A number of "deficiencies" in the project to construct and commission units 1 and 2 of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant have been identified by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. A performance audit was conducted to assess whether Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited exercised prudent financial management and implemented the project in an efficient manner.

India's Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research has awarded Hindustan Construction Company a contract worth INR 7.64 billion ($120 million) to construct a fast reactor fuel cycle facility at Kalpakkam.

Russia and India's project to build units 5 and 6 at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant has entered the "practical implementation phase", ASE Group, the engineering division of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, said yesterday. ASE Group includes Atomproekt, Atomstroyexport and ASE Joint Stock Engineering Company (formerly Atomenergoproekt).

Orders for a wave of new reactors to be constructed in India will give a boost to the efficiency of the country's nuclear supply chain, Atomic Energy Minister Jitendra Singh said yesterday. Ten indigenously designed pressurised heavy water reactors were recently approved, while construction has already started on two VVERs with Russian cooperation.

The nuclear cooperation agreement signed between India and Japan last November entered into force yesterday with the exchange of diplomatic notes. The agreement opens the door for India to import Japanese nuclear technology.

Further details have been given about India's planned construction of ten indigenously designed pressurised heavy water reactors, which the cabinet approved in May. The reactors are to be built at four plant locations - including two new sites - by 2031.

The first pouring of structural concrete for two Russian-built VVER reactors at Kudankulam units 3 and 4 was marked yesterday at the site in Tamil Nadu, India. The milestone followed approval last week by India's Atomic Energy Regulatory Board. The units represent the second phase of the Kudankulam project.

India's Atomic Energy Regulatory Board has granted clearance for the first pouring of structural concrete for two Russian-built VVER reactors at Kudankulam units 3 and 4. Pouring of the first structural concrete marks the formal start of construction of a nuclear unit, although site preparation works have been underway for several years.

Russia and India have signed a framework agreement enabling construction of the 'third stage' of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, including an intergovernmental credit protocol for implementation of the project. The documents were signed yesterday at the 18th Annual Russian-Indian Summit, held alongside the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, by Valery Limarenko, president ASE Group, and Sri Sharma, chairman and managing director of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has described his Cabinet's approval of the construction of ten indigenously designed pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR) as a "big boost" for his Make in India program of localised manufacturing. The Cabinet, chaired by Modi, yesterday approved the construction of ten 700 MWe units in a "significant decision to fast-track India's domestic nuclear power program".

Australia wishes to export uranium to India "as soon as possible", Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said today. Turnbull made his comments during an official visit to India.

Three nuclear energy agreements between Bangladesh and India, including one regarding nuclear power projects in Bangladesh, have been signed during an official visit by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh to New Delhi.