JOIN USAs the ‘Jal-Satyagraha’ by fisher-folks in the sea at coastal Idinthakarai protesting against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) entered the second day on Friday, the impasse over the various commissioning stages of its first 1000 Mwe reactor has now crossed a record 25 months.
The KNPP first unit applied to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) seeking clearance for the ‘hot-run’ (testing various systems and equipment with dummy fuel) in August 2010. But more than two years later, the Russian-designed plant is yet to move ahead to ‘Initial Fuel Loading (IFL)’ stage, despite the AERB granting clearance for it on Aug 10, 2012.
The AERB’s latest annual report says while it granted clearance for the hot-run for KNPP-Unit one on June 30, 2011, various commissioning steps were conducted during that phase. But when the plant entered its next phase of ‘commissioning activities’, all the activities within KNPP had to be suspended from Oct 13, 2011 to March 18, 2012, due to agitation by the locals.
During the six months, when the agitators allowed only limited number of employees to enter the N-plant, it was challenging for NPCIL and AERB to ensure that the “health” of various processes and equipment were maintained. Various “preservation maintenance” at both the KNPP units had to be undertaken to “keep the required water chemistry and the required environment for the various equipment.”