Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra), a part of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group, has bagged an EPC contract for units 3 and 4 of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) in Tamil Nadu, built by Nuclear Power Corporation and Russian State-owned atomic energy corporation Rosatom, said three people aware of the development.

The work, which is RInfra’s first such project in the nuclear power segment, involves design, engineering, procurement, manufacture, supply, erection and construction, testing, commissioning, handing over and performance guarantee of common services systems, structures and components for the two units, each of 1,000 MW capacity. The project is to be commissioned in 56 months.

RInfra emerged L1 amidst competition from India’s largest EPC players in the power sector, including Larsen & Toubro, Tata Projects, BGR and BHEL. According to one of the sources, RInfra’s bid at ₹1,000 crore, lower than BHEL’s ₹1,032 crore, L&T at around ₹1,100 crore and Tata Projects’ ₹1,200 crore.

The construction works at unit 3 started in June. Subsequently, the work on the foundation slab of unit 4 has too started. Both reactors are likely to be completed in six years. The total cost of both the units was earlier estimated at ₹39,800 crore.

According to a person close to the project, Russian contractor Atomstroyexport, a part of Rosatom, has already supplied the first cargo consignment of the first priority equipment for the project.

Earlier this year, during the 18th annual Russian-Indian summit held in St Petersburg, the countries had signed the general framework agreement for construction of units 5 and 6 of KNPP. The countries have also signed an inter-governmental credit protocol necessary for implementation of the project. As Alexey Pimenov, CEO, Rosatom South Asia told BusinessLine earlier, the countries are currently negotiating the contract for these two units. Once all six units of KNPP are operational, the plant will generate a total of 6,000 MW.

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