CURRENT ISSUES IN KUDANKULAM

Today(17/2/2012) four members experts commitee come to kudankulam to look into the safety aspects of Nuclear Power Project and address the fears of local people.The commitee head Srinivasan said that after the meeting we will move forward to the future course of action.The Government has not specified the time frame but we would complete the task as soon as possible.First the panel would visit the thirunelveli district and interact with District officials.The other two commitee members are from anna university and the oter one is a retired IAS officer.The government announced the formation of the committee Feb 9.

Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd (NPCIL), is building two 1,000 MW atomic power reactors with the help of russian scientists at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli,around 650 km from Chennai. Villagers in Kudankulam, Idinthakarai and nearby areas fear for their lives and safety in case of any nuclear accident. Their agitation, led by the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), has put a stop to the project work,

delaying the commissioning of the first unit slated last December.

The Tamil Nadu government has urged the central government to halt work at the power plant and allay the fears of the people. To resolve the issue, the central and state governments had set up two panels.The central and the state panels met thrice last year.The final meeting between the two panels slated for Jan 31 did not take place and the central panel submitted its report and declared that its job is over.

According to NPCIL officials, there are around 100 Russian scientists in Kudankulam and none of them are leaving for now. NPCIL officials told IANS that a consignment of components had been waiting for more than two weeks to be unloaded and the government was not giving permission for the vehicle to go inside the project site. Protestors allowed about 100 KNPP maintenance staff to enter Thursday after initial resistance.