The Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill is a first step towards granting functional autonomy to the country's nuclear regulator. THE true independence and functional autonomy of the existing Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has been questioned for long. The issue gained further importance in recent months after it was raised in many quarters in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March in Japan. To allay public fears as...

We have accommodated all new requests made by India: envoy Even as diplomats and officials were taken aback by the protests against the smooth-sailing India-Russia nuclear plant venture at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, Russia on Tuesday described the protests as unfortunate. Russia said the imminent threat of the project being stalled would not impact future cooperation in the civil nuclear sector but could affect other projects such as the third and fourth...

-The Hindu   The State unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has urged the Centre to defer the generation of power from Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project until all its safety aspects are ensured. In a statement here, CPI(M) secretary G. Ramakrishnan said that after the accident in a Japanese atomic power plant following tsunami, a fear psychosis had cropped up all over the world regarding atomic power stations. This had triggered...

As leaders from two of the world's largest financial institutions, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, met for annual meetings here Tuesday, a delegation of activists from India called on the World Bank to follow through with its proposal to dramatically cut funding for coal-burning power stations. Over the next few days, the delegation will travel from Washington to West Virginia where, in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, activists...

New Delhi wants post-Fukushima certification, says French Minister India will postpone its final decision on the purchase of EPR type nuclear reactors from France until after the current post-Fukushima nuclear safety tests have been satisfactorily completed, it is reliably learnt. Srikumar Banerjee, Chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission, conveyed this message to French Industry Minister Eric Besson when the two met during the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) consultations which opened in...