With the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project likely to be commissioned in August, Russia has agreed to extend a $3.4-billion credit for setting up two more 1,000-MW atomic power plants at the same site in Tamil Nadu.

The two nations signed a protocol on Tuesday in Moscow for financing units 3 and 4 of the Kudankulam project, under which the Russian Federation will extend export credit amounting up to $3.4 billion for 85 per cent of the value of works, supplies and services provided by the Russian organisations for the two units.

With the technology hurdle no longer in the way, India is readying thorium supplies to fuel its pilot advanced heavy water reactor (AHWR) that is currently in the works.

There appears to be considerable opposition from the local population to the Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) proposed to be set up at Rawatbhata near Kota in Rajasthan. The complex, with an envisaged capacity of 500 tonnes fuel a year, is to cater to the four PHWR (Pressurized heavy water reactors) plants of 700 MWe capacity each coming up by 2016 in Rajasthan and Gujarat. In capacity, the Rawatbhata fuel complex is to be next to only Hyderabad NFC in the country which produces 850 tonnes fuel a year.

Says it is well protected from tsunami or other natural disasters

The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project is well protected from tsunami or other natural disasters, the Centre submitted before the Madras High Court on Tuesday. It made the submission while the First Bench of Chief Justice M.Y. Eqbal and Justice T.S. Sivagnanam was hearing a batch of petitions seeking various reliefs, including a direction to the Union government and others to undertake a fresh review of the project by affording an opportunity to the public to express their views on the feasibility of commissioning it.

MUMBAI: Now, India can build cheaper nuclear reactors, than even South Korea.

TIRUNELVELI: The second unit of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant Project (KKNPP) may become operational by year-end, hinted Atomic Energy Commission chairman and Department of Atomic Energy secretary Srikumar Banerjee. Banerjee, who addressed presspersons along with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) managing director S K Jain at the KKNPP site on Thursday, said that with the cooperation of the Tamil Nadu government, work at Unit-1 and Unit-2 was progressing steadily towards criticality.

The Kudankulam nuclear project is both viable and eco-friendly, said Daniel Chellappa, senior scientist, Advanced Nuclear Fuels, Department of Atomic Energy, here on Thursday.

Delivering a lecture on ‘Kudankulam nuke project: safe and eco-friendly' organised by the Rotary Clubs of Tiruchi Fort, Tiruchi Midtown and Tiruchi Rockcity, he said that the depleting reserves of coal, expensive outlay for tapping solar energy, and uncertainty in wind have all made energy generation a great challenge .

The arid and backward Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh may well be sitting over one of the world’s largest uranium reserves.

Instead of coercing the people fighting against injustice and life-threatening projects like Kudankulam Nuclear Power Projects, these people should be protected in a democratic set-up, social activist Neeraj Jain said.

Speaking to reporters here on Thursday, Mr. Neeraj, who was here to deliver lecture at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, told reporters that countries like India and China alone were ambitiously pursuing nuclear power programmes even as nuclear energy was gradually losing its popularity in other countries across the globe, especially in Europe, after several nuclear disasters, particularly after Fukushima accident.