Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday made an emotional appeal for the Jaitapur nuclear power project, saying that he would never tolerate an unsafe project for Maharashtra at any cost. Speaking at the “open house” on the project at the Y.B. Chavan Auditorium here, he said about 60 to 65 per cent of the work to set up the project would be done by Indian companies. Pointing out that it was one of the largest industrial projects with an investment of Rs.1-lakh crore, he said that he was not averse to having a meeting at the project site itself.
Opponents boycott meet
While many opponents of the project from Madban village and the surrounding areas boycotted the meeting, the government turned up in strength with several Cabinet Ministers, including the Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Industries Minister Narayan Rane, Tourism Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, and bureaucrats, apart from senior officials from the atomic energy sector.
Mr. Chavan said the meeting was to clear the air on technical issues and that matters relating to compensation could be discussed later. The government was committed to giving enhanced compensation. While many locals welcomed the project they also demanded that a hearing of this type be held in the project area. Mr. Chavan later said he was very happy with the entire session.
The meeting went on for over two hours and people raised questions on issues such as radiation; environmental safety, the project being located in a seismic zone; impact on health, marine life and fishing; thermal discharge; the choice of EPR and the supplier Areva.
Srikumar Banerjee, Chairperson, Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), said there were 20 nuclear plants in the country and that “we have demonstrated that the environment is well protected; on the contrary the flora and fauna has improved there.” He called upon people to visit nuclear power plants and see for themselves the changes that had come about.
Environmentalist Jayendra Parulekar from the Konkan, an erstwhile opponent of the project, congratulated the government and said that it must remove the misconceptions being spread by a section of people. In response to questions on the EPR technology, Dr. Banerjee clarified that it was a ‘first-of-a-kind' reactor, already being built in Finland, China and France. He admitted that there was a delay in Finland but that it did have clearance in the countries where it was being built. He also said that the Jaitapur project was not a turnkey project.
Experts also clarified that there was no danger in locating six 1,650 MW-equivalent reactors at Jaitapur. In Rajasthan, there are eight reactors, though of a lesser capacity. Tokyo has seven reactors in one place.
S.P. Dharne from the Nuclear Power Corporation of Indian Limited (NPCIL), which is in charge of the Jaitapur project, said that nuclear power, being clean and green energy, was not responsible for events such as the Hurricane Katrina, the ice melt, receding of the glaciers and other such events, which were due to climate change. He said nuclear energy could reduce the impact of global warming since it did not generate carbon dioxide. Nuclear plants, causing no pollution, required less area and fuel as compared to coal-based power plants.
Mr. Dharne said reactors had been built in seismic zones. For instance, zone three housed three plants — at Tarapur, Narora and Kakrapar. The Bhuj earthquake did not affect the plant at Kakrapar. Japan has 54 nuclear plants and the United States, about 10 plants, and all these were in seismic zone-5.
Defending the choice to use the EPR technology, he said that it had high-security features, with four levels of security. The reactor had a double-wall layering with a 4.5-foot cement concrete outer-wall, which ensured greater safety. “This technology has been tested and we are not guinea pigs,” he countered. He also refuted fears of radiation affecting humans or plants, saying there were standards set by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP).
Rajendra Badwe, head of the Tata Memorial Hospital, said that in 90 per cent of common cancers, radiation had offered a cure. Only in 10 per cent of cancers did patients not require radiation. Allaying fears attached with radiation, he said that it caused only 0.5 per cent of cancer, affecting only the skin. Anil Kakodkar, former head of the Atomic Energy Commission, said there was no chemical pollution from the plant and radiation was also very small. Nuclear projects did not cause environmental damage or affect biodiversity.
