'Protests against Koodankulam unfortunate; all norms in place'

New Delhi, Sep 20 (PTI) Terming as "unfortunate" the
resistance to the commissioning of Indo-Russian joint venture
Koodankulam nuke plant in South Indian state Tamil Nadu,
Russia on Tuesday said all safety norms have been taken into
consideration in view of the Fukushima accident in Japan.
However, it ruled out that the on-going protests will
have any influence on Indo-Russian cooperation in future.
"What is happening in Tamil Nadu is unfortunate. It looks
like that the protests will shadow the commissioning of the
plant which is going to happen in December," Senior Counsellor
Sergey V Karmalito in the Russian Embassy told PTI here.
The protests have intensified against the project since
the announcement late last month that the first of the two
1x1000 MWe reactors set up at the coastal village of
Koodankulam would be commissioned in December, resulting in
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa writing to the Prime
Minister seeking a halt on its opening.
Asserting that all safety norms were put in place,
Karmalito said following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, all
"new requests" by India about the safety of the plant have
been taken into consideration.
"Last month we conducted the trial runs, which was very
important step as we checked all safety measures apart from
whatever was envisaged of the plant in terms of features and
productivity," he said.
It is not correct to compare the Fukushima plant with
Koodankulam as the reactor in Japan was constructed decades
ago and the one in Tamil Nadu is "one of the most powerful and
modern reactors" in the world, he said.
The Senior Counsellor said the delay in commissioning of
Koodankulam can have a cascading effect on other agreements
and projects.
"According to reports, what we understand is that the
agitation is happening because they (protesters) want experts
to explain and address safety issues relating to the power
plant. We hope that Indian government and the atomic
department will soon do so," he said.
Given the fact that energy security is one of the most
important issues in India, Russia hopes that this situation is
addressed soon, Karmalito said.
However, he said given the "positive" past experience
with India, the ongoing protests will not influence future
cooperation between the two countries.
He said Russia has provided technical assistance to India
and also critical expertise in the power plant project.