The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant will attain criticality by mid-night on Saturday, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman S K Sinha announced in Tirunelveli.
A number of prominent citizens and activists on Friday rubbished an Intelligence Bureau report which had said funding of several NGOs was "cleverly disguised" as donations for issues like human rights, but instead they were involved in stalling developmental projects.
With the much-delayed Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project expected to be commissioned by April, anti-KNPP activists on Monday revived their protest by laying a siege to the plant through sea.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi has said that all viewpoints have to be taken into account before starting any work on the disputed Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu. "I have already mentioned that an all-party meeting must be convened to discuss the issue. But it was not done and instead an assembly session was called. By convening an all-party meeting, we get different views on the subject and that is what we have missed, I feel," added Karunanidhi.
India has said it is committed to implementing the highest safety standards at its nuclear power plants as it seeks to harness the benefits of atomic energy to meet its growing energy requirements.
Today nearly 440 nuclear reactors produce electricity around the world. More than 15 countries rely on nuclear power for 25 per cent or more of their electricity. In Europe and Japan, the nuclear share of electricity is over 30 per cent. In the US, nuclear power creates 20 per cent of electricity.
For the world and India, one of the most enduring challenges of the times is for Pakistan's nukes to be neutralised, before they are ever used by the State, their sponsored non-State actors or any rogue elements from the many terror tanzeems dotting Pakistan's unstable landscape, says Lieutenant General Kamal Davar (retd).
The PM chaired the AEC meeting on Saturday.
India is working on new technologies such as the small modular reactors that can be factory-built and help make clean energy transition, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said in New Delhi.
Pakistan plans to ask Bush to allow American investors, in line with IAEA safeguards.
Anil Ambani Group firm Reliance Energy, Tata Power, GMR and aluminium manufacturer Nalco are keen to enter nuclear power business, NPCIL Director (Finance) JK Ghai said.
The Indo-Japanese nuclear deal may not come easy considering India's Civil Nuclear Liability Act provisions which had earlier put off suppliers like General Electric, says Debalina Ghoshal.
Crossing a significant milestone, the Indo-French civil nuclear agreement was unanimously adopted by the French Parliament, paving the way for companies to build nuclear power plants in India. The French National Assembly on Tuesday adopted a law authorising the ratification of the Cooperation Agreement between India and France on the Development of Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy, a French Embassy statement said. The French Senate had adopted the law on October 15.
Officials probing a blast that occurred near the Israeli embassy in New Delhi suspect it was a well-orchestrated plan, knowing that no CCTV camera was installed on Prithviraj Road, police sources said on Wednesday.
Addressing hundreds of Iranians who had gathered at the Azadi (Freedom) Square in capital Teheran on Thursday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Iran was now a 'nuclear state' and had produced its first batch of 20 percent enriched uranium and could enrich up to 80 percent.
Strongly favouring nuclear power, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said there would be no compromise on safety of atomic plants and it would be harmful to close the additional source of energy.
In a significant message to the business lobby in Washington, the Union Cabinet on Thursday gave its nod to the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill.The move will encourage the nuclear power plant manufacturing companies, which have been eyeing the Rs 60,000-crore plus market in India, for the next 5-10 years. According to sources, the government will fix the civil liability at approximately Rs 2,400 crore for the manufacturers.
Indian negotiators and International Atomic Energy Agency officials will meet shortly in Vienna to iron out the differences in readying the 'agreed text' on India-specific safeguards, which is crucial to operationalise the India-United States nuclear deal.
Pakistan's Khan Research Laboratories, which was founded by nuclear scientist A Q Khan, had clandestinely supplied centrifuge components to a nuclear plant intended to be installed in Libya, a new book has claimed.
Contrary to perception, the cost of nuclear power based on imported fuel and equipment will be "comparable" to that from the conventional power plants, says Shreyans Kumar Jain, chairman and managing director of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India.
India's target of nuclear power generation of 20,000 megawatt by 2020 has been quietly lowered by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), the only government agency setting up the nuclear power plants in the country, to 11,080 MW.
Allaying apprehensions of an emerging military alliance between them, China and Russia beefed up their ties with 10 "crucial" agreements including setting up Russian nuclear plants and development of commercial aircraft and helicopters.
New Delhi eyes France's nuclear power expertise.
'This government is not in the hands of M K Stalin but in the hands of the bureaucracy -- the IAS and IPS.'
Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Non-Proliferation Thomas Countryman said.
The agreement was reached in intensive negotiations between contact groups that Obama and Modi had set up in September.
'I think some of us, like Mukesh Ambani, myself and those of us who head industrial units, ought to really focus on what we can really do to make the world a safer place, maybe 50 or 100 years from now.' 'For instance, how can we deal with climate change and global warming, right now?' 'The effects of it may not be felt now; in fact, we may pay a price for it today, but it will help the generations to follow.'
The arrival of Nimitz in Chennai had raised protests from the Left and other political parties and environmentalists.
Upset over the prolonged delay in the commissioning of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant, Russia on Wednesday said it should "start working now" and there should be a "movement" to start the plant. "The machines have to start working now because after several weeks, you will have to spend much more time and money to maintain them. You will pay for nothing. They will be idle but you have to pay for their maintenance," Russian Ambassador to India Alexander M Kadakin said.
The total nuclear power generated in the country would now increase to 3310 MW.
India on Monday signed a civil nuclear cooperation deal with South Korea, allowing a framework for Korean companies to participate in atomic power plant projects in the country.
Modi has made nuclear power a key element of his clean energy strategy
The share of nuclear power in India's energy basket could go up from 3 per cent to 6-10 per cent over the next 25 years, according to industry experts.
The four-day talks that concluded on Saturday were originally considered to be a final round but the draft text could not be completed, IAEA sources said, adding that there was also no meeting point on the issue of corrective measures to be undertaken in the event of stoppage of fuel to power plants.
Tokyo celebrated after being awarded the 2020 Olympic Games on Sunday, with a huge roar arising from thousands gathered in a park in the early hours of a grey, humid morning and people embracing on street corners in the city.
Japanese government on Monday blasted the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant for its "absolutely unacceptable" mistake of giving an extremely high radiation reading, as engineers battled to contain the country's worst atomic crisis.
'We have shown them what we are going to do. That we are willing to separate the civilian and military nuclear establishments.'National Security Adviser M K Narayanan in an exclusive interview.
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