Chennai:
Even as India and Russia stumbled on clinching an agreement on purchasing two more reactors for Kudankulam, there were celebrations at the Tamil Nadu-based plant as the 1000 MW nuclear reactor was, for the first time, connected to the southern grid.
According to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd, at around 2.45 am on Tuesday, the first electricity flowed into the grid from the nuclear plant.
The power-starved southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Puducherry can now hope to get some relief from long power cuts as the supply began from the Rs 17000 crore plant.
The power supply was stopped after two hours for scheduledchecks. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd says the shutdown was part of the standard testing procedures.
As of now, only one-tenth of the installed capacity of power is being given to the southern grid. As the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board gives its go-ahead after more testing, more power could be supplied from plant, built in collaboration with Russia.
"The Kudankulam nuclear power project is an important symbol of our strategic partnership. I conveyed to President Putin our commitment to fully implement the road map on civil nuclear cooperation that was signed during his visit to India in 2010. We have directed our officials to resolve all outstanding issues at the earliest," Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said at the end of his visit to Russia, where a deal on supplying more reactors to the plant could not be finalised.
It's a milestone for the controversial nuclear plant which has also been dogged by protests. The People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), spearheading the protests against the plant, has warned of the possible hazards of a nuclear reactor in the region.
Plant officials, however, claim the nuclear plant, built using the latest technology, is one of the safest in the world.