VISAKHAPATNAM: The earthquake that occurred Wednesday night has not only sent the people into a tizzy but also triggered fears over the safety of the 9,000 MW nuclear power plant proposed at Kovvada of Ranasthalam mandal in Srikakulam district. Though the epicentre of the quake is miles away from the coast and the north Andhra region is considerd to be part of the Seismic Zone-II with least activity, the scientists do not rule out the possibility of a much stronger impact on the nuclear power plant. The seismologists are worried that the Kovvada site location cannot be declared safe due to its presence near the coast as the earthquakes are increasingly becoming unpredictable.
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCI) has selected the Kovvada area for setting up a 9,000 MW nuclear power plant after a series of studies. However, the people of Ranasthalam mandal and its five neighbouring fisherman villages have been agitating for the past three years demanding that the government drop the proposal. Noted social activists and experts on the subject are opposing the plant at Kovvada. They contend that a big danger is looming over the region due to the nuclear power plant at a time when even developed nations are shutting down nuclear power plants.
Bathymetry
Mapping
Speaking at the Andhra Pradesh Science Congress held in Visakhapatnam long time ago, NGRI scientist VP Dimri stressed the urgent need for bathymetry mapping (study of the ground under seawater) along the east coast. He wanted the study to focus on areas close to big cities, which would help in preparing the run-up and inundation maps for coastal hazard assessment.
“We cannot say about the threat from the earthquakes to the proposed Kovvada Nuclear Power Plant on the basis of Wednesday’s tremors. The region has been declared Seismic Zone-II which indicates least seismic activity. However, we have to admit that the earthquakes are becoming unpredictable, irrespective of which zone they fall in,” says P Rama Rao, head of the geophysics department at the Andhra University. He adds no major seismic activity has been recorded in the region in the recent past except for a small area near Ramatheerthalu in Vizianagaram district.
Wrong Choice
Pleading anonymity, a senior seismologist from Hyderabad points out that the selection of Kovvada site might be a wrong choice for the nuclear power plant. According to her, except for a few places, the entire Andhra Pradesh coastline is not at all safe for setting up the nuclear power plant. “There is no guarantee that the earthquake will not occur in the region. In fact, the area where nuclear power plant has been proposed experienced tremors for about 14 seconds Wednesday. This was the longest period for any place in the north coastal Andhra region,” she adds. Referring to the tsunami on December 26 in 2004, she reasons that as the region had once faced a major disaster it is not advisable to go ahead with the proposed nuclear power plant at Kovvada.
Surprisingly, scientists and academicians differ with one another on the seismic zone under which the north coastal Andhra region falls. While scientists say that the region comes under Seismic Zone-III, which has a moderate threat, the academicians argue that it falls under Seismic Zone-II with least seismic activity. A professor at the Centre for Studies on Bay of Bengal in Andhra University M Subrahmanyam says that the north coastal Andhra region is a relatively safe zone.
Risky, Scream Greens
Social activists, including former Union secretary EAS Sarma and Human Rights Forum (HRF) general secretary VS Krishna demand that the nuclear power plant proposal should be dropped due to safety concerns. “Post-Fukushima, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium and Japan have announced that they will move away from the nuclear power plants and explore clean and sustainable forms of power generation. But our country has not learnt the right lessons from Fukushima,” VS Krishna opines. Nuclear power is an unacceptable risk to the environment and humanity. The mad rush for more and more power plants is matched by an accelerated drive for uranium mining in newer areas, he adds.