Anti-nuclear activists spearheading the struggle against the Koodankulam atomic power project dubbed the AERB clearance for controlled nuclear fission as a preemptive attempt to circumvent legal process and subsequent action.
Reacting to the development, PMANE (People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy) said the nod from the atomic regulator had come despite legal notice from advocate Lajapathi Roy to the AERB and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd against the efforts made to ‘commission and operate a defective and sub-standard KKNPP’.
This has come as a shock for the anti-nuclear campaigners as they were claiming that the commissioning would get delayed further.
According to the PMANE, this was the second FAC clearance. “It is pertinent to remember that the AERB gave this very same clearance on August 10, 2012 (No. AERB/ITSD/PRESS/2012/03). That clearance was to be followed by compliance to various pre-requisites, review of the various commissioning procedures, results, inspection and reports etc,” a PMANE release said.
Stating that the AERB was supposed to submit a report to the Supreme Court along with the NPCIL, MoEF and TNPCB, the PMANE alleged that only TNPCB has submitted its report with many rejoinders.