Leading hospitals receive minimum of five patients in a week

After claiming more than forty lives in Tirunelveli district during the previous outbreak in the first quarter last year, dengue has reared its ugly head again in the city with almost all leading hospitals here receiving a minimum of five dengue patients every week. Though the latest outbreak has not resulted in any death so far, the disease has triggered panic among the public. The fear has increased manifold as anti-mosquito operations, carried out by the Corporation, have come to a grinding halt.

Authorities want systems to work “exactly textbook like” before plant is commissioned

There was no major issue behind the delay in the commissioning of the 2000 MW nuclear power plant at Kudankulam, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission R.K. Sinha told a group of reporters here. Dr. Sinha said that since it was the first reactor of its kind to be constructed in India, the authorities wanted the systems worked “exactly textbook like” before the commissioning of the plant. This was the main reason for the delay.

Stating that the country was on the threshold of a new milestone in its quest for civil nuclear energy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today announced that the first nuclear reactor with Russian collaboration at Kudankulam would start operating soon with the second reactor to follow later in the current year.

''As we pursue our national growth objectives to meet the rising aspirations of our people, the supply of affordable clean energy will be one of our foremost national challenges and a key priority for our government. Nuclear energy will remain an essential and increasingly important element of our energy mix. We are in the process of expanding our indigenous nuclear power programme,'' he said on the occasion of Department of Atomic Energy's Lifetime Achievement Awards for 2011 here.

To decide on ‘pinnacle protest’ against project commissioning

The latest announcement from Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office V. Narayanasamy on the possible commissioning of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project in mid-January has compelled the protesters to convene a meeting of community leaders on January 13 at Idinthakarai to decide on the future course of action against the upcoming nuclear park.

The much-delayed Kudankulam project is set to be commissioned within the next two weeks as nuclear scientists have entered the final lap of a series of tests on its safety and efficacy.

“Within this month 100 per cent. It will take about two weeks,” Ratan Kumar Sinha, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission told PTI in Kolkata on the sidelines of the 100th Indian Science Congress when asked about the commissioning of the first 1,000 MW unit of the project.

In the Kudankulam case, the argument was that the plant could not be commissioned without resolving the issue of the Russian government’s liability in case of a nuclear accident and without putting in place 17 safety measures. The state contended these safety measures were only additional steps to be implemented over a period of time. The commissioning of the plant depends on the court verdict.

Russia has told India that Kudankulam nuclear power plants 3 and 4 would cost “double”, after New Delhi decided that the next two reactors would come under the new civil nuclear liability law, and

In the last lap of its first approach to criticality, the first unit (1000 MWe) of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) in Tamil Nadu is undergoing a battery of tests by engineers of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL).

R.K. Sinha, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, told The Hindu that the NPCIL engineers were busy, performing “high pressure and temperature tests.”
Additional tests

The State Government (Department of Forest) has sent a proposal to the Ministry of Environment and Forests on allotting 20,000 hectares of forestland to convert it into a tiger sanctuary in Kanyakumari district.

However, it is objected to by farmers as well as Kani tribes as the formation of the tiger sanctuary will definitely affect their livelihood. According to a cross section of farmers who depend on agriculture, particularly cash crops, say that the conversion will disastrously affect the lives of more than 5 lakh people who are dependent on this forestland and hence, they have demanded the immediate cancellation of the proposed project.

The progress of the Indo-Russian project has been hit by protests over safety concerns

Controversy-embroiled Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project will once again miss the target as the time frame of commissioning of the first unit has now been revised to the new year. Commercial operation of the 1,000 MW first unit, where 99.65% of the physical progress has been completed, is expected to take place in January next, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) said.