After a lull, anti-nuclear activists against Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project are planning to intensify their stir and take a decision on Wednesday on laying siege to the plant, demanding a halt to the process of loading enriched fuel in the reactor.
Eleven persons, claiming to be members of a fact-finding team, were arrested on Friday when they were on way to the nuclear power plant site at Kudankulam, 30km from Tirunelveli, the police said.
The environment ministry was ready to take a re-look into the "safety" aspects of the Kudankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu if such a need arises, Union Minister Jayanti Natarajan said on Friday. The environment minister's statement came a day after the Supreme Court made it clear that it can stop commissioning of the controversial Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant if it finds that the mandatory safety requirements for it have not been put in place.
Power generation at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu has been temporarily suspended for the second time in about a week in order to undertake mandatory tests, official sources said on Wednesday.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam President M Karunanidhi on Tuesday slammed Sri Lanka for raking up the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project issue, saying India "will do what is required."
Mahatma Gandhi said that an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com travelled to Idinthakarai, the epicentre of protests against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, where two factions of people chose to settle scores by hurling country bombs at each other.
Seeking to allay fears, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday told Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa that the Centre will give full regard to "safety, livelihood and security of the people" while implementing the Kundankulam Nuclear Power Project.
Russia's global nuclear project company Atomstroyexport, which is building two 1000 MW reactors in Kudankulam, said the "complex issues" need to be addressed before firming up contracts for setting up two more atomic power plants.
The Kundankulam Nuclear Power Plant attained its full generation capacity and became the first nuclear plant in the country to generate 1,000 MW of power on Saturday, its site director R S Sundar said.
'Not a single person I spoke to there believes that the Kundalkulam plant is safe.'
India and Russia are expected to sign a nuclear deal for the construction of four additional reactors at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant and expansion of other sites during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's three-day visit to New Delhi beginning Thursday, a top official has said."We plan to sign on Friday an inter-governmental agreement with India to build another four reactors for the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, and envisaging cooperation," said a Russian official.
India has received the first consignment of uranium fuel from Russia for unit-1 of 1000 MegaWatt Kudankulam Nuclear power project in tamil Nadu.
The two leaders also adopted a joint statement on cooperation in the field of peaceful use of atomic energy.
Noted anti-nuclear activist and convener of People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy S P Udayakumar has quit Aam Aadmi Party, saying he was doing so as he felt it was not paying attention to people of south Tamil Nadu.
'I am contesting elections to encourage and start a nationwide debate on the present nuclear policy.'
In first high-level engagement between India and Russia after National Democratic Alliance government came to power, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry O Rogozin on Wednesday held extensive talks on crucial bilateral issues including trade and energy security.
The Kudankulam agitation has been on for 400 days now, and Superintendent of police Vijayendra Bidari Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu has been tracking, controlling and following it closely.
Russia on Thursday said the protests against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant were 'sponsored' and the Non-Governmental Organisations from outside were 'feeding' the organisations which are spearheading the stir.
The People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy, which spearheaded the movement against the Kudankulam Nuclear Plant, has strongly objected to the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is arriving in India on Monday.
Accusing foreign agencies of fuelling anti-Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office (PMO) V Narayanasamy on Thursday said bank operations of six foreign-funded organisations have been frozen.
Hundreds of anti-nuclear activists and leaders of different political outfits were detained in Chennai on Monday when they attempted to lay siege to the Tamil Nadu assembly demanding scrapping of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant. S Saraswathi reports.
Facing heat from the party's top brass, Communist Party of India - Marxist stalwart in Kerala V S Achuthanandan on Thursday publicly admitted that he had committed "organisational mistakes" on issues related to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant and the murder of an expelled party leader. Achuthanandan's admission comes two days after the CPI-M central committee censured him for defying the official line on these issues.
"After all, you are the only leader who has taken a bold and courageous stand against the Haripur nuclear project in Purba Medhinipur district in West Bengal," People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), sprearheading the stir said in a letter to Banerjee.
Dr Suresh Moses Lee and his wife Suseela who have lived at the township built near the Kalpakkam nuclear power plant for three decade, ally fears of people living near nuclear plants.
Defence deal, other key trade and investment pacts also likely.
Leaders of various parties and outfits, including Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Vaiko, were on Friday arrested in Tirunelveli when they attempted to proceed to Idinthakarai, the epicentre of protests against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, to express their solidarity with the locals demanding the scrapping of the Indo-Russian project.
Police and paramilitary personnel maintained strict vigil as tension prevailed at Idinthakarai, the epicentre of the stir against Kudankulam nuclear power plant, with anti-nuclear agitators continuing their indefinite fast today protesting the state Cabinet's decision to go ahead with the project.
Stepping up their protest against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, anti-nuclear activists have now decided to go in for 'jal satyagraha' throughout the Tamil Nadu coast on September 22.
Tightening the noose on those opposing the Kudankulam nuclear project, the government has registered cases against four NGOs for allegedly diverting funds to fuel protests and deported a German national for assisting the agitators.
In a volte-face, Peoples Movement Against Nuclear Energy leader S P Udayakumar on Wednesday decided not to surrender, a day after he made a dramatic appearance and announced he would turn up before the police. Amid continuing protests against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, Udayakumar's change of plans was announced by anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal, who has extended his support for the anti-nuclear stir.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday appealed to people not to fall prey to the "designs" of anti-nuclear lobbyists and defended the police action, in which one fisherman was killed during protests in Tuticorin against the Kudankulam atomic power project.
The government on Sunday maintained that it will ensure all safety aspects of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project are fully taken care of before it is commissioned.
Clearing the decks for early commissioning of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, the Madras high court on Friday held that its two units did not suffer from any infirmity for want of approvals and rejected safety fears as 'unfounded'.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it clear to the government that all safety measures for handling disaster must be put in place at the Kudankulam power plant before it is operationalised saying there can be no compromise on it.
India's nuclear regulator on Friday said it has granted permission for loading of fuel into the much-delayed Kudankulam atomic power plant.
India's nuclear regulator has found no defects in the reactor pressure vessel of the Kudankulam atomic power plant, the Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
Demanding that the Centre immediately scrap the Kudankulam Nuclear power project, social activist Swami Agnivesh on Thursday sought a high-level enquiry and public hearing to 'expose' corruption in the energy sector.
A three-member union home ministry team on Thursday raided a trust office at Nagercoil run by S P Udayakumar, who is leading the anti-Kudankulam nuclear plant stir on charges of receiving foreign funding.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has asserted that no government in Jammu and Kashmir was possible without the party being part of it, even as a two-member party delegation met Governor N N Vohra to discuss the matter and said it would submit a formal proposal to him on January 1.
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