Kudankulam plant cost up 31%

The cost of constructing the Kudankulam nuclear power plant (Unit 1 & 2) has increased 31 per cent to Rs 17,270 crore. The original cost of the project for Unit 1&2 was Rs 13,171 crore.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pensions and in the Prime Minister’s Office V Narayanasamy told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that the expected completion of Unit I and II was August 2012 and March 2013 respectively. The original date was December 2007 and December 2008. It would commence commercial operation by October 2012 and June 2013, respectively.

A credit of Rs 6,416 crore has been advanced by the Russian Federation for both the units, he said.

India’s atomic power plant operator NPCIL is building two 1,000 Mw reactors at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district around 650 km from here.

The inspection of the reactor pressure vessel using a specially-designed remote-controlled machine was complete, the minister said.

On the prototype fast breeder reactor at Kalpakkam , he said the original completion cost was Rs 3,492 crore and the expected cost is Rs 5,677 crore. The project's original completion date was September 2010, now it is expected to be completed in September 2014.