Tamil Nadu urges Centre to allocate power at Kudankulam nuclear plant

Chennai: Tamil Nadu government on Monday urged the Centre to allocate 100 MW of unallocated power from Unit-II of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant to the state.

In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister O Panneerselvam told him that following a demand raised by his predecessor J Jayalalithaa in 2012, the Centre allocated 100 mw of 150 mw of unallocated power from Unit-I of the nuclear power plant.

It had come to the state government's notice 'now' that of the 150 mw of unallocated power of the plant's second unit, 50 mw had been allocated to Telangana, the CM said.

He recalled that Jayalalithaa had submitted a memorandum to Modi in June this year seeking allocation of the entire 15 per cent of unallocated power from the plant to Tamil Nadu.

"As you are aware, Tamil Nadu has come forth with all necessary inputs like land, water etc for the expeditious completion of the project while neighbouring states were not supportive," he said.

"The deft handling of the issue by the state Government ensured that there was no disruption in commissioning and running of the Kudankulam Atomic Power Plant," he said in an apparent reference to opposition to the project by anti-nuclear activists and local people citing safety reasons.

Jayalalithaa had taken 'prompt and effective steps to allay the fears of the local people regarding the establishment of the plant,' he said.

"I therefore request you to direct the Ministry of Power to allocate the unallocated 100 mw from Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant Unit-II immediately to Tamil Nadu," he said.