'Shutting down Unit-1 of KNPP proves it will not benefit Tamil Nadu'

MADURAI: Anti-nuclear activist S P Udhayakumar today said shutting down of the first unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project due to a problem had proved right his view that KNPP would not benefit Tamil Nadu.

Participating a demonstration organised by Social Democratic Party of India here, he said KNPP officials had claimed the plant was safe and had done trial runs after "thorough inspections"; but now a fault had been detected in the unit.

"My view that the plant will not benefit Tamil Nadu has been proved right after the first unit was shut down due to some problem," he said.

Udhayakumar, convener of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy, alleged that commercial generation of power from Unit 1 had not taken place even for a single day, but did not elaborate.

On October 20, the first unit was shut down due to a "minor problem" in its turbine generator which had been in operation for just over 190 days, even as officials assured that the problem would be set right in six to eight weeks.

Unit-1 of the Indo-Russian joint venture at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district had attained criticality on July 13, 2013, after much delay following protests against the poject by anti-nuclear activists, spearheaded by PMANE, in areas around the complex, citing safety reasons.