Independent Panel mooted to check Radiation Levels Nuclear Power Plants

THE HINDU                                           Online Edition of India's National News paper

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam      Thursday, June 10, 2010 Panel mooted to check radiation levels Special Correspondent The body should be independent of nuclear establishment, says environmentalist The DAE put 18-month target in December 2009 for acquiring land The site selection involves study of enormous amount of field data VISAKHAPATNAM: An expert committee, completely independent of nuclear establishment, should be set up tasked with methodology in measuring radiation levels, calculating likely radiation doses to various population groups living around various nuclear facilities. Making this demand, environmentalist Jalagam Rama Rao in a statement said that the expert committee must be constituted under the administrative and financial control of Ministry of Environment & Forests, Ministry of Science & Technology or proposed autonomous National Environmental Protection Authority (NEPA). The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) should be kept outside the administrative and financial purview of Atomic Energy Commission, to make it effective, he said. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India has clearance to create coast-based Nuclear Power Parks, each having six reactors of 1,000 or 1,650 MW totalling about 10,000 MW. Likely Locations Kovvada Matsyalesham in Srikakulam District is one of the likely locations in addition to Gujarat ( Chhayamithi Virdi), Maharashtra (Jaitapur), Tamil Nadu (Koodankulam) and West Bengal ( Haripur). The DAE put 18-month target in December 2009 for acquiring land, pre-project activity and creating basic infrastructure at the site, with specific site clearance from the AERB, the active support from the State Governments for the land acquisition and the fast-track environmental clearance from the MOEF. The site selection involves study of enormous amount of field data. Land Acquisition The land acquisition for Kovvada NPP, if already started, without the prior site clearance by AERB is irregular, he contended. The creation of basic infrastructure without Environmental Clearance will be a violation of the provisions of Para 6 of EIA Notification of 2006. Safe Disposal A sustainable nuclear energy system would necessitate a closed loop of Tritium & Carbon 14, such that they never enter ecosphere. However, now their disposal was questionable, as they were being routinely discharged into sea, rivers or lakes, he said. Government advocating nuclear power as energy security for sustainable development should come out with the facts about the risks that the people of Kovvada will face due to the nuclear reactor. Otherwise their lives and that of those of the future generations would be at stake if the Nuclear Park is established, he concluded.

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