Saturday, October 20, 2012

India gets ready for Kodak moment at Kudankulam nuclear power plant

NEW DELHI: India is set to cross a major hump in its nuclear power programme with the Kudankulam plant expected to begin generating power within a month after it goes critical in the next 10 days, marking an end to prolonged delays due to local protests and anti-nuclear activism.

The first unit of the Russian-built nuclear plant is close to a landmark moment after post-Fukushima public unease over atomic power and a powerful alliance of church groups and activists threatened to thwart India's ambitious plans to build 20 plants in the 12th Plan.

Kodak moment

With Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa backing the project that will ease the state's power deficit and having faced a Supreme Court scrutiny of the $3 billion plant's safety features, the government is anticipating a Kodak moment when turbines begin to turn at Kudankulam.

Successful commissioning of the Kudankulam unit will help translate the promise of power into tangible benefits that the government hopes will help sway public opinion, particularly in the plant's neighbourhood. It will also pave the way for faster work on nuclear plants planned at Maharashtra's Jaitapur and Haryana's Fatehabad. 


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