Dr Kalam assures the protestors and the country that the technology used in the Koodankulam nuclear project is the best in the world, and tries to allay the fears of the villagers over its safety arrangements, reports A Ganesh Nadar.
Giving a thumbs up to the Koodankulam nuclear power project, former President A P J Abdul Kalam on Sunday said he is "fully satisfied" with the safety measures incorporated in the mega power project.
The incident took place on May 30 and came to light when the contract workers approached district authorities with complaints that they were not given proper medical treatment.
Congratulating engineers and scientists for constructing the sophisticated complex in the coastal region here in Thane district of Maharashtra, Singh said the reprocessing plant was essential for the country's closed-fuel-cycle three-stage nuclear programme.
Suggesting that there could be a conspiracy behind the anti-nuclear power project agitation in Jaitapur, the Congress on Tuesday cautioned people against "attempts by forces inimical to India's economic growth".
One villager was reportedly killed and five others injured in police firing during protests against setting up of a nuclear power plant at Jaitapur in Maharashtra.
Hundreds of villagers agitating against the proposed Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project at Madban village in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district on Monday pelted stones on policemen, resulting in injury to a few personnel.
Russia's Nerpa nuclear-powered attack submarine was handed over to the Indian Navy at a ceremony in the far eastern port of Primorye, making India the sixth operator of such subs in the world.
A 'pause-and-review' approach to nuclear power isn't extreme. Safety is too precious to be sacrificed to appease our nuclear lobby, writes Praful Bidwai
'The IAEA should be given the authority, resources and technical capability to intervene expeditiously in case of a nuclear emergency.'
The group of experts from various disciplines such as radiation safety, reactor safety, oncology, fisheries and nuclear waste management will interact with the local population in and around Kudanakulam where two 1000 MW nuclear power plants built with Russian collaboration are in advanced stages of completion.
The emergency was declared at the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP) at midnight on Tuesday after the leak in the primary heat transport system of the nuclear plant at Hawkesbay was detected.
The week-long protest against Koodankulam nuclear power plant was suspended for two days on Sunday in view of the civic polls in Tamil Nadu even as the stir has left over 100 staff members stranded inside the main project complex.
Radioactive iodine -- exceeding the limit considered safe for infants -- has been detected in Tokyo's tap water amid mounting concerns over food safety in tsunami-hit Japan, which is struggling to contain an atomic crisis at its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The concerns of people over farm products have led the government to instruct local authorities to halt the shipment of relevant produce if it is found contaminted with radioactive substances above the government regulated standards.
The agreement was reached in intensive negotiations between contact groups that Obama and Modi had set up in September.
As Japan makes frantic efforts to deal with the nuclear radiation leaks from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the aftermath of earthquake and tsunami, Indian information technology firms have begun relocating the families of their Indian employees in the country.
More than 1,000 people were feared dead in the massive tsunami triggered by Japan's most powerful earthquake which wrought devastation in northeast coastal Japan forcing the government to declare emergency at two nuclear plants after their cooling systems failed.
In a major boost to its defence prowess, India is all set to receive the much-awaited Akula-II class 'Nerpa' nuclear attack submarine from Russia by the month end on a 10-year lease.
NPCIL will comply with all the 35 conditions stipulated by MoEF.
With the Trinamul government and NGOs stalling the Haripur nuclear plant, will the DAE allot the Russians another site elsewhere in India?
India on Sunday said it was committed to harness nuclear power and ensure highest levels of safety even as some countries have put their atomic energy plans under review after the Fukushima nuclear accident.
The strongest quake to strike eastern America in more than a century rattled offices in the United States' capital. Authorities evacuated buildings as far as New York and shut down two nuclear power plants.
Dr Vijay Sazawal, director, government programs, United States Enrichment Corporation, Inc, a leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants worldwide, has been appointed by Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke to serve on the Civil Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee for two years.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi late on Friday night for annual summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday that is aimed at building on the already close strategic ties, particularly in the fields of nuclear energy, hydrocarbons and defence.
Maharashtra Industry Minister Narayan Rane on Monday blamed the Shiv Sena for instigating people at Jaitapur against the proposed nuclear power plant, which led to a violent protest killing one.
A district hospital was ransacked and a few buses were torched on Tuesday in violence during the Shiv Sena bandh in Ratnagiri against police firing that claimed the life of one of the locals protesting the controversial Jaitapur nuclear power project.
According to the activists, hundreds of people from Madban, Jaitapur, Nate and other villages in the district on Monday held spontaneous protests against the 9,900 MW project.
Under fire for its handling of the atomic crisis at radiation-leaking Fukushima nuclear complex, the plant's operator on Sunday said it aims to stabilise the facility within six to nine months, as United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed unwavering support to tsunami-hit Japan during a solidarity visit to Tokyo.
Despite the nuclear crisis in Japan, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Saturday night batted for nuclear power as an essential option of energy and said the present "nervousness" in the world would end when the issue is discussed in a "cool-headed" manner.
The Japanese police, dressed in protective gear, on Thursday began searching for some 2,500 people missing within a 10-20 kilometre radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, which was crippled by the March 11 killer earthquake and tsunami.
The Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project has been jinxed ever since it was thought of. It was first talked about in 1988 when the Soviet Union agreed to build a plant in India and also supply it fuel. The Soviet Union broke up soon after. Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar spoke with Swapnesh Kumar Malhotra.
A debate rages between the submarine arm and the surface navy particularly the dominant aviation wing on whether the future lies in submarines or aircraft carriers. The navy's submariners, meanwhile, debate the merits of conventional versus nuclear-powered submarines.
According to sources, the government has convened a meeting involving the Nuclear Power Corporation and General Insurance Corporation (GIC), the only domestic re-insurer in the country, to take stock of the progress.
In the wake of Japan's nuclear plants being at risk due to the earthquake and tsunami that struck the country, Maharashtra government on Friday said it would go ahead with the controversial Jaitapur nuclear power plant with additional safety measures if necessary.
In the wake of the nuclear emergency in Japan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should have ensured a 'check-up' of safeguards at nuclear power plants before declaring 'Everything is fine' at those sites, Dr A N Prasad, former director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, tells Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
United States President Barack Obama on Friday ordered a "comprehensive" safety review of all the nuclear power plants in the country in light of the current situation in Japan where high levels of radiation from quake-crippled reactors are threatening to spew-out disaster.
Workers battling to prevent a nuclear meltdown at Japan's quake-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant have been temporarily evacuated following fears that the containment vessel around reactor no 3 may have been damaged. Television images showed white smoke, now thought to be steam from the reactor, drifting from the nuclear plant.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Tuesday demanded an immediate halt to the setting up of a nuclear power project in Jaitapur and the environment clearance given to it, saying the crisis in nuclear reactors in Japan following the tsunami warranted a re-examination of the project.
Tennis star Maria Sharapova and Pune FC's Japanese footballer Izumi Arata lend their support to those affected in Japan in last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami and the nuclear crisis.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances