Restart Kudankulam nuclear plant, Jaya begs Modi
08 Oct 2015
The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention for resuming operations at Unit-I of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP).
In a letter to Modi, chief minister J Jayalalithaa said that KNPP Unit-I had started commercial operations on 31 December, 2014, but it had been shut down for the past 90 days for maintenance activities.
''The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited is yet to clearly indicate when the KNPP Unit-I will recommence production. As the wind energy season for Tamil Nadu has drawn to a close, it is crucial that the Kudankulam Unit-I resumes power generation immediately,'' she stated.
''I, therefore, request you to kindly instruct the concerned officials in the Nuclear Power Corporation of India to immediately take necessary action to recommence power generation in Kudankulam Unit-I,'' she said.
The chief minister said her government had been informed that Kudankulam Unit-II was undergoing final stages of commissioning activities and awaiting approval from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board for full commercial production.
''I request you to kindly instruct the concerned officials to expedite the commercial operation of Kudankulam Unit-II, so that another 563 MW of power can be added to the Tamil Nadu grid at the earliest,'' she said.
Tamil Nadu has been allotted 563 of the 1,000 MW from Unit-I.
