The switch to Koodankulam

After the government announcement,police blocked all routes leading to Idinthakarai and made a few arrests. Villagers say Idinthakarai is under siege,but their protest won’t stop.

On Thursday,around 7,000 people,many of them women and children,gathered under the thatched shed erected in front of the church,metres away from the parsonage. The fear that the police could arrest SP Udayakumar,coordinator of the struggle committee and the face of the protest in Idinthakarai,has put the village on alert. From passive relay fasts in recent months to large gatherings such as this one,the agitation has stirred not only Idinthakarai,but also the nearby coastal villages. On Friday,the tent canopy in front of the church was extended to accommodate the growing crowd. Fifteen persons,including Udayakumar,have been on indefinite fast since Monday.

Raj Leon,a villager who is in charge of the logistics at the agitation site,says,“The entire village gathered at the church after the police blocked all roads in a bid to stifle our agitation. All the shops in the village are shut in solidarity with the protesting fishermen. Since households were running out of provisions,we decided to cook food three times a day for all those who gather here. The police stopped tankers from coming in and so water supply to the village has been stopped.’’

Most of the fishermen,who had till recently been idling at the protest site,have stirred themselves into action. Fearing that the police would stop supplies by road,a few of the 300-odd boats have been pressed into service,with boat-loads of provisions now reaching Idinthakarai coast.

M Melred,a local,has come with her mother Juliet and daughter Risika,a class IX student. “Our agitation is to ensure that our children live here without the fear of a nuclear tragedy. And despite what you say,Udayakumar has not incited us. Jayalalithaa had promised she would stand with us. Now,she had abandoned us. We do not want her Rs 500 crore (the special development fund to placate the protesters),’’ she says.

K Elagi,25,has come with seven others from Periyathalai,a coastal village 30 km from Idinthakarai. “People from our village came with provisions in 50 fibre boats to participate in the agitation after hearing that the police have cordoned off Idinthakarai. We will stand with our brothers at Idinthakarai,’’ he says.

Sacks of supplies steadily fill the corridor of the parsonage and the classroom of a nearby school. “Since we have enough stock for a couple days,we have asked people not to bring anything for the time being,’’ says Leon,the logistics supervisor.

But while the tent looks like a happy meeting ground,with people chatting and children playfully jostling in a queue for food,it’s fear that has got them to assemble here—fear of the unknown,fear that the plant would change their lives for the worse.

Ronald,a 24-year-old fisherman,says the plant would deprive them of their fishing ground. Besides,he says,their catch wouldn’t sell if people knew it was from near the plant.

Villagers say no one told them about the hot run that was conducted last August,a move the Nuclear Power Corporation of India has since regretted,saying it should have informed the villagers.

“There were strange,frightening sounds every hour that went on,day and night,for two weeks. Our children didn’t sleep a wink those days. It’s only after the hot run that we took the issue seriously,” says M Antony,a villager.

At Idinthakarai,the chiming of the church bell is not a call to attend Mass. For the last one week,the bell is meant as a warning: “The police are approaching,rush to the shed in front of the church.” Since Monday night,the bell has chimed several times and each time,panic-stricken people have come rushing to the church.

People usually hang around for most of the day. Those from neighbouring villages leave for home after their night vigil only to return after a few hours. The leaders of the agitation,Udayakumar and M Pushparayan,are in Idinthakarai but fearing their arrest,they rarely come to the agitation venue these days. When they do,they sit in the parsonage,managing the backroom operations.

On the dais,local leaders make fiery speeches to rouse the crowd. Jesu Raju,a leader in the organising committee,says,“Nobody should go out of the village. Anything can happen any time. Be vigilant.’’

A plant sputters to life

A P Kishore hasn’t gone home to Idinthakarai since the protests began. He is one of the two men from Idinthakarai (the other is a fireman) employed at the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project Plant. A diploma-holder in mechanical engineering,Kishore has been working at the plant since 2002.

A scientific assistant at the plant,Kishore belongs to the Catholic parish of Idinthakarai,the venue for the protests,and has friends and relatives among those camping at the protest site. “From 2006,I have been staying at the Koodankulam Anu Vijay Township with my wife and parents. We are now scared to go back to the village. We know that the plant is safe and the technology here is highly advanced but they are not convinced.’’

The Koodankulam plant has more than 1,000 employees,including 120 Russian scientists who are on short- and long-term assignments. “We have around 400 scientific assistants. Of them,160 are from Radhapuram taluk,which has Koodankulam,Idinthakarai and other neighbouring villages. Besides,several semi-skilled workers have benefited in terms of opportunities,’’ says K Anbumani,a senior manager.

A S Narayana,senior technician at the plant who lives in the township with his family,says their lives are proof enough that the plant is safe. He has spent 23 years with NPCIL,joining as a technician trainee at the Kakrapar atomic power station near Surat in Gujarat in 1989. A father of two school-going children,Narayana joined Koodankulam in 2003.

“I have been working in the fuel-handling section,a very sensitive area in a nuclear plant. While working in the Kakrapar plant,we had to go to the radiation area every day,but with the necessary protective gear. So far,I have not faced any health problems though I work in the core area of the plant,’’ he says.

His wife Kumuda says her husband’s job doesn’t worry her. “We got married in 1995,when he was working in the high-risk zone. Most of the families here are of employees who worked at other nuclear plants before moving to Koodankulam. The township does not have a single child suffering from a health problem that’s linked to exposure at a nuclear plant,’’ says Kumuda.

S Singaravelan,an assistant shift-in-charge of the control room at the plant,says he worked for 20 years at the Kalpakkam nuclear plant before moving to Koodankulam in 2003. “The fear of radiation is baseless. Our health is regularly monitored,’’ he says.

KKNPP station director (Plants I and II) R S Sunder says work was suspended after the hot run in August last year. “We are awaiting an expert team from Croatia who will conduct a routine inspection on the condition of the equipment at the plant. Since October,the plant has been running with just the staff needed for maintenance and other operations. To make up for lost time,we have now got 25 engineers and technicians shifted from other nuclear power plants in the country. More are expected to join in the coming days.”

Scientists at the plant say that if all goes well,the plant would see a lot of activities over the next few months. In the next stage,the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board will have to conduct a post-hot run inspection of the plant,during which they will check the pipes and reactor vessels. “Only after we get AERB’s clearance,will we go in for uranium loading,” says Sunder.

He admits the hot run created panic among the villagers. “A safety drill was mandatory before the hot run,but unfortunately,it was not conducted. We never assumed that the hot run would cause fear among the people,’’ he says.

There are others fears—of the sea temperature rising from the hot water that is discharged from the plant,thus affecting marine life. Scientists at the plant say the temperature of the discharged water at Koodankulam is only two degrees more than the normal sea temperature. According to the norms of the Ministry of Environment and Forests,the discharged water can be up to seven degrees hotter than the sea temperature.

Sunder says an environmental survey laboratory has been set up at the site to regularly monitor radiation levels. The lab collects data of water,air,soil,vegetables and fish after establishing a baseline. Once the plant becomes operational,the lab would collect the data at frequent intervals of up to 30 km of the site to check radioactivity and radiation levels.

“The water for the plant and for the township,where the scientists and workers live with their families,is drawn from the same source. If sea water is affected by the plant,the staff would be the first casualty,’’ says Sunder.