Centre hopeful of commissioning Koodankulam soon

With the Tamil Nadu government under pressure to ease the acute power situation, the centre today hoped that it would be able to commission the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project "very soon", with the state government being "very very positive" to the plant opening.

"My hunch is that Tamil Nadu government will take a decision as early as possible" on the project, work on which has come to a standstill for many months following protests from locals, spearheaded by People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), minister of state in the PMO V Narayanasamy told reporters in Chennai.

He said the state government was taking a positive approach and was cooperating with the centre as the law and order issue was a state subject. He added there was regular interaction between central and state government officials.

Denying any "double-game" by the Tamil Nadu government he said, the state was aware that it needed power and assured to provide 1000 MW of the energy from Koodankulam plant though its original share was 925 MW.

Narayanasamy's remarks assume significance against the backdrop of the state government appointed panel going into the safety aspects last month and giving the project a clean chit.

Earlier the 15-member expert panel team from the centre set up to allay the fears of the locals had vouched for the safety of the Indo-Russian project, where work on the first two units to produce 2000 MW of power had been almost completed.