Sri Lanka and India were discussing a bi-lateral agreement on how to ensure safety in case of a nuclear accident, Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka told Parliament yesterday.

Academics, activists and students gathered at the Town Hall on Wednesday evening to express solidarity with residents of Kudankulam, who have been resisting the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project.

Organised by the New Socialist Alternative, the demonstration saw participation from various anti-nuclear activist groups and organisations that have been campaigning for the rights of the Tamil-speaking population in Sri Lanka.

The first 1,000 MW unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district, which is just two steps away from reaching criticality, moved further ahead, with the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board early this week giving its nod for closing the reactor pressure vessel, which has already been loaded with 163 bundles of enriched uranium fuel.

Police make elaborate security arrangements at Collectorate

Representatives from various organisations and the villages, opposing the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, separately submitted petitions during the weekly grievance day meeting held here on Monday seeking the unconditional dropping of all cases filed against the anti-nuke activists and immediate release of anti-KKNPP protestors arrested during the ongoing agitations and subsequently lodged in the prisons.

Impasse over nuclear liability provisions, other civil issues

India and Russia have put off their high-level engagement planned for November 1 by almost two months in order to reach an agreement on some contentious military and civil issues. The announcement about the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Vladimir Putin was first made by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) here in a statement and later by the Russian government.

India’s first 1000 MW atomic power plant built with Russian collaboration at Koodankulam is just two steps away from going critical, a top official said on Friday.
“We are on a very smooth path now. We have completed fuel loading and the nuclear regulator is carrying out a review,” Shiv Abhilash Bhardwaj, director (technical), Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), said.

Inspection by Atomic Energy Regulatory Board’s Advisory Committee for Project Safety Review (ACPSR) of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project 1 and 2 continued for the second day on Thursday during which

‘It was a policy decision taken at a time when no other country came forward to sustain India’s nuclear capabilities’

The Centre on Thursday justified in the Supreme Court waiver of the nuclear liability agreement with Russia for the Kudankulam plant in Tamil Nadu and said it was a policy decision taken at a time when no other country came forward to sustain India’s nuclear capabilities. Making this submission before a Bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra, Solicitor General Rohinton Nariman denied the allegation of Prashant Bhushan, counsel for petitioners, that the Government had signed the agreement to appease Russia.

Makes clear that 17 safety measures are additional, not a condition precedent. Attorney General G. E. Vahanvati has asserted in the Supreme Court that the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant is absolutely safe and all apprehensions over safety of the plant are completely baseless.

Making this submission before a Bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra on Tuesday, Mr. Vahanvati also made it clear that it was not a condition precedent that all 17 safety measures to be implemented before the plant are put into operation.

Health and environment are as important as is plant safety, says judge

The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to spell out how nuclear waste/spent fuel will be handled or transported after the Kudankulam plant in Tamil Nadu becomes operational. A Bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra on Wednesday wanted to know from the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL), how it intended transporting the nuclear waste out of the plant and store it in a safe place without affecting environment.