The PM’s Take on Agitation.

The Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) has stepped up its plan to reachout to villagers in the vicinity of the upcoming Kudankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu, in a bid to remove their misunderstandings and explain to them the safety features of the proposed 2,000-Mw plant.

A similar drive has been launched at the 20 nuclear plants across the country, NPC executive director N Nagaich said on Friday. Apart from meeting villagers individually, the state-run corporation lays emphasis on organising plant visits, holding scientific meetings and interactive sessions.

The safety of people and environment has always been the priority of the nuclear industry, stressed M. Kashinath Balaji, Director of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, here on Thursday.

He was inaugurating an interactive session, ‘National summit on nuclear safety' organised in connection with Conjura-12, the annual technical and cultural festival of the TKM College of Engineering. “The global nuclear industry, with 430 reactors operating, has clocked a cumulative experience of 14,000 reactor years of safe operation. Indian reactors have clocked 350 reactor-years,” he said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has criticised non-governmental organisations that receive support from abroad for stalling the use of genetic engineering in agriculture and leading protests against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu.

In an interview published in the latest issue of journal Science, Dr. Singh pointed to the potential of biotechnology, saying “in due course of time we must make use of genetic engineering technologies to increase the productivity of our agriculture.”

Senior official hopes to commission the first unit by August
There finally seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel with regard to the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu.

A senior official of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited on Wednesday expressed confidence that the situation could return to normal within the next four to six weeks, paving the way for its commissioning in August.

Pressure is mounting on the Indian government to commission the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) at the earliest.

Officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) carried out an inspection of the KNPP on Monday in order to ensure that the nuclear fuel kept in the storage room was not being diverted for purposes other than generation of power.

Protest against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) has once again intensified with the new Tamil Nadu panel of experts claimed that the plant was safe and gave enough indication that the Sta

Even as the group protesting Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) upped the ante, the department of atomic energy (DAE) announced Tuesday it would add two more reactors to Kalpakkam Nuclear Plant in an effort to bridge the energy demand-supply gap.

The 500 MW fast-breeder reactors would have additional safety systems and were part of a series of nuclear reactors gearing up across the country to produce 20,000 MWe by 2020, S.C. Chetal, director, IGCAR, Kalpakkam, said.

CHENNAI: A two-member team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) carried out a detailed inspection at Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) even as the anti-plant protesters announced a 72-hour fast from Monday to protest a clean chit by a state government panel.

"The two member IAEA team is carrying out inspection of the nuclear material in KNPP. The team would account meticulously the amount of nuclear material received and stored," Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) chairman and managing director S.K. Jain told IANS.

TIRUNELVELI: The four-member committee set up by Tamil Nadu Government today virtually gave a clean chit to the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP), saying it was well-equipped to withstand natural calamities, be it earthquake or tsunami.

Emerging from the two-hour long talks with members of People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), committee Convenor S Iniyan told reporters that they inspected the KKNPP yesterday for more than three hours and reviewed the safety measures put in place to deal with any contingency.