Grand Trunk Road

The Koodankulam nuclear power plant received its first shipment of fuel rods from Russia this weekend. The plant is not yet operational but the first reactor should be complete within the year. When the second reactor is completed (sometime around mid-2009) the plant will produce 2 GW of electricity of India’s nuclear power — a big step towards India’s goal of having 20 GW by 2020. Four more reactors are scheduled to be built at the same location in the coming years.

Another important step will be the completion of the Turamdih mill, which entered trial production recently. The mill, commissioned in 2007, will process raw uranium ore into fuel to eventually be used at several existing reactors that are sitting idle for lack of fuel. Koodankulam, however, will have its fuel supplied by Russia for the lifetime of the reactors.

Subramanian, T. S. Enriched uranium for Koodankulam arrives. The Hindu. May 27, 2008.

This article quotes the Iranian Ambassador to Russia Gholamreza Ansari as saying that Putin’s rule was a golden period in Iran-Russia relations. However, by fulfilling UN Security Council Resolution 1803, Russia is possibly joining UN sanctions against Iran which would indicate a serious change in Russia’s policy towards Iran. One interesting fact mentioned in the article is that President Putin once proposed setting up an international uranium-enrichment center in Russia, which Iran would be able to use which, if successful, might have resulted in a diplomatic resolution to Iran’s nuclear problem

Article: Not all is sweetness and light between Iran and Russia
Author: Pyotr Goncharov
Publication: RIA Novosti via Iran-va-Jahan