AERB clears fuel loading in Kudankulam nuclear reactor
August 10th, 2012 - 8:59 pm ICT by IANSChennai, Aug 10 (IANS) The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) Friday gave its nod to load real fuel in the first unit of 1,000 MW Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) at Kudankulam, paving the way for the running of the Tamil Nadu facility delayed by villagers’ agitation, said a senior AERB official.
The Kudankulam plant in Tirunelveli district is being built by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL). The project will start generating power from September.
“It will take us around 10-15 days to load the fuel. We have to intimate the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) about the fuel loading,” S.A. Bhardwaj, director (technical) at NPCIL, told IANS from Mumbai over phone.
AERB chairman S.S. Bajaj told IANS from Mumbai: “The sanction is always subject to certain stipulations, like flushing of the reactor and other primary systems with borated water. It will take a week for NPCIL to complete our conditions so that they can load the fuel.”
He said the AERB’s advisory committee reviewed the reports submitted by NPCIL about KNPP Thursday and the sanction order was issued Friday.
As KNPP falls under the safeguard agreement signed by India with the IAEA, the latter has to be informed about fuel loading.
According to Bhardwaj, some components have to be loaded into the reactor before the fuel.
He said NPCIL is not working towards any specific date to load the 163 fuel assemblies into the 1,000 MW light water reactor (LWR) supplied by Russia.
NPCIL is building two 1,000 MW reactors in Kudankulam, around 650 km from here.
Work at the project had come to a standstill in August last year after local villagers, fearing for their lives in case of a nuclear accident, mounted an intensive protest under People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy banner.
S.P. Udayakumar, coordinator of PMANE, told IANS: “Madras High Court is hearing a case against the Kudankulam project. As the country is waiting for the judgment, the sanction to load the fuel is authoritarian and undemocratic.”
The Tamil Nadu government had last year passed a resolution asking the central government to halt work at the plant and to allay the fears of the locals.
To resolve the issue, the central and state governments set up two committees. The central panel submitted its final report on January 31. Another expert committee set up by the Tamil Nadu government also favoured the project.
In March this year, the state government gave the go-ahead to the project and announced Rs.500 crore for local area and infrastructural development.
Following that, work at KNPP was restarted with police protection.
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- Atomic regulator's nod for fuel loading at Kudankulam (Lead) - Sep 21, 2012
- With atomic regulator's nod, Kudankulam reactor being fuelled (Second Lead) - Sep 21, 2012
- Kudankulam reactor to be fuelled around Sep 11, protestors to intensify stir - Sep 07, 2012
- Major pre-fuel loading exercise over at Kudankulam - Sep 12, 2012
- Change of guard at Kudankulam N-plant - Apr 30, 2012
- Kudankulam to comply with AERB stipulations - Sep 17, 2012
- Kudankulam reactor may get one year operational licence - Sep 08, 2012
- Kudankulam activists seek answers on nuclear power project - Aug 06, 2012
- Atomic regulator gives fuel loading clearance for Kudankulam - Sep 21, 2012
- Kudankulam inspections on after removal of dummy fuel - Jun 04, 2012
- Atomic regulatory team inspecting Kudankulam reactor - Sep 10, 2012
- Kudankulam's first unit to be ready for fuel loading soon: NPCIL - Mar 19, 2012
- Kudankulam project gets Madras High Court's green signal (Lead) - Aug 31, 2012
- Kudankulam safe but fuel loading permission not given: Atomic panel - Sep 13, 2012
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