Kudankulam N-plant update: The ongoing wave of protests over the construction of Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu could affect India's ambitious nuclear energy generation and could backfire to deprive the South Asian giant of its critical advantage over China, warns a top Russian expert.

"Public fears, fuelled by the Fukushima accident and exacerbated by the regional politicians' populist slogans, may provoke a chain reaction of problems, hampering power generation development and depriving the Indian economy of its critical advantages over China," said Konstantin Bogdanov, in a commentary released here by the government-run RIA Novosti.