NEW DELHI, December 11. /TASS/. Russia and India have inked a deal to build 3rd and 4th power units at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in India, chief of Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom Sergey Kiriyenko told reporters on Thursday.

“On Thursday morning, we have signed a general framework accord and contracts to order main equipment for 3rd and 4th power units at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant,” the chief of the state nuclear corporation said.

He noted that the construction would be made at the same construction site and off-the-shelf blocks would be used. “According to our schedule, concrete placement will start already in early 2016. Preparatory works are in progress, equipment is being ordered at Russian enterprises,” Kiriyenko said.

He noted that Russia would extend a state loan to fund orders which would be placed at Russian enterprises.

The second Kudankulam power unit is passing a hot trial and is planned to be launched in the spring of 2015, the Rosatom chief added.

As for the nuclear power plant, he noted that according to latest calculations the power reserve of the first power unit made around three percent, though it had already been put on design capacity.