Rejecting the >Supreme Court judgement , the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) which is spearheading protests against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, said on Monday that it would take the matter to the public and make it an election issue.
Reacting to the verdict, M. Pushparayan, an activist of PMANE said, the upcoming nuclear park, being portrayed as a “clean, eco-friendly, green energy programme,” was really “deadly.” It would wipe out the livelihood of the people living nearby, he claimed.
The Fukushima radiation mishap had categorically proved that nuclear power projects were not for the welfare of people and could not provide energy security to any country.
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Mr. Pushparayan argued that the Supreme Court, while asserting that KKNPP was a sustainable energy programme and that it was required in the larger interest of the country, did not take into account the protesters’ charges pertaining to the “sub-standard components” used in this plant, even after a few officials associated with the suppliers had been arrested in Russia for supplying components of inferior quality to a range of nuclear power programmes across the globe.
The Coastal Regulatory Zone violations involved in the construction of the KKNPP reactors were not taken into consideration, while the judgment was delivered, he said.
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According to him, no clear plan was in place regarding the maintenance of spent fuel and there was no emergency preparedness exercise conducted in villages around the KKNPP.
Copies of the documents pertaining to the project were not shared with the protesters despite repeated pleas under the Right to Information Act.