The first two reactors of the Kudankulam nuclear power project may not be commissioned, as scheduled, before the PM's three-day visit to Russia beginning December 15 in the face of public protests, but the two countries are holding intense negotiations to sign contracts for the third and fourth reactors at the site during Manmohan Singh's trip.
India and Russia may also ink a pact on military aviation during Singh's trip. It is understood this involves supply of attack helicopters to New Delhi.
Besides, pacts in the fields of banking, science and technology, and a joint venture ( JV) for steel production in India would be concluded following the Indo-Russian annual summit between Singh and President Dmitry Medvedev.
The visit comes as Russia's politics undergoes changes with the ruling United Russia Party incurring major losses in elections to Parliament.
The PM's trip will offer an opportunity for New Delhi to take stock of the situation ahead of Vladimir Putin's fresh bid at Presidency next year.
Moscow has been helping New Delhi in the field of peaceful nuclear energy even before the Nuclear Suppliers Group granted clean waiver to India in September 2008.
The Kudankulam project was conceived, and its construction started, before the waiver.
Therefore, sudden protests against the project this year rattled both the countries with Moscow seeking assurance from the Manmohan Singh government on the project. The agitation has delayed the pace of the key nuclear power plant, a cause of worry for India.
Sources said it was unlikely that the first two reactors would be commissioned before Singh's trip. However, officials of the two sides are engaged in tough negotiations to sign contracts for the third and fourth reactors.
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd and Russia's Atomstroyexport have developed two reactors - one gigawatt ( GW) each - at the site.
Russia has been keen to expand the capacity at Kudankulam and set up six reactors at the site and will supply enriched uranium for them. For the first two reactors, Atomstroyexport has an advantage as it will not be governed by India's civil nuclear liability law.
The agreement with Russia was signed in 1988 when there was no civil nuclear liability law in the country. However, it is not yet known whether the third and fourth reactors, contracts for which are yet to be signed, will come under the ambit of the liability law.
Sources said considerable part of the discussions at the summit would be devoted to nuclear cooperation, where Singh would assure Medvedev on continuance of nuclear cooperation and the future of the Kudankulam project.
Defence supplies have been a cornerstone of Indo- Russian ties for decades. The two sides would take forward the discussions from where defence minister A. K. Antony left when he visited Moscow in October for the 11th meeting of the intergovernmental commission on military technical cooperation.
Antony and his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov had focused on ongoing defence projects.
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