4 proposed nuke plants hit green roadblock

Four new nuclear power plants proposed by Nuclear Power Corporation of India have run into trouble with the environment and forest ministry rejecting their initial applications for statutory environmental clearances. 

NPCIL has proposed four power plants, one each at Fatehabad in Haryana (2,800mw), Mandla in Madhya Pradesh (1,400mw), Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh (6,000mw) and Bhavnagar in Gujarat (6,000mw). NPCIL intends to build these plants in three years once construction gets underway. 

The statutory expert appraisal committee of the ministry has sent back the applications for all four projects , pointing out that they lacked documentation on several counts. The applications had been filed with the ministry to secure what is referred to as “terms of reference” for conducting an environmental impact assessment study. 

The committee noted that in each of the four cases, even simple statutory forms had not been completed properly and information on land use was missing. This is the first stage of environmental clearance where the project developer submits preliminary information , which — based on the information and type of project — provides a list of issues the developer should address in the EIA report. The EIA report is then studied along with the report on the public hearing by the EIA to clear or reject proposals. Committee sources said the documents sent for the clearance were so shoddily prepared that it was impossible to pass what should have been an easy first step towards clearances. A committee official said that NPCI had been asked to resubmit the documents with all supporting paperwork in order to get requisite TORs for environment impact studies. 

Four new nuclear power plants have run into a a green hurdle with the environment and forests ministry rejecting clearance. Ministry officials said as long as the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd submitted the requisite documents , the hold up would be temporary. The real point of evaluation arises only after EIA and the Public hearing reports are submitted to the appraisal committee. 

But that setting up nuclear power plants might be an uphill battle became evident when the NPCI officials went for some soil testing at Bhavnagar in Gujarat. The villagers protested against the presence of the officials who had to beat a hasty retreat from the proposed site. 

While resistance and controversy is bound to mar plants at the field level, and NPCI would be wary of it, the environment ministry’s presentation to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science Technology, Environment and Forests on the Nuclear Liability Bill is bound to raise other issues of concern to the nuclear establishment. The ministry, in its presentation before the committee , had pointed out that the bill must address the mutagenic and teratogenic effects of exposure to nuclear radiation.