Kudankulam nuclear power plant set to roll in six weeks

NEW DELHI: The controversy-hit Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu is set to be operationalized, with its first 1,000mw unit to be opened soon as the project's safety audits have been completed and local resistance now reduced to a few hundred protesters.

While the report of the expert group set up by the Tamil Nadu government is awaited, the state government is more supportive of the project being commissioned and the Centre's action against NGOs alleged to have diverted foreign funds to fuel the stir is seen a precursor to the plant being activated.

"I am hopeful of moving forward. The expert committees have done their job. Safety issues have been addressed. The plant's first unit can be in working order once we are able to move in the required staff," Srikumar Banerjee, secretary at the department of atomic energy, told ToI.

The head of India's nuclear establishment said it will not be easy to outline a timeframe, but the process of loading fuel can get underway once the atomic energy regulatory board is consulted. "The plant has been idle and so the AERB will lay down guidelines. Once these are followed, the plant will generate power," Banerjee said.

The two units are "99% and 94%" ready, according to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India and it is estimated that the first unit can be up and running within six to eight weeks.

MoS in PMO V Narayanasamy has said that the NGOs that have been banned were channeling funds meant for sectors like health and education for sustaining the anti-nuclear protests.

The prolonged standoff at the plant site had led to a 100 staff being allowed to access the project site in two batches daily. This has made keeping the plant in running order difficult as a nuclear installation cannot be switched off in the manner of a conventional factory. The plant needs to be tended to by 3,000 workers, scientists and technicians to get it going.

But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decisive intervention in stating that foreign NGOs insensitive to India's developmental needs were backing the stir and the government's action in banning three groups indicates a resolve to end the stalemate.

The decision follows some quiet exchanges between the centre and state government and spadework in the project area where fishing communities have been leading the agitation. The role of church organizations, perhaps worried that the project might reduce their influence, were active in opposing the plant.

The government has reached out to the church groups and sought to convince them that the plant has some of the best safety equipment available globally. Talks with anti-nuclear groups did not, however, make much headway with officials claiming that the protestors were fundamentally opposed to nuclear power and did not set much store by the government's assurances.

The move against NGOs is seen as a last resort as the UPA has been sensitive about not getting into a confrontation with such groups although it has had a showdown with sections of civil society like the Anna Hazare movement.

It is significant that the Tamil Nadu government, which has been concerned about local reactions, has not contradicted the PM's remarks on the role of foreign funds being diverted from the purposes that they were received. A home ministry probe is understood to have established the diversion of funds.