According to a note of the Cabinet Committee on Security, there is a proposal to sign a ‘Preliminary Contract’ between NPCIl and Westinghouse Electric Company (WEC) to buy six 1,000 MW nuclear reactors at a cost of $15.16 million for a power plant to be set up at Chhayamithi Virdi in Gujarat.
The CCS note follows an opinion given by Attorney-General GE Vahanvati in which he is learnt to have said that it is up to the nuclear plant operator — in this case NPCIl — to invoke Section 17 of the Civil liability for Nuclear Disaster Act regarding liability of suppliers in case of a mishap.
The Civil liability of Nuclear Damage Act was enacted by both Houses of Parliament in August 2010 with the purpose of holding the supplier of the equipment responsible for any mishaps resulting out of the malfunctioning of imported nuclear reactors and for ensuring prompt compensation to the victims of the nuclear accident.
It was the absence of such a safeguard Act which helped Union Carbide to go scot-free though the 1984 leak in its Bhopal unit that killed more than 20,000 people.
According to the note submitted by the AG, the NPCIl could do away with the right to claim compensation from the manufacturer/supplier of equipment in the event of a nuclear accident.
Vahanvati noted: “Section 17(a) provides for recourse if such right is expressly provided for in a contract in writing. If the operator chooses not to incorporate such a provision in the contract, it would be open for him to do so.”
Section 17 grants the operator the right of recourse under one of three conditions: (a) If the right is expressly provided for in writing; (b) if the accident is caused by faulty material or equipment provided by the supplier; or (c) the accident results from an act of commission or omission of an individual done with intent to cause nuclear damage.
Top nuclear scientists including former members of the Atomic Energy Commission described the AG’s note as an attempt to surrender the nuclear sovereignty of India at the feet of the US Government by diluting the provisions of the Civil liability of Nuclear Damage Act passed in Parliament.
The CCS note says because of lack of time, the opinion of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) cannot be taken at
this stage.
CCS was to consider the note in its meeting on Friday. But the meeting has been rescheduled for September 24 and it was not clear whether the proposal will be part of the fresh agenda for the meeting.