Change of guard at Kudankulam N-plant

Chennai, April 30 (IANS) A series of top level changes due to retirement at India's atomic power plant operator Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIl) has resulted in change of guard at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) in Tamil Nadu, said an official.

"R.S. Sundar, station director at KNPP, has been elevated as Site Director, KNPP where two more reactors (third and fourth) are being planned. The current Project Director K. Balaji will go to Mumbai as Executive Director," an NPCIl official preferring anonymity told IANS.

According to him, after the retirement of S. Krishnamurthy, executive director (Operations) Monday, the position is bifurcated into two - executive director (Operations - Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor-PHWR) and executive director (Operations - light Water Reactor-lWR).

Balaji will be the executive director for lWR, while another official will be the executive director for PHWR.

NPCIl is building two 1,000 MW reactors at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district, around 650 km from here.

The project works, which were stopped for six months after the villagers protested against the plant fearing for their safety, restarted in March.

Work is now going round the clock so that permission of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) is obtained for loading the fuel in the first reactor.

Meanwhile, the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) spearheading the protest against the plant has announced resumption of indefinite fast protest against the plant Tuesday onwards.