Top N-officials consult with govt to end KNNP stand-off

Amid growing opposition to Kudankulam nuclear power plant from locals, top nuclear officials today held consultations with Tamil Nadu government on ways to end the prolonged stand-off that has affected work on the controversial project.

Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Srikumar Banerjee and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited head SK Jain met state Chief Secretary Debendranath Sarangi here.

Emerging from the meeting lasting more than an hour, Banerjee said the two sides discussed the strategies regarding talks with the protesters and the Centre-appointed expert committee would soon interact with protesters.

"It may begin even in a week," he said.

Arguing for the safety of the nuclear reactors, he said they will be the "best possible" ones, noting that during the "hot run", the system worked almost with "text book" precision.

Any change in the parameters can cause damage to the reactors, he said while urging that essential maintenance activity at the plant was a must.

However, he said "we respect public sentiment."

Meanwhile, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister R Chidambaram also vouched for the safety of the project, saying it had all the safety features.

"Kudankulam project is one of the very recently-designed reactors which have got all kinds of safety features. And by looking at the levels at which the various equipment are located, there is no tsunami risk to the plant," he told reporters after delivering a lecture at the National Institute of Ocean Technology.