Notwithstanding protests against the setting up of nuclear power plants, the fact remains that we are fast running out of conventional energy sources. It is time to adopt alternative sources of energy that are clean, green and cost-effective

Following Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption fast, the country was recently witness to another protest fast that took place on its southern fringes. Around a 150 villagers, mostly fisher folk, from a small village in Tamil Nadu called Idinthakarai, went on an 11-day-long fast to protest against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant which is currently under construction in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu.

Popular opinion has it that the agitation in Koodankulam gained ground following the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan earlier this year.

The project had seen local cooperation from the start but a recent mandatory safety drill appears to have unleashed fears that something must be amiss or could go wrong later. With local elections around the corner, there is the possibility that this unnecessary sense of alarm has been produced as a result of competitive politics.

The protest against the Koodankulam Nuclear Plant is being spearheaded by a group of activists called People’s Movement against Atomic Power. The project was stepped up on August 15 after the village sabha at Idinthakarai resolved that the plant should not be commissioned even if it had been completed. Fishermen of several coastal villages in the area had also come out strongly against the nuclear power plant, saying it posed a danger to their lives and livelihood.

Protesters withdrew their 11day-long fast only after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa assured them that she would pass a resolution in the Cabinet and take up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. While Ms Jayalalithaa seems to have taken a strong stand against setting up the Russian nuclear reactors along the coastal belt in Koodankulam, the fact remains that the first of the two 1,000 MW reactors are already entering their final stages of construction. The project envisages building two 1,000 MW VVER type Russian reactors by the Nuclear Power Corporation.

With regards to safety concerns at the plant, especially in the wake of recent Fukushima disaster, the project’s Site Director, Mr PM Kasinath Balaji, has often pointed to the five-tier safety system of the project. According to Mr Balaji, the buildings that house the reactor and its auxiliary equipment, reactor safety systems, safety diesel generators, the control room and other power generating equipment have all been designed to operate safely under seismic activity. Though the project is located in a Very low Seismic Category Zone2, it has nonetheless been designed to withstand geological turmoil such as a tsunami or an earthquake. Moreover, the former chief of the Atomic Energy Commission has also assured the people that The Atomic Energy Department, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India ltd and the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board have all done extensive checks and they all agree that the circumstances that led to the accident at Fukushima are not at all likely to happen in Koodankulam.

It is also worthy to note that Ms Jayalalithaa too had initially vouched for the plant’s safety, detailing the safety parameters installed and had argued that on completion of the project, the State would receive 924 MW of power. Yet, protests have intensified in the past few weeks after, project officials said, the hot run (testing with dummy fuel) of the first reactor was completed, setting the stage for commercial power production to begin in December.

Environmental activists and locals argue that if the plant, situated along the seismic belt, is set up, it will pose as a possible threat to marine life which is sure to be affected by the water discharged from the nuclear reactor into the Bay of Bengal. Moreover, the area around the Koodankulam plant is home to several fishermen who will quite possibly be displaced and this would arguably result in huge economic and habitat loss.

“Even after witnessing the nuclear disaster in Fukushima six months ago and the deadly explosion in a nuclear facility in France recently, the Government is still keen on using nuclear energy. An accident here will affect the entire country. The Prime Minister needs to know that the entire country support the demands being made by the people in Idinthakarai”, said Karuna Raina, Nuclear campaigner of Greenpeace India.

At a time when India is going through a severe power crunch, two separate political lobbies seem to have emerged: One that supports nuclear energy because it is clean and necessary to support the country’s growing energy needs, while the second lobby favours the use of renewable energy derived from non-conventional and inexhaustible sources like wind and solar residue, over nuclear energy.

While the debate over nuclear energy continues, the fact remains that after having witnessed a series of nuclear disasters in different parts, from Chernobyl in Russia to Fukushima in Japan and most recently at the Marcoule nuclear site in France, has planted the seeds of fear and scepticism in the minds of the people in this country.

Activists protesting the nuclear plant at Koodankulam have also pointed out that after the disaster at Fukushima, German Chancellor Angela Merkel conceded to popular demand to phase out nuclear energy and make a strong commitment towards renewable energy. Indeed, the popular refrain has been that pulling out from nuclear energy opens up more room for renewable technology. Moreover, activists have pointed out that the people’s security concerns are often ignored unless disaster strikes. The accident at Fukushima is only the latest example of that.

Across the country, nuclear power plants envisaged to meet India’s growing power needs are facing popular protests, be it the project at Haripur in West Bengal, or Jaitapur in Maharashtra. Yet, if the Jaitapur plant, built by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India with the help of French engineering firm Areva, sees the light of the day it will be world’s largest nuclear power generating plant with a capacity to producing 9,900MW of electricity. Proponents are advocating the Jaitapur Project as safe, environmentally benign and economically viable. Similarly, the proposed Haripur plant in Midnapore district of West Bengal has been selected by the Atomic Energy Commission as of the five projects to be set up at a coastal location that will meet the objectives of the nuclear energy programme which plans to add 40,000 MGWT of nuclear energy by using indigenous and imported nuclear fuel.

There is no doubting the fact that India needs a lot more power. The question is how that need can be met most effectively, equitably and ecologically. To sustain the country’s rapid economic growth, electricity supply will have to grow multifold but a large part of this demand can also be met through improving the system of transmission and distribution of power. India can not ignore the fact that we are running out of conventional sources of energy such as coal and oil. It is time to adapt to an alternative that is clean, green and just as effective.