Rajasthan units operating by January

08 October 2009

[New Kerala/IANS, 8 October] The fifth and sixth units at India's Rajasthan nuclear power plant are both expected to be fully operating by January, according to SK Jain, chairman of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL). In a press interview, Jain said that he was hoping for approvals from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) this month that would clear the way for unit 5 to start operating by early November, followed by unit 6 in January 2010. Both the units will come under the IAEA's India-specific safeguards that will allow it to qualify for imported fuel. Jain also said that two Russian-designed units being built at Kudankulam would be commissioned in 2010, with work on the third and fourth units at the site likely to start by "year end". Necessary approvals for groundwork to start on the six-reactor plant to be built by French company Areva at Jaitapur in Maharashtra are likely to be granted shortly afterwards, he said.