Protests delay launch of Kudankulam NPP in India
NEW DELHI. Sept 28 (Interfax) - Ongoing protests by local residents have postponed the launch of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu at least until November.
The launch of the first 100 MW unit at the plant being built with Russia's help was scheduled for September, the spokesman for India's Atomic Energy Department, Swapnesh Malhotra told Interfax. He said he was confident that the delay would not exceed a month or two.
The first reactor's nuclear steam generating plant has undergone operational testing that confirmed all systems at the NPP are functioning properly, Malhotra said.
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India expects to get the green light from the government to begin the process of loading the fuel, which will mark the start of commercial operation of Kudankulam, he said.
Although passions are still running high in regard to the plant, they will gradually recede, particularly if nuclear energy specialists and independent experts conduct a campaign to educate local residents, Malhotra said after a trip to the region.
He said the situation in the region was exacerbated because Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, in a letter to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, accused New Delhi of indifference to the fears and concerns of local residents. She asked the central government to suspend Kudankulam until all the concerns of the residents of surrounding villages were allayed, and the state's cabinet passed a resolution calling for work on the plant to be stopped completely.
Analysts reckon the populist decision of the ruling party to back the protestors is directly linked to the upcoming elections in Tamil Nadu.
Kudankulam NPP is being built under an agreement signed in November 1988 and a supplemental agreement signed in June 1998. The plant is being built for the Nuclear Power Corporation of India. Construction of the first two generating units began in 2002 under the management of Russia's Atomstroiexport. Two generating units with VVER-1000 reactors with combined capacity of 2000 MW have been built under the first phase.