Thaindian News

Chennai, Oct 28 (IANS) Even as the fast against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) continued for the 11th day Friday, around 50 children appealed to Russians, French and Americans saying that multi-national companies (MNC) were forcing other countries to build atomic power plants, said an anti-KNPP movement leader.

“Around 50 children living in Kudankulam and surrounding villages have floated a letter on the sea to the people of Russia, France and the US saying that it is only due to pressures from MNCs that nuclear power plants are being set up,” M. Pushparayan, convener of Coastal People’s Federation, told IANS.

“The letter will not be posted or couriered,” he added.

People from Manappadu village are protesting against the setting up of the nuclear power plant at Kudankulam, Pushparayan said.

India’s nuclear power plant operator Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is building two 1,000 MW nuclear power reactors with Russian technology and equipment in Kudankulam, around 650 km from here. The first unit is expected to go on stream in December. The project cost is estimated to cost around Rs.13,000 crore.

Villagers are protesting against the plant fearing for their safety in case of a nuclear accident and the long-term impact it would have on them.

Meanwhile, a three-member team from Atomstroyexport, the Russian company supplying the nuclear plant, has gone back as the work has come to a standstill at the project site, sources said.

NPCIL employees working at Kudankulam project are confined to their residential complex for the past 16 days as the district administration and the police have not given them the nod to go to work.

An NPCIL official fumed: “Would the state government keep silent if any group lay siege to the Tamil Nadu secretariat? Our work site was under siege for a couple of days with the police being a silent spectator.”