Safety of the existing and under construction nuclear power plants has been reviewed by a special task force constituted by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India.

Minister of State in Prime Minister Office, V Narayansamy in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, assured that the government gives highest importance to ensuring that the use of nuclear energy in the country meets the highest safety standards.

He said that the government has introduced the Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill to give statutory status to the nuclear safety regulator.

In a reply to another question, Mr. Narayansamy informed that the project at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu is being set up in technical cooperation with the Russian Federation.

He said fears of accident were fuelled by misinformation spread by anti nuke activists and heightened in view of the incident at the Fukushima in Japan.

Mr. Narayansamy said that public awareness programmes and outreach activities have been enhanced to allay the fears about safety of nuclear power plants and fears of loss of livelihood around the nuclear plant.