In Tamil Nadu, Work is on at a hectic pace at the Kundankulam nuclear power project site, even as the plant is being readied for loading fuel. Talking to newsmen in Chennai this evening, Mr S.A. Bhardwaj, Director, Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) said, the top priority is to get the first unit working in the shortest possible time. He said after the plant got its go ahead from the state government recently, a review of important critical systems was completed and the results showed that the plant is quiet healthy.
Refusing to give a time frame for the plant to attain criticality, Mr. Bhardwaj said one additional review will be conducted by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board to take stock of the maintenance done in the last six months. He said the first unit would be able to generate a maximum of 995 MW of power at its peak, of which 100 MW will be used by the plant.
Admitting that there were communication gaps between the NPCIL and the neighbourhood in Kundankulam, Mr Bhardwaj said, steps have been taken to reach out to the people in the area and allay their apprehensions. He said the nuclear power corporation has been incurring a loss of 5 crore rupees per day on account of the delay in commissioning the kundankulam plant.

Mr Bhardwaj said, it was a landmark day for the NPCIL as it had met its annual target of generating 32,000 million units of power for this financial year early today.