Foreign activists are playing a major role in the protests against the Koodankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu, which was scheduled to go critical in the next two months, Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) chief S K Jain said on Friday. The project, comprising two units of advanced models of Russian VVER-1000 MW pressurised water reactors, was scheduled for fuel loading in September and was to go critical by the end of this year. But weeks of protests by locals have led to work being suspended. “Foreign nationals, who are greens from the US, Finland, France, Australia and Germany are protesting against the plant and backing locals in their agitation,” Jain said on the sidelines of the foundation day celebrations of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai. “The greens, together with (anti-nuclear activist) Udaya Kumar’s splinter group, are protesting against the project... In the wake of Fukushima, a mock evacuation exercise was planned, and subsequently a rumour spread that within 5 km radius of the plant, people will be asked to evacuate. This sentiment was picked up by the greens.” This is not the first time foreigners have been blamed for protests against nuclear projects. In February, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had blamed “foreign powers” for some of the protests against Jaitapur project. It was later revealed that he was referring to a Finnish Greenpeace activist who had visited the site. Jain said he did not have details of the “greens” allegedly involved in Koodankulam protests but said they were “still present there”. Asked if the Centre had taken up the issue of these activists with their embassies, Jain said he was not aware. “We have 180 Russians at Kudankulam... they had integrated with the local neighbourhood. Now, they are in a state of disbelief and want to know what can be done (to resolve the crisis),” Jain said. In September, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to suspend all work at the project till apprehensions of the locals were addressed, following which the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) set up an expert group to interact with the locals and dispel their apprehensions. “Most apprehensions of the people are based on sentiments and not on scientific facts. So we need to go step by step and allay all their fears... One-to-one contact is necessary which is not happening now,” said Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission Srikumar Banerjee. Banerjee, meanwhile, also said hot-run, a pre-launch procedure, had been completed at the plant and once other steps are through before the plant goes critical, it can’t be stopped as it can cause problems. Jain warned that if they are not maintained in a particular fashion,the plant’s electronic and computer systems could be seriously damaged.