Chennai: The villagers protesting against the Kudankulum nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu have demanded that the uranium inside the plant should be removed immediately. Several thousand villagers from the nearby areas have decided to take out a protest rally on Sunday against Prime Minister's announcement that the first nuclear reacted at the Kudankulam plant will start operations within two weeks.
The planned rally will start from Kanniyakumari and end at Radhapuram. The villagers have also decided to intensify their protests from January 1, 2012.
The Prime Minister had on Friday declared that the first unit of the plant will be operationalised in a couple of weeks during his Moscow visit.
After his talks with Russsian President Dmitry Medvedev at the Kremlin, he also said that the second unit of the plant will be operationsalised six months after the first one.
However, the two countries chose not to sign agreements for the third and fourth unit of the Russian-aided project in Kudankulam.
The Kudankulam plant is a nuclear power station currently under construction in Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli district. The project investment cost to India was estimated to be Rs 13,615 crore.
In the wake of Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan this year, there has been a protest by locals in the villages surrounding Kudankulam against commissioning of the project on apprehensions of safety.
There have been talks between agitators and a government-appointed committee and the exercise is still inconclusive.
(With additional information from PTI)
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