DURBAN, March 28 – The controversial Kudankulam Unit I of the atomic power reactor in Tamil Nadu will become operational next month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh(Pic) said. Singh gave this assurance to Russian President Vladimir Putin when the two met on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Durban, South Africa on Tuesday, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
“I am pleased to inform you that Kudankulam Unit I will become operational by next month. As for Units III and IV, we have secured all internal approvals and hope to operationalise our cooperation on Unit III and IV,” Singh told Putin.
The much-delayed Kudankulam atomic power plant has been rocked by a major controversy with the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy and villagers in and around Kudankulam in Tiruneveli district holding prolonged protests against commissioning of the plant. Anti-nuclear protests became intensified after the Fukushima disaster in Japan last year.An Inter-Governmental Agreement on the Kudankulam nuclear plant project was signed on Nov 20, 1988 by then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.
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