After 14 years of planning and construction, protracted local protests where police recently fired on demonstrators, and a legal battle that reached India's highest court, fuel was loaded into the first unit of India's Kudankulam nuclear plant last week.
The Times of India quoted sources from the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited and the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board as saying fuel loading at the plant began Wednesday, a day after the AERB approved the last major step toward the unit's commissioning. The loading process is expected to take at least 10 days, followed by more inspections and the process to power up the reactor. The first unit at the plant in Tamil Nadu state is scheduled to connect to the grid by the end of next month.
It will be the most powerful nuclear plant in the country, using two 1,000 megawatt VVERs. According to the World Nuclear Association, Atomstroyexport is supplying them under a contract valued at $3 billion. The first unit was scheduled to come online in 2008, with the second unit 8 months behind it. Russia will supply its fuel, which India will reprocess for plutonium production, according to the WNA.