Kudankulam N-plant gets HC green nod

The Madras High Court today gave its go-ahead for the commissioning and fuel loading of the unit 1 of the two 1,000 Mw Russian reactors at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, coming up at Tirunelveli district in Chennai.

The green signal is a boost to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd, setting up the units, against which there have been agitations by locals.

Dismissing the petitions filed by eight different petitioners on environment safety, the court upheld the recent clearance granted by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). The court said it cannot suspect AERB's expertise and all the 17 safety recommendations of the task force should be implemented as committed. It also asked the Pollution Control Board and AERB to conduct regular inspection at the site.

Krishna Srinivasan, counsel for NPCIL argued that NPCIL safety standards are in the highest order and compiled with all regulatory approvals.

Reacting to the court's order, Kudankulam site director R Sundar said, "This will be subject to the AERB's final clearance. The initial fuel loading will be followed by boxing of reactor pressure vessel. These activities will be done in a month." He hoped the commercial production from Kudankulam unit I would begin from early October. The cost of project, units 1&2, is estimated to go up from Rs 13,171 crore to Rs 17,270, due to delay in commissioning of the plant.

AERB, while granting clearance for the initial fuel loading and first approach to criticality in August, said it was the culmination of detailed review of the preliminary safety analysis reports and final safety analysis report which constitute the primary basis for review and analysis.

Safety provisions of the Kudankulam project and procedures for various commissioning activities were assessed against the AERB regulatory requirements. AERB said it had carried out safety reassessment of Kudankulam project's capability to withstand extreme external events and non-availability of power supply for an extended period.

AERB secretary R Bhattacharya said, "AERB will follow the Madras High Court order and monitor the implementation of safety measures by NPCIL during the commissioning of the project."