The Unit I of the controversial Kudankulam atomic power reactor in Tamil Nadu will become operational by next month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said.

He gave this assurance to Russian President Vladimir Putin when the two met in Durban late on Tuesday night on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.

“I am pleased to inform you that Kudankulam I will become operational and critical by next month. As for Units III and IV we have secured all internal approvals and we hope to operationalise our cooperation on Unit III and IV,” Singh told Putin.

Singh was accompanied by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon among others during the meeting.

The atomic power plant has been opposed by villagers in and around Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district who are carrying out prolonged protests against the commissioning of the project. The protests got intensified after the Fukushima disaster in Japan last year.

On bilateral economic cooperation, Singh said the two countries cannot be satisfied with the status quo.