The Madras High Court today toldthe Centre to furnish it with copies of the 1982 Indo-RussianMemorandum of Understanding on the Kudankulam Nuclear PowerProject in Tamil Nadu and also a copy of the expertcommittee's report on the project's nuclear plants.
A Division Bench, comprising Justices P Jyothimani andM Doraiswamy, sought the information when a batch of PILsseeking to stall the project going critical at least tillnecessary safety measures were put in place and all clearancesfor the project, including that from the state pollutioncontrol board (TNPCB), were obtained.
The Additional Solicitor General M Ravindran said thedocuments would be provided to the court 'in sealed covers.
Also directing the TNPCB to file a counter affidavit inresponse to the apprehensions of the people about the effectof the project on fishing activities, precautions in the eventof a Tsunami or Fukushima type threat, the Bench posted thepetitions for further hearing on June 21.
The Department of Atomic Energy and the Atomic EnergyCommission in a joint counter earlier in response to thepetitions had said the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board wasempowered to enforce safety provisions under the Atomic EnergyAct,1962, in all the DAE units. "..and since the AERB has beendoing this in a very transparent and effective manner there isno need for fresh review of KKNPP," the counter said.
Besides, the counter, seeking to dispel fears, pointedout that a high level committee of the AERB, set up to reviewthe safety of nuclear power plants in the light of 2011Fukushima accident, had submitted its report andimplementation of the recommendations were being pursued withNuclear Power Corporation of India Limited.