Koodankulam 1st unit likely to be operational by next year: Sinha

Amid anti-nuclear protests by

villagers, Atomic Energy Chairman R K Sinha today said the

first unit of 1,000 MW of the Koodankulam nuclear plant in

Tamil Nadu is likely to become operational by next year."Though it will not be able to give the exact time for

commissioning of the project mainly due to the directives of

the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and the case pending

in the Supreme Court, we expect the unit to go operational by

the next calendar year," Sinha told reporters on the sidelines

of India Nuclear Energy 2012 summit here.He said the fuel loading at the unit is in process and is

likely to be completed in the next few months. Last week, the AERB gave its approval for loading of

enriched uranium fuel into the first unit of the Koodankulam

nuclear plant built with Russian collaboration."With the launch of the Koodankulam next year, some of the

power problems (of Tamil Nadu) will be solved," he said.Sinha further said the second unit of the Kudankulam

nuclear plant is expected to be ready as per the schedule, and

added that land acquisition and public acceptance are two

challenges that need to be addressed."Today, we are not worried about technology and raw

material when it comes to setting up a plant. What is a

challenge before us is that we are not prepared to address the

challenge of public acceptance. There is a need to update

knowledge base. We will also need to enhance efforts to spread

awareness on effects of radiation on health," he said, adding

that land acquisition also poses a challenge.On the development on the 9,000 MW nuclear plant project

at Jaitapur in Maharashtra, Sinha said, "final technical-

commercial offer is under negotiation. It is difficult to give

any time-frame as it depends on the outcome of dialogues which

are undergoing. Last week we had a discussion with a French

delegation...all is under control and we think we will come to

a conversion of position in a couple of months."

He further said construction of four 700 MW pressurised

heavy water reactors (two each in Gujarat and Rajasthan) were

under various stages of completion and power production will

begin from these plants by 2017.The Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam, near

Chennai, is also under construction, Sinha said. He expressed

confidence in meeting the target of generating 20,000 MW of

nuclear power by 2021.