By IANS,
Chennai : Top officials of India’s nuclear establishment Saturday met the expert committee set up by the central government to allay fears of people of Tamil Nadu’s Kudankulam where a mega atomic power plant is coming up, even as protests continued at the site.
Meanwhile the Madras High Court, hearing a petition for scrapping the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP), directed the central government to provide the project details. The petition was filed by G. Sundarrajan, an environment activist.
Speaking to IANS, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) chairman and managing director S.K. Jain said: “The 15 members of the expert committee are located in different places. We decided to convene a meeting in Chennai Saturday to chalk out the way ahead.”
However, the meeting with the state government officials did not come off Saturday as it was sought at a short notice, he said.
“We knew that there will not be a meeting with the state government officials even when we left Mumbai,” Jain said.
The central government Oct 20 set up the expert committee of 15 members drawn from various fields to interact with officials of Tamil Nadu government, people’s representatives and activists of Tirunelveli district, who have been opposing the project on safety-related issues.
“The members of the committee are drawn from different fields. We briefed them about the various kinds of questions that would be raised by the people and the activists. The members have to study he issues and come out with their views,” S.A. Bharadwaj, director (Technical) at NPCIL told IANS at the end of the five-hour meeting.
India’s nuclear power plant operator NPCIL is building two 1,000 MW reactors with Russian technology and equipment in Kudankulam, around 650 km from Chennai. The first unit is expected to go on stream in December. The project cost is estimated around Rs.13,000 crore.
Villagers, who greeted the NPCIL officials with welcome arches and garlands only years ago when they arrived to set up the plant, are now protesting the plant, claiming they fear for their lives and safety in case of any nuclear accident and the long-term impact it would have on the population.
Officials of KNPP were not able to go to their office since Oct 13 when the protesters resorted to a plant blockade, stalling the project work and bringing down the employees’ morale.
The protest had put the project clock back by at least six months, NPCIL officials told IANS.
“Construction work at the second unit has come to a halt as the contract workers have left the venue due to protests,” Bharadwaj said.
Stressing that people should be allowed to go to their office, Bharadwaj said: “Officials are not able to prepare the reports to be submitted to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) after the completion of hot run (trial run of the first reactor). On being satisfied with the reports, AERB would give the green signal to load the real fuel.”
Speaking to reporters here on his arrival, Srikumar Banerjee, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission said: “Minimum maintenance activity should be carried out at the plant for its health and its future.”
Citing the completion of the “hot run” — a trial run of the reactor with dummy fuel, Banerjee said coolant water should not be allowed to stagnate.
Underscoring what Banjerjee said, an NPCIL official told IANS that once the hot run has been completed, the reactor systems have to be run continuously.
“If that is not done, then the entire parameters and safety measures have to checked all over again. The systems cannot be stopped and restarted. Decommissioning a reactor is different as one need not bother about the damages the systems would undergo after the plant is stopped,” said the official, who spoke demanding anonymity.
On Sep 22, the Tamil Nadu government passed a resolution urging Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the central government to halt work at Kudankulam till the people’s fears are allayed.
According to NPCIL officials, despite the resolution, the Tamil Nadu government is keen on knowing the project progress as it would ease to a major extent the state’s power crunch.
NPCIL officials told IANS that the state government had written to the company to take necessary measures to increase the power generation at the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) located at Kalpakkam.
Meanwhile, the relay protest fast by the people against KNPP at Idinthakarai near Kudankulam continued for the 12th day Saturday.
“Around 500 people are there at the fast venue. People from Amalinagar and Alanthalai in Tuticorin district are on fast today (Saturday),” M. Pushparayan, convener of Coastal People’s Federation, told IANS.
He said power supply at the venue has been cut since Friday night owing to rains and the activists are now managing the show with generators.