KOODANKULAM: Twenty four persons fainted and were hospitalised today as the fast observed by over 120 anti-Koodankulam nuclear project protesters entered the seventh day here today.The protesters rejected Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's view that the project, an Indo-Russian joint venture, had adequate safety parameters.Udhayakumar of Anti-KNPP and organiser of 'people's protection council,' an NGO, said Russia itself was not building any nuclear plant after 1986. "So, how can we say that Russian technology is safe"?The chief minister should change her view and demand that the project be scrapped, he said.A total of 127 people under the banner 'Confederation against KNPP' have been on an indefinite fast at Idinthakarai here since September 10.Appealing to the protesters to call off their fast, Jayalalithaa had said yesterday that that Koodankulam nuclear power plant had adequate safety parameters and was safeguarded even from a tsunami. Besides, it was located in a zone not prone to earthquakes, she had said.Tamil Nadu government had on September 15 initiated talks with the protesters sending three ministers to persuade them to call off their fast but it had remained inconclusive.The local population and fishermen in the coastal village of Koodankulam have been agitating against the project and intensified the protests in recent weeks after the KNPP officials said the hot run (testing with dummy fuel) of the first reactor has reached the final stage and commercial power production would begin in December.
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