Kudankulam nuke plant awaits AERB clearance for commissioning

The Kudankulam nuclear plant is awaiting the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board's clearance for commissioning of its first unit.

"The meeting with the AERB officials is scheduled to take place next week. Once we get a clearance from them, we will go ahead with other worksrelating to the commissioning of unit 1," said R S Sundar, site director of the plant.

He said work at the plant was proceeding "smooth", and expressed hope of getting AERB clearance very soon.

This early, Indian states facing power srisis are seeking allocation power allocation fromthe nuclear plant.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had recently written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking allotment of the entire 2,000 MW to be

generated by two units of the KNPP to the state, in view of the "severe power shortage".

She has said the plant would go critical in the next 10 days and power generation would begin then.

Kerala too has staked claim for 500 MW from the project, with its Chief Minister Oomen Chandy wanting the Centre to allocate power from KNPPunder 'unallocated' option, earmarked for states facing power crisis.

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