The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved verdict on the petitions for a direction to the Centre not to operationalise the Kudunkulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu without putting in place all 17 safety measures.
Earlier, even as arguments concluded after a three-month period, Counsel Prashant Bhushan drew the court’s attention to announcements being made from time to time by the Prime Minister and other Ministers that the plant would become operational by December-end. The court should either injunct the government against operationalising the plant or get an undertaking from Additional Solicitor-General Mohan Parasaran, who represented it on Thursday, that the project would not go on stream.
A Bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra, however, said: “Unless they give an undertaking, we cannot record; they are not giving, what we can do?”
Mr. Bhushan argued that the plant got a vague environmental clearance in 1989 when the site was not decided. No Environment Impact Assessment was done and no public hearing, mandatory under law, was conducted. Three critical changes were made in the plant. “Earlier, water was proposed to be taken from the local dam, but now it will be taken from the sea; earlier the Ministry of Environment and Forests said the change in the temperature of water discharged into the sea must not be more than 5 degrees but now it will be 7 degrees without any MoEF clearance.” Issuing the consent order to establish and operate the plant was unlawful in the absence of the EIA report and the Environmental Management Plan.
Pointing out that the 17 safety measures were intended to be carried out in a phased manner, Solicitor-General Rohin Nariman and Mr. Parasaran had argued that these were additional features formulated after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan. The government filed an additional affidavit giving a time frame within which these measures would be complied with.
The Tamil Nadu government, in its affidavit, explained the disaster management programmes put in place near the Kudankulam site, training programmes, mock drill conducted in the area, medicines and other safety precautions adopted, and allayed the apprehensions of the people.
Senior counsel Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for Tamil Nadu, explained the various steps taken and the infrastructure created by the government.
Additional Advocate General Guru Krishna Kumar, appearing for the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, explained the various consent orders passed by it for the plant. The averments of the petitioners on release of water with a temperature of seven degrees into the sea were misplaced, going by what was happening in China, he said.
Keywords: Kudankulam nuclear plant issue, anti-Kudankulam protests, nuclear safety issues, Nuclear Power Corporation of India
Tamilnadu must know that AERB and NPCIL filed affidavits in Supreme Court that that they are responsibile for nuclear safety only upto the on-site disaster management and that the most crucial fifth level of Design-in-depth philosophy of nuclear safety must be handled only by the state government and the Tirunelveli District collector with the assistance of the NPCIL which means that Nuclear safety can never be ensured by the Union Government and the NPCIL and thereby Kudankulam Plant is a man-made a prescription for Nuclear disaster like Bhopal Tragedy .Japan is forced to pay compensation for Rs.three lakh crores for the victims of accident.since cost of kudankulam is only Rs 14,000 crores and its cost of damages will be 20 times higher,People of Tamilnadu need not be penalised for such unbearable costs besides getting deprived of their right to life and livelihood dfor decades to come.Shoreham Reactor in USA was closed due to lack of safety and similarly kudankulam be closed
In a few decades, India's non-renewable sources will get exhausted.
So, this is the right time to set up a few nuclear power plants which
can make up the depletion of non-renewable sources. But, even a
developed country like Japan couldn't avoid facing adverse impacts of
nuclear plants during natural disasters. Nuclear plants require highly
sophisticated technologies and the most important is proper management
of plant. Unless all the precautionary measures are guaranteed to be
taken right from the day one, it is not safe to go ahead with the
plant.
Next somebody would file a petition seeking to close the Thermal Plant because it emits ash. Of late the judiciary is taking the role of executive and this too much. When the TN Government wanted to construct the Secretariat at Mount Road much to the discomfiture of the travelling public it never isued an injunction But when AIADMK wants to construct a Hospital the court intervenes Where are the check and balances
Please Email the Editor