Koodankulam nuclear power plant commissioning put off

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd has postponed the expected date of commissioning of the first unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant to next month.

With physical progress completed up to 99.66 per cent, the 1,000 MW first unit is expected to be commissioned next month, the NPCIL website said.

Earlier, the NPCIL expected it to be commissioned by this month.

The NPCIL is building two 1,000 MW VVER nuclear power units with Russian collaboration at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu.

The Supreme Court had on May 6 cleared hurdles in commissioning of the controversial plant, saying that the safety and security requirements have been taken care of and the project would benefit larger public interest.

The project has missed several deadlines since December last year following protests by locals over safety concerns.