CHENNAI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned to July 12 a petition by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) seeking time till 2026 to build an Away From Reactor (AFR) facility to store spent fuel from units 1 and 2 of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP). The deadline set by the court to construct the facility ended on April 30.
G Sundarrajan, who had moved the court to shut the two units until the facility is built, termed NPCIL’s petition seeking more time unacceptable. He told TNIE that, on February 2, 2012, the advisory committee for project safety review of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board recommended that NPCIL finalise AFR facilities five years before the operation of the units.
He said the Supreme Court give NPCIL time till April 30, 2022 to build the facility and had made it clear that it should seek no further extension. Unit 1 began operations in 2013 and is past its safety period.
Recently, Chief Minister MK Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting the Centre to either transport the nuclear waste back to Russia or store it in a suitable deep geological repository.