With the protest against Koodankulam nuclear power plantentering its second year, the Madras High Court hearing two petitions againstthe project Thursday came down on union ministers, the Atomic Energy RegulatoryBoard (AERB) and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB).
"Hearing the two petitions, the Madras High Court camedown heavily on the union ministers, saying that they respect only the SupremeCourt and not the other courts. The court also asked how central ministers canannounce KKNPP (Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project) commissioning date when acase is being heard," P. Sundararajan, a lawyer, told IANS.
P.Sundararajan is junior to advocate M. Radhakrishnanrepresenting G. Sundarrajan who has filed two petitions in the courtchallenging the consent given by the AERB and the TNPCB to the Nuclear PowerCorporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) that is building the plant at Koodankulam inTamil Nadu's Tirunelveli district, around 650 km from here.
According to Sundararajan, the court also wondered why theAERB was in a hurry to clear fuel loading.
"The AERB gave its nod to NPCIL to load the fuel in thefirst reactor last week without ensuring the implementation of safety measuresin the KKNPP as recommended by an expert committee set up to review the safetyaspects of Indian nuclear power plants in the wake of nuclear accident atFukushima in Japan," Sundarrajan told IANS about his petitions.
He said the AERB had earlier submitted to the court inanother case that it would issue clearances only after completion of review andresolution of reactor commissioning reports and issues relating to the KKNPP,including the implementation of safety measures after the Fukushima accident.
Sundarrajan contends that the AERB has not applied its mindon the consent order issued by the TNPCB on the tolerance temperature limitsfor the KKNPP effluent before giving its clearance for loading of the fuel inthe plant's first unit.
According to him, the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986,state that thermal power plants using sea water should adopt systems to reducewater temperature at the final discharge point so that the resultant rise inthe temperature of receiving water does not exceed seven degrees Celsius overand above the ambient temperature.
The TNPCB, in its consent order, allows the tolerancetemperature limit of trade effluent of the KKNPP at 45 degrees Celsius whilethe Comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment for the KKNPP units 1 and 2and additional units 3 to 6 has limited the tolerance temperature to 37 degreeCelsius, he said.
Interestingly, the central government-appointed expertcommittee in its report last December said that the seasonal variation insurface water temperature of Koodankulam Marine Environment ranged from 23degrees Celsius during monsoon and winter to 29 degrees Celsius during summer,with an annual average of 26.6 degrees Celsius.
Meanwhile, the protest against the two 1,000-MW atomic powerplant entered its second year Thursday with anti-nuclear activists stating thattheir fight was now two pronged -- on the streets and within the portals of theMadras High Court.
"Our fight is on two flanks -- civil/democratic andlegal. We have been protesting against the project in a non-violent manner forthe past one year. Now public interest petitions (PIL) have been filed in theMadras High Court. The court has reserved its decision on one, and two more caseshave been filed," said M. Pushparayan, a leader of People's MovementAgainst Nuclear Energy (PMAN), said.
He said fishermen in Tirunelveli, Tuticorin and Kanyakumaridistricts did not go into the sea Thursday to express solidarity with PMANE anda huge crowd had gathered in Idinthakarai to attend an anti-nuclear powerconference.