Indian contractor Larsen & Toubro has completed on schedule the installation of the 'dry shield' for the reactor pressure vessel of unit 3 of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant under construction in in Tamil Nadu. Separately, Russia's Atommash has announced the start of manufacturing a set of steam generators for unit 5 at the same plant.

Unit 3 of the Kakrapar nuclear power plant in the Surat district of the Indian state of Gujarat has attained a sustained chain reaction for the first time. It is the country's first indigenously-designed 700 MWe pressurised heavy water reactor to reach the commissioning milestone. Loading of fuel into the reactor's core was completed in mid-March.

Indian company Larsen & Toubro Heavy Engineering Ltd has completed the final segment of the ITER cryostat, bringing to an end an eight-year work programme. Work on the cryostat will now continue at the ITER site in southern France where the sections will be assembled, sited and welded over the next four years.
 

Russia's AEM Technologies has made its first batch of piping valves for Bangladesh's first nuclear power plant, Atomenergomash has announced. Meanwhile, another Atomenergomash subsidiary - OKB Gidropress - has shipped components for the reactor control and protection system for India's Kudankulam 4.

India should aim to at least double the present proportion of electricity generated by nuclear power plants by 2030, but should for the time being adopt "home-grown" 700 MWe heavy water reactors for its nuclear expansion programme, a parliamentary committee has recommended.

Russia and India are discussing the construction of power plants in Africa as the next stage in their cooperation in nuclear energy, the Indian ambassador to Moscow, Venkatesh Varma, told Russian news agency RIA Novosti last week. They could replicate the Rooppur project in Bangladesh, he reportedly said.

A foundation stone laying ceremony at the Baroda heavy water plant in India has marked the inauguration of a new facility that will allow the country to produce high purity sodium metal on an industrial scale. India up to now has imported the material, which is used in fast breeder reactors.
 

The reactor pressure vessel and the core catcher for Kudankulam unit 4 under construction in India have been loaded on to a cargo ship in the port of Saint Petersburg, Russia. The shipment of equipment - 9000 cubic metres in total - is the thirteenth for unit 4, Rosatom said, on a route spanning 15,000 kilometres.

A new-generation core catcher has been installed at Kudankulam unit 3 which is currently under construction in India, Russia's AtomStroyExport has announced.

Indian Minister of State Jitendra Singh confirmed to the country's parliament this week that a cyberattack discovered in September at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant had been limited to the plant's administrative network.

India is aiming for "fleet mode construction" for future nuclear power plant projects in order to reduce costs and construction times, according to Kamlesh Vyas, chairman of the country's Department of Atomic Energy. Speaking at the India Energy Forum's 11th Nuclear Energy Conclave in New Delhi on 18 October, he said 17 nuclear power reactors are planned in addition to those already under construction.

Indian company Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd has secured an INR440 crore (USD64 million) order from Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd to erect the turbine generator islands for Kudankulam units 3 and 4.