New Delhi: Terming as "unfortunate" the
resistance to the commissioning of Indo-Russian joint venture
Koodankulam nuke plant in Tamil Nadu, Russia on Tuesday said all
safety norms have been taken into consideration in view of the
Fukushima accident in Japan.
However, it ruled out that the ongoing protests will
have any influence on Indo-Russian cooperation in future.
"What is happening in Tamil Nadu is unfortunate. It looks
like that the protests will shadow the commissioning of the
plant which is going to happen in December," Senior Counsellor
Sergey V Karmalito in the Russian Embassy said here.
The protests have intensified against the project since
the announcement late last month that the first of the two
1x1000 MWe reactors set up at the coastal village of
Koodankulam would be commissioned in December, resulting in
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa writing to the Prime
Minister seeking a halt on its opening.
Asserting that all safety norms were put in place,
Karmalito said following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, all
"new requests" by India about the safety of the plant have
been taken into consideration.
"Last month we conducted the trial runs, which was very
important step as we checked all safety measures apart from
whatever was envisaged of the plant in terms of features and
productivity," he said.
It is not correct to compare the Fukushima plant with
Koodankulam as the reactor in Japan was constructed decades
ago and the one in Tamil Nadu is "one of the most powerful and
modern reactors" in the world, he said.
PTI
