KNPP cannot be allowed to remain idle: PM

New Delhi, Dec 18: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Kudankulam Nuclear Power plant, whose commissioning has been stalled due to protests, cannot be allowed to remain "idle" when the nation has sunk an amount of Rs 14,000 crore on the project.

Singh said there is a growing view which he also shared that the agitation against the Russian-aided project has been "overdone".

Expressing confidence that ultimately good sense would prevail among those concerned over safety issues for operationalising the plant, he said government has gone out of its way to assure as much as it can that the 1000 MW nuclear reactors each that have been put in place in Tirunelveli district are the "safest available" in the world.

Singh had yesterday said that the first unit of the Kudankulam nuclear power project will be operationalised in a "couple of weeks" and that the second unit will be commissioned six months later.

"It is my sincere hope that Tamil Nadu which is short of power supply will recognise that there is a plant of 2000 MW set up at cost to the nation of Rs 14,000 crore, we cannot simply let it idle," he said.

Singh said that if the first two units of Kudankulam generate 2000 MW power, nearly 1000 MW would be availed by Tamil Nadu and the rest would be available to other states in the South.

The Prime Minister made the remarks when asked about his hopes of operationalising the plant when the ground realities are different.

PTI