Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa, who had recommended the suspension of operations at the Koodankulam nuclear power plant until people’s concerns had been allayed, said on Monday that work on the plant should resume immediately. The state cabinet based its decision on a report submitted last month by an expert committee that gave the project the all-clear, she said. “As per the state cabinet consensus, I (order) that the process for...

-The Hindu   In the backdrop of the ongoing agitation against nuclear power at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu and several other areas of the country, the Union Cabinet's Committee on Security has reiterated that the safety of nuclear power plants is “a matter of the highest priority” for the government. The panel, which reviewed the safety of nuclear power plants at a meeting here on Thursday, said the government had decided to invite...

L. Devasagayam moved into the tsunami resettlement quarters in the village of Idinthakarai on the coast in the far south of Tamil Nadu after his neighbourhood further south was destroyed in the 2004 calamity. But now, he worries that the colourful home that he gratefully accepted after that disaster could be his undoing. The reason for the fear confronts him when he steps out of his house. Clearly visible at a...

-The Hindu   “The sector has over 345 reactor years of safe operation” In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident, the emergency response and preparedness measures in India's nuclear facilities had been strengthened and several recommendations of the safety reviews mandated by the government of India had already been implemented, said Srikumar Banerjee, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), on Wednesday. A road map was being prepared for implementing the other recommendations. Addressing the...

Sunday’s 6.8 magnitude earthquake on the Sikkim-Nepal border has wreaked havoc in the Himalayan country and the north- east Indian state, but scientists say the likelihood of a much greater earthquake in north India remains. Despite a decade-long upgrade of seismic monitoring instruments, scientists say their data is insufficient to be able to predict quakes anytime this decade. “Technically, this is classified as a moderate quake (with a magnitude less than 7);...