By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : From red carpet to furious protests. Officials of Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) remember the arches raised to welcome them to Kudankulam not long ago, and wonder why people have turned against the nuclear power plant now.As protestors continue to gather outside the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) and block all entry points, officials say they are baffled, wondering why a 180-degree turn and calls to vacate the area, about 650 km from here in Tirunelveli district.
“We are surprised at the change. As far as we are concerned, nothing has changed in the recent past from our side,” said S.K. Jain, NPCIL chairman and managing director, who is based in Mumbai.
“My situation is similar to that of a boy who was told by his brother that he does not like him any more after years of growing up together,” Jain told IANS over phone.
“I still have the photos of bishops and others giving us a warm welcome to Kudankulam. The people used to erect cut-outs when we visited the project site, sometimes much to our embarrassment.”
Now anti-nuclear power activists, protesting the Rs.13,000 crore, 2,000 MW project being built with Russian technology and equipment, have blocked entry to the complex – for the third day Friday.
People’s Rights Movement coordinator S. Sivasubramanian, who is spearheading the protest against the project, said there was genuine fear among people.
“People have been fearing for their safety ever since the nuclear power plant was set up. Their fears have increased after seeing the Fukushima reactor accident in Japan,” Sivasubramanian told IANS.
But the company’s chief said the economic prosperity seen around Kudankulam had come about only because of the project and that Rs.20 crore have been spent on building roads, water tanks as well as fish and vegetable markets.
“We also improved the facilities in the local schools. All these at the request of villagers. We have also donated computers to the local schools and notebooks to the students,” Jain said.
“In other project sites, we used to build housing camps for contract workers. But here we decided otherwise so that the locals can earn rental income from the workers and improve their economic lot.”
But Sivasubramanian countered this and said economic development was not due to the project. “Income levels have gone up in all villages, not particularly in Kudankulam,” he said.
Jain also spoke at length on the blockade and its impact.
“All electrical and sophisticated electronic systems have to operate continuously. There are water systems like desalination plant that need to function. All systems are inter-linked. They have to work in tandem continuously. We told the government this.”
He said work connected to the commissioning of the first unit was going on round-the-clock with additional hands from Russia when the protest blew up in their face. “There are around 150 Russians, 800 of our own staff and around 4,000 contract labourers.”
NPCIL officials said the first 1,000-MW reactor has completed what is called a “hot run” – trial run of the reactor with dummy fuel — to check all the reactor systems, including steam generation.
“Our plan is to generate and sell power at Rs.2.50 per unit. If there is delay, then the cost per unit will go up,” Jain said.
Queried about the plans for spent fuel, Jain said: “After tough negotiations with the Russians, we have decided to reprocess the spent fuel to be used in future. Initially, it was planned to send it back to Russia.”
According to him, a reprocessing facility will be viable only if it can reprocess around 200 tonnes of nuclear fuel. “It will take around seven years for the Kudankulam reactors to give that tonnage. Its fuel will be reprocessed at a national facility.”