabinet to the Koodankulam nuclear power plant as “correct, but overdue”, Russian ambassador to India, Alexander M Kadakin said here on Monday that the agreement for the third and fourth unit were also “almost ready” to be signed by both countries. Talking reporters while detailing the visit of the Russian president Dmitiry Medvedev for the BRICS summit this week, he said that the idling of the plant, which had two units of 1000 megawatt, had incurred a daily loss of 1 million dollars to the Indian exchequer. While pointing out that Russia had shown a lot of patience with its experts remaining almost in “house arrest” condition for nearly six months, he also welcomed the fact that work has finally started.“It’s correct but long overdue. From October to March, it was India which was losing $1 million every day. The plant was lying idle but the work has now resumed. That’s a welcome step,” he said.To a query on when the plant will be commissioned, Kadakin refused to give a deadline as scientists were making “adjustments” to the plant, which had remained idle. “From the technology point of view, it takes about four to five months to start the plant. But, let us see,” was his reply.On the agreements for constructing units 3 and 4, Kadakin said that they were “almost ready”. “It is almost initialed.....It could have been signed when the Prime Minister went to Moscow for summit (in December), but they said it was not the right time in the context of ongoing protests”.He added that the two units should not come under the nuclear liability regime, as they were extensions of the old project, which was inked before the new rules were introduced.“ We understand that if you want same terms of credit, we get same terms of conditions.....It will be logical....Nuclear liability is a latter invention,” he said when asked about whether the India’s liability regime would apply to units 3 and 4, said Kadakin.He also expressed the hope that India would formally notify another site for Russia to build another nuclear facility. “Haripur (in West Bengal) was mentioned in passing, but not formally… I hope that Indian government will soon formally tell us the place for another site,” said Kadakin.“We are in complete agreement with India to go ahead with the serial production of nuclear plants in India,” he said while referring to the nuclear roadmap sealed by the two countries in 2010.Leaders of five emerging economies, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, will be participating in BRICS summit this week.
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