The Supreme Court today made it clear that it can stop commissioning of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant if it finds that the mandatory safety requirements for it have not been put in place.

A bench of justices K S Radhakrishanan and Deepak Misra said the safety of plant and the people living in its vicinity is its prime concern. The court issued notices to the Centre and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board on a plea challenging the environmental clearance given to the controversial project.

The case has now been posted for further hearing on Thursday.

The court earlier had refused to stay loading of the fuel in the plant but had agreed to examine the risk associated with the project.

The court was hearing an appeal by social activist G Sundarrajan against the Madras High Court's decision refusing to impose any restraint against the plant.

The petitioner contended that after last year's nuclear disaster in Fukushima in Japan, the Atomic Energy Regulation Board (AERB) had recommended 17 safety measures for the plant which have not been put in place.

It said till now only six safety measures have been adopted and the government will take two years to implement the rest of the recommendations.