Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) has sought an extension of five years from the Supreme Court to set up an “away from reactor” (AFR) facility in order to store the spent nuclear fuel from the operations of Units 1 and 2 of the 2,000 MW Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu. The apex court, in its judgement in May 2013, had given NPCIL five years to complete the project with the deadline of May 2018. However, NPCIL has now approached the court seeking an extension for setting up the AFR facility on account of lack of experience with long-term storage requirements of high burn-up Russian-type pressurised water reactor fuel.