Russia says it plans to speed up its energy cooperation with India by building 12 nuclear reactors for the South Asian country.
Rosatom, Russia’s largest state-owned nuclear energy cooperation, announced Thursday that it will build the 12 nuclear reactors for India in a time span of 20 years.
An agreement on the issue was signed by the two sides during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ongoing visit to New Delhi.
Putin, who arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday for an annual bilateral summit, has urged Rosatom to increase the number of reactors in India to 25.
The Kudankulam power station in India’s Tamil Nadu Province already uses a 1000-megawatte reactor, with a second one due to go on-stream in 2015. Six new reactors will be constructed in the Russian-built power station. A project for the construction of another six reactors is awaiting a decision by the Indian government.
Russia and India are planning to expand their cooperation on oil and gas projects in the Eastern Siberia. Already importing 1 million tons of Russian oil each year, India has the potential to double its oil import from the country in the coming years.