India's nuclear operator hopes to start Kudankulam plant by August

New Delhi, Feb 22 (PTI) India's nuclear operator NPCIL today said it expected things to return to normal at the Kudankulam nuclear power project in the southern state of Tamil Nadu within the next four to six weeks, paving way for its commissioning by August. "I expect that in four to six weeks things would come to normal (at Kudankulam)," a top official of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) said here. He said nuclear scientists would require another four months after things return to normal to commission the first 1,000 MW unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP). Hopes for resolution of the months long agitation against KNPP had brightened when the Tamil Nadu state government set up a four-member team headed by Prof S Iniyan to look into the concerns of local people over the project. The Iniyan panel has already visited Kudankulam and reviewed the safety measures at the nuclear power plant and also interacted with the protesters. It is expected to give its report to the state government soon. NPCIL has launched a massive awareness campaign in and around Kudankulam informing the people on the safety aspects of the plant. Jingles for mobile phones, awareness through FM radio and television and distribution of pamphlets are some of the methods adopted by the nuclear operator to inform the people on various aspects of the plant. Meanwhile, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials carried out inspection of the fuel for the KNPP stored at the plant site on Monday. "We had purchased the fuel from Russia under IAEA safeguards agreement. IAEA officials carried out routine inspections to ensure that the fuel was not diverted for purposes other than generation of power," the NPCIL official said. However, since the Kudankulam plant is not operational, the officials visited the fuel storage room to cross check the fuel inventory which is kept in a sealed box. The IAEA inspectors also checked the memory cards of the surveillance cameras to check out whether there were any blackouts, he said. Two 1,000 MW nuclear power plants, built by the NPCIL with Russian collaboration, are in advanced stages of completion and are awaiting the protests to be called off to start operations. PTI