by Venkat Narayan Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, October 12: As protestors stepped up their agitation against the Koodankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu, a worried and anxious Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has cautioned the state’s Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa that its development plans will be hit if the project is forced to be shut.
He also said that he looks forward to Ms Jayalalithaa’s continuing support for the Koodankulam project in Tamil Nadu.
In a letter to the chief cinister, Dr Singh apprised her of his meeting with an all-party delegation from the state last week, during which demands for stoppage of work on the 2000 MWe Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project were made.
The ambitious plant is being built in collaboration with Russia in the state’s Tirunelveli district.
"Apart from the safety and livelihood aspects, where the Government and the people are on the same side, I also took the opportunity to mention that Tamil Nadu is one of the most industrialised states of the country, whose power requirements are growing constantly," he wrote. "Of the 2000 MWe power to be generated by Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project Units 1 and 2, the allocation of power to Tamil Nadu is 925 MWe. In case the prospects of availability of this power are suddenly withdrawn, this would impact on the state’s development and industrialisation plans," Dr Singh said in the letter.
The prime minister’s letter comes in the backdrop of protestors’ plans to intensify the agitation by launching an indefinite fast to press their demand for scrapping the Indo-Russian project.
Dr Singh said that his Government will not compromise on safety in the pursuit of the nuclear energy programme, be it in terms of technology, regulation, skilled manpower or emergency preparedness.
He said that the central government attaches the highest importance to ensuring that the use of nuclear energy in the country meets the highest safety standards.
"The Government fully shares the concerns of the people of the area and will take all steps to allay their fears," he said.
Dr Singh said he assured the delegation that nothing will be done which may threaten the safety or livelihood of any section of society, particularly those living in the vicinity of a project.
He said he offered to the delegation to set up a small group of experts to interact with the representatives of the people of the region to satisfy their legitimate concerns and this will suitably involve the Tamil Nadu government.
"I have separately directed the Department of Atomic Energy to maintain close liaison with the local people, the local authorities and the state government," Dr Singh said.
This is his second letter to Ms Jayalalithaa with regard to the Koondankulam project in a span of eight days. The previous letter was written on October 4.
The project has a chequered history. It was on November 20, 1988 that an Inter-Governmental Agreement on the project was signed by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. The project remained in limbo for 10 years due to political and economic upheaval in Russia after the post-1991 Soviet breakup, and also due to objections of the United States on the grounds that the agreement does not meet the 1992 terms of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
A small port became operational in Kudankulam in January 2004. It was established to receive barges carrying over sized light water reactor equipment from ships anchored at a distance of 1.5 kilometres. Until then, materials had to be brought in via road from the port of Tuticorin, risking damage during transportation.
In 2008 negotiation on building four additional reactors at the site began. Though the capacity of these reactors has not been declared, it is expected that the capacity of each reactor will be 1000 MW or 1 GW. The new reactors will bring the total capacity of the power plant to 9200 MW or 9.2 GW.
In June 2011, Sergei Ryzhov, the chief designer of the light water VVER nuclear reactors used at this Nuclear Power Plant, was killed in an airplane accident. The plane belonging to the Rus-Air airlines was flying from Moscow to the Karelian capital Petrozavodsk. [7]
Two 1 GW reactors of the VVER-1000 model are being constructed by the state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and Russia’s Atomstroyexport. When completed, they will become the largest nuclear power generation complex in India producing a cumulative 2 GW of electric power.
Both units are water-cooled, water-moderated power reactors. The first was scheduled to start operation in December 2009 and the second one was scheduled for March 2010. Currently, the official projections put unit 1 into operation in December 2011, and unit 2 about a year later.
Four more reactors are set to be added to this plant under a memorandum of intent signed in 2008. A firm agreement on setting up two more reactors, has been postponed pending the ongoing talks on liability issues.
Under an inter-government agreement signed in December 2008 Russia is to supply to India four third generation VVER-1200 reactors of 1170 MW.
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