By IANS,
Chennai : Disposing of a plea against Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP), the Madras High Court Wednesday reserved its decision on other petitions filed by G. Sundarrajan for Friday.
The court accepted the revised consent order issued by Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) for the mega atomic power project in Tirunelveli district, around 650 km from here, senior central government standing counsel representing the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) told IANS.
The fresh consent order has restricted the temperature of trade effluent from KNPP, being built by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), to a maximum of 7 degrees Celsius over the ambient temperature.
According to the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986, thermal power plants using sea water should adopt systems to reduce water temperature at the final discharge point so as to avoid resultant rise in the temperature from exceeding 7 degrees Celsius over the ambient temperature.
Sundarrajan had questioned the validity of TNPCB’s original consent order issued in July that allowed the tolerance temperature limit of trade effluent of the KNPP at 45 degrees Celsius, while the Comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment for the KNPP units 1 and 2 and additional units 3 to 6 has limited the tolerance temperature to 37 degrees Celsius.