29 January 2010
The new 6th unit of the Rajasthan nuclear power plant at Rawatbhata has started up. Its twin did so in November, and is now generating power. Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has been building the two 220 MWe indigenously-designed PHWR reactors, but their completion was delayed about 18 months due to shortage of fuel. These two new units use imported fuel, as they were placed under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards in October 2009 through an agreement between India and the IAEA.
The second Rostov nuclear power reactor has started up and is expected to be grid-connected in May, with commercial operation in October. It is one of the last V-320 types of the well-proven VVER-1000 reactors which have been the mainstay of Russian and more recent export power plants. Two more are planned for the site, but most plans and the most recent new construction involve the larger VVER-1200 types.
Mongolia's state uranium holding company MonAtom has abandoned what appeared to be a heavy-handed attempt to gazump Canadian company Khan Resources' title to the Dornod uranium deposit. In August 2009, MonAtom set up a joint venture with Russia's ARMZ to take over and develop the deposit, though Khan claimed a 69% equity in it and had undertaken a bankable feasibility study. However, Khan has now agreed to set up a joint venture with MonAtom and resolve the ownership question, giving it 48% of the project after a complex series of transactions. MonAtom acquires up to 20% of Khan. Mongolia's new nuclear energy law requires the state to hold 51% of uranium projects. ARMZ's new equity is not known, but was 21% in the project.
