Protests over Indo-Russian nuclear plant suspended for elections

Forum Contacts RSS		RUSSIAN

RIA Novosti, PUBLISHED October 17, 2011

Activists opposing the construction of a nuclear power plant in southern India have suspended protests to allow for a regional poll to go ahead.

“We have decided to call off the agitation temporarily so that people could participate in the local body elections tomorrow,” a key protest leader told the IANS news agency on Sunday.

Protests against the construction of the Koodankulam facility will resume on Tuesday, he said.

Last week, protesters stopped construction work on the plant after blocking the road leading to the site.

The reactor, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is being built by Russia.

Last month, Russian nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko said the plant would begin low-level operation by December but Koodankulam head Kasinath Balaji said the protests could affect the plans.

“If not for these protests, Unit I would have been commissioned by December,” Balaji told the Economic Times.

A committee to explain about the safety of the plant has been set up in an attempt to allay the concerns of the anti-Koodankulam protesters, he said.

“We have constituted a seven-member committee which will bring out booklets and pamphlets in Tamil to explain to the locals about the safety measures in the plant,” Balaji said.

Topics: NPP, Asia, India

Other news:

Belarus agrees to Russian building of nuclear station

Belarus has already started working on the site, Lukashenko said.

Faster than light particles found in nuclear research experiment

If the results are confirmed, they would fundamentally change the understanding of how the universe works.

Iran in talks with Russia over new nuclear sites

We are in talks with Russia on construction of new nuclear power stations.

Hero of the day

Georgy Toshinsky: Booming as a Driving Force to Trade (Reactors?)

Not quite so. The authors of the concept, which was difficult to be realized in practice, turned to a clearer concept of a standing wave reactor (TP-1) that in principle allows finding the solution to the tasks stated for TWRs.

INTERVIEW

Alexander Chistozvonov
Today, the army of managers is earnestly believing that one can take the man responsible for the licensing of alcoholic beverages, and put it on licensing, and even to supervise the nuclear reactor.

OPINION

Konstantin Bogdanov
This sensational finding did not appear over night. It is the result of over three years of work. The famous CERN directed its synchrotron southward, sending a flow of neutrinos to the other side of the Alps.