Kudankulam goes nuclear

Kudankulam was selected for the project by the Department of Atomic Energyafter evaluating 13 coastal sites and five inland sites in Tamil Nadu. Since the region had a hard rock terrain and low seismic activity, it was considered the ideal site. Besides, there are no major dams and lakes nearby to cause induced seismicity. The most important consideration that weighed in its favour, however, was the fact that the area is not densely populated or industrialised.

Land, about two km in radius, has been acquired for the project. This will be the exclusive zone of the project. A further area with a radius ranging from two km to five km will form the sterilization zone, although land acquisition for this has yet to take place.

How safe is it?

Safety, of course, is of paramount concern. The project, based on a pressurised water reactor PWR, is expected to abide by International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA safeguards. In a deviation from existing systems which use the boiling water reactor, the Nuclear Power Corporation NPC went in for the VVER the acronym for watercooled, water moderated energy reactor the Russian word for water is voda technology, expecting it to subsidise the country8217;s indigenous thorium based three-stage nuclear programme.

There are at present 19 VVER 1000 plants in operation in different parts of the erstwhile Soviet Union and Bulgaria. India will be getting VVER-392, the most advanced version, which is quite different from the Chernobyl reactor which became internationally blackballed after the nuclear disaster of April 1986.

Scientists at the Nuclear Power Corporation, Chennai, stress that the Koodankulam project is a vast improvement8217; on the Chernobyl reactor with double containment ensured with two double walls measuring two feet each. Also, while the Chernobyl reactor used graphite as moderator and boiling light water as coolant, the Koodankulam reactor will use enriched uranium as fuel and light water as moderator.

In fact, according to the scientists, the VVER-1000 type reactor chosen for Koodankulam is an extremely safe8217; reactorunder normal as well as abnormal conditions. The most important inherent safety feature is the so-called negative power coefficient8217;, wherein any increase in reactor power is self-terminating.

There are also provisions to reprocess spent fuel for the recovery of residual uranium and plutonium for use in the second phase. Liquid waste will be evaporated and the condensed vapours and water thus formed, recycled. An environmental survey laboratory, managed by Health Physics Division of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, will monitor radioactivity within a 30-km radius of the plant throughout its life.

Local misgivings

But the plant has not received the unqualified support of the local people. The National Alliance of People8217;s Movement NAPM has been spearheading popular opposition to it for sometime now. T. Peter Dhas, NAPM Kanyakumari district convenor and president of Tamil Nadu Fish Workers8217; Union, points out that dependence on nuclear power is detrimental, as a reactor can function only for30 years and maintaining it after that to avoid radiation spills will cost much more than the cost of the reactor.

The other fear is that the release of water from the plant into the sea could cause its temperature to rise, destroying phyto-planktons and sea life in the process. As Dhas puts it, 8220;Any accident at the plant will destroy life within a 200-km radius. Remember Chernobyl. India cannot afford to face such a situation.8221;

NAPM plans to stage a demonstration in front of the Tirunelveli Collectorate on July 13 to oppose the project. The Fish Workers8217; Union, on its part, has collected 15,000 signatures against the project last month and sent copies of a memorandum to President Narayan, Prime Minister Vajpayee and to Russia8217;s President Yeltsin, for good measure.

But scientists dismiss the fishermen8217;s fears. According to them, the project would in no way affect marine life or fishing activity as the temperature gradient of the cooling water at the discharge point near the confluence with the seawill not exceed the five degrees centigrade prescribed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Hence there will not be any thermal pollution which could adversely affect the fish in the region. In fact, a slight increase in temperature is favourable for fish, they say.

Another fear is that the plant could aggravate the incidence of cancers. Dr Sathianesan, a retired scientist living here, feels that widespread cancer will be reported from Kudankulam in 20 years, if the project is commissioned.

But as per a study conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency, radiation in the nuclear plant vicinity is much less than many other factors like radiation from cosmic rays 45mrem per year; soil 15mrem per year; water, food and air 25 mrem per year; air travel 4 mrerm per year and X-rays 20 mrem per year. According to it, nuclear plant vicinity radiation is only 1 mrem per year.

But Sathianesan is right in pointing out that nowhere in the world has used fuel been safely deposited. 8220;Inseveral countries, experts resort to a mothballing process and maintain the plants with power drawn from outside once the plant8217;s life is over, because dismantling the plant is several times more costly than installing it,8221; says Sathianesan.

Political indifference

While the Congress and CPM have supported the project, other parties are more divided. The BJP, which had earlier opposed the project, has now changed its stance. Says Velayudham, a BJP MLA, 8220;We will support the project as we need power badly. If there are any adverse effects, scientific development will find remedies for them.8221; What is clear is that no politician has studied the issue closely and their stances on the project are determined by political expediency and little else.

The problem is that neither the Union nor the state governments have done much to raise public awareness on the issue. True, an environmental review committee, comprising experts from the Department of Atomic Energy, the Union ministry of environment andforests, authorities from the Kudankulam project authorities, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, to study the impact of the project and educate the local people on its advantages and possible dangers. Unfortunately, this committee has remained largely ineffective. So if rumours and fears about the project abound and public agitations follow, the government has only itself to blame.

8212; with additional inputs from Jaya Menon in Chennai