Chennai, Jun 29 (IANS): Construction of two more 1,000 MW nuclear power plants-Units 5 and 6- at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu began with the first pour of concrete on Tuesday morning.

The first pour of concrete is an important milestone in a nuclear power project that is reckoned as the start date of the project.

India's atomic power company Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has two 1,000 MW plants (Units 1 and 2) at Kudankulam and two more are under construction (Units 3 and 4).

All the six units are built with Russian technology and equipment supplied by that country's integrated nuclear power operator Rosatom.

Already Rosatom has started supplying equipment for Units 3-6.

According to NPCIL officials, Units 3 and 4 have achieved 50 per cent physical progress and now construction of two more nuclear power plants have begun.

Construction of the Units 5 and 6 are expected to be completed in 66 months and 75 months respectively.

The Kudankulam site will be the country's largest nuclear island with 6,000 MW of atomic power capacity once the remaining four units get commissioned.

The first pour of concrete event for the last two units was launched by Kamlesh Nilkanth Vyas, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission & Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy, in the presence of Dr. Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom and Satish Kumar Sharma, Chairman & Managing Director, NPCIL.

"For many years the Kudankulam NPP (nuclear power project) construction project has been a symbol of close cooperation between Russia and India. However, we do not want to stop at what had already been achieved. Rosatom has all the most advanced nuclear power technologies. Together with our Indian colleagues we are ready to launch the serial construction of the state-of-the-art Generation III+ Russian-designed nuclear power units at a new site in India. It is stipulated by the existing agreements," Likhachev said.

Russian enterprises are already manufacturing equipment required for the first priority installation, the equipment for the reactor facilities and turbine hall for Unit 5. Even today, on the construction horizon of up to two years, construction is provided with the detailed design documentation.

After signing the General Framework Agreement (GFA) on April 10, 2014, on construction of Units 3 and 4, the negotiations with the Indian party began regarding construction of Units 5 and 6.

Later an agreement was reached that the last two plants Awould be constructed in compliance with the same design as it was stipulated for Units 3 and 4, Rosatom said.

On June 1, 2017, the Credit Protocol to the Intergovernmental Agreement of December 05, 2008 and the GFA for Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project Units 5 and 6 were signed, the Russian company said.