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Power Production at South India Nuclear Plant Likely to Start Next Month

Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd. would likely start producing electricity by the end of October from a Russia-backed nuclear power plant that has been the subject of widespread protests by locals, two executives at the state-run company said Friday.

Commissioning of the Kudankulam plant in the southern Tamil Nadu state has already been delayed by several years—its construction started in 2002 and the target was to start power production in December 2006—mainly because of protests by locals and antinuclear lobbyists. It was also hit by lawsuits that claimed the plant posed a risk to thousands of people living nearby.
The work to commission the 1,000-megawatt first unit of the plant picked up speed after the Supreme Court in May dismissed petitions challenging the project.

"It's nearly complete and fine-tuning is on," said one of the two executives. The unit went critical in July and currently final tests are being conducted, the executive said.
 
The second unit, also of 1,000-MW capacity, would likely be commissioned by June 2014, the second executive said.

The Kudankulam plant is being developed with both Indian and Russian technology, and the company had initially planned to build six 1,000-MW units. Two units are almost ready for about two years, but the protests and lawsuits had prevented Nuclear Power Corp. to start production.

The first unit will initially produce 400 MW and the capacity will be ramped up to 1,000 MW in four to six months, said the first executive. "We are taking utmost care for safety," he added.

India is looking to nuclear energy to help bridge a power-supply gap estimated at up to 9% of total demand, but safety concerns remain, particularly after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. The disaster prompted governments around the world to review their nuclear policies.
 
An expert in nuclear energy said the Kudankulam project was safe and would propel India's nuclear-power ambitions.
 
"Fear is always justified. You take a flight, there is a fear of air-crash," said G. Balachandran, a consulting fellow at think tank IDSA. "What we have to see is whether the plant meets all the safety parameters or not. Kudankulam plant does," Dr. Balachandran said.

According to Vinuta Gopal, nuclear-energy campaigner at Greenpeace in India, the safety concerns still remain. The concerns of locals are still not addressed, she said. "These kinds of things don't inspire confidence."
 
The deal to build the plant was first signed in 1988, between India and the former Soviet Union. But construction didn't begin then, and the project was further waylaid by the political turmoil that accompanied the breakup of the Soviet Union. The U.S. also complained thatthe project didn't meet a 1992 Nuclear Suppliers Group agreement.

India isn't a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but in 2008 the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a 46-country cartel that includes the U.S., agreed to allow exports of nuclear equipment and fuel to India in recognition of its history of nonproliferation.

India plans to raise its nuclear power capacity to 63 gigawatts by 2032 from 4.7 GW currently. The country is also trying to increase production of wind and solar energy as it seeks to diversify from coal- and gas-based energy

Source: The Wall Street Journal