India joined a select band of nations on Monday when the Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) here successfully manufactured critical tubes required for steam generators of nuclear power plants.

Currently, only three companies in the world are producing the UNS NO8800 U tubes with NFC becoming the fourth entity. The first tubing consignment was handed over to Larsen & Toubro, which is manufacturing eight steam generators for Kakrapara (3 and 4 units) and Rajasthan (7 and 8 units) nuclear power plants being set up by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL).

Two of the country's top nuclear power experts on Monday hinted that the anti-Kudankulam nuclear power plant agitation was aimed at scuttling India's three-stage nuclear power programme.

Nuclear Power Corporation of India Chairman and Managing Director S. K. Jain and Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Chairman Srikumar Banerjee said that even after all the queries on safety, quality, health and other aspects were answered by experts, people were asking questions about reprocessing of fuel which had nothing to do with the Kudankulam plant.