The Supreme Court on Monday said there is no basis to the fear that the radioactive effects of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, when commissioned, will be far reaching.

A Bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra said: “We are convinced that the KKNPP design incorporates advanced safety features complying with the current standards of redundancy, reliability, independence and prevention of common cause failures in its safety systems. Design also takes care of Anticipated Operational Occurrences (AOO), Design Basis Accidents (DBA) and Beyond Design Basis Accidents (BDBA) like Station Black Out (SBO), Anticipated Transients Without Scram (ATWS), Metal Water reaction in the water core and provision of core catcher to take care of core degradation.

Inking the Nuclear Cooperation Agreement paves the way for Canadian uranium to reach India

The governments of India and Canada have taken another step towards full implementation of their bilateral Nuclear Cooperation Agreement (NCA), paving the way for Canadian uranium to reach India. Joe Oliver, federal minister of natural resources, announced yesterday that officials from the two countries had signed an ‘Appropriate Arrangement’ as part of the nuclear agreement. He said so at the headquarters of Canada’s largest uranium producer, Cameco Corporation, in Saskatoon, a city in the province of Saskatchewan.

Winning back confidence in nuclear power after Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in March difficult, but will require unwavering commitment to safety

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano said on Monday public awareness was important to ensure nuclear power projects do not face opposition. He acknowledged the concerns and opposition to nuclear power capacity addition. “Public acceptance is also an important issue. I know this has been a concern in India, as in other countries, and that there have been demonstrations against the construction of new nuclear power plants,” Amano said in Mumbai at an event organised by the Indian Nuclear Society.

After a brief lull, protests against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) were revived both in India and Sri Lanka with a protest being held in Colombo yesterday (5).

* Sri Lanka outside danger range
* All early warning systems operating

Iran is converting some of its higher-grade enriched uranium into reactor fuel, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Stating that the country was on the threshold of a new milestone in its quest for civil nuclear energy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today announced that the first nuclear reactor with Russian collaboration at Kudankulam would start operating soon with the second reactor to follow later in the current year.

''As we pursue our national growth objectives to meet the rising aspirations of our people, the supply of affordable clean energy will be one of our foremost national challenges and a key priority for our government. Nuclear energy will remain an essential and increasingly important element of our energy mix. We are in the process of expanding our indigenous nuclear power programme,'' he said on the occasion of Department of Atomic Energy's Lifetime Achievement Awards for 2011 here.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said nuclear power was an essential component of India's energy mix and he will ensure that the safety and livelihoods of people are not jeopardised in its pursuit.

"We will ensure that the safety and livelihoods of people are not jeopardised in our pursuit of nuclear power," Singh said at a function to confer lifetime achievement awards on four nuclear scientists. Noting that the 2011 Fukushima incident had raised "justifiable" concerns on atomic energy, Singh said, "Even as we implement our power programme, we will continue to ensure that nuclear power remains wholly safe."

Bangladesh and Russia will sign a US$500 million deal in January to complete the pre-construction phase of the nuclear power plant to be set up at Rooppur in Pabna district.

The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project is likely to be commissioned by December 15, V. Narayanasamy, Union Minister of State for Prime Minister’s Office, said here on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference, he said the trial run of the first reactor was in progress after an inspection by experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency and Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.