NPCIL is to blame for storage of radioactive waste on site of Kudankulam nuclear power plant: Appavu

Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M. Appavu has blamed the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) for the plan to store nuclear waste generated in the reactors of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) on the site itself. “It should be stored in a desert and not in the midst of thickly populated villages,” he contended.

After handing over welfare assistance to the beneficiaries at a function held in Palayamkottai on Saturday, Mr. Appavu said the radioactive nuclear waste being generated in the first two 1,000-Mwe reactors of the KKNPP should be disposed of safely, without harming the environment and the people living nearby.

However, the NPCIL, the project proponent, was yet to develop or acquire the technology of safely storing the nuclear waste in specially designed and built subterranean repositories. The NPCIL had openly admitted this fact in the Supreme Court when a case in this connection came up for hearing, he said.

“If the radioactive nuclear waste from the first two reactors and four more reactors, getting ready for commissioning in a phased manner, is buried on the KKNPP site itself, it will render this populous region uninhabitable in the near future. On top of this, the groyne created by the KKNPP in the sea for its mini-port is already causing sea erosion in neighbouring coastal villages, posing a serious threat to the fishermen’s houses and boats. Since the Centre and its NPCIL have built the nuclear reactors in a thickly populated coastal region, instead of a desert, the fishermen and others are facing serious threats to their lives and livelihood,” he said.

Mr. Appavu added that neither the Union government nor the KKNPP administration were interested in saving these coastal hamlets from sea erosion.

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“India, besides importing military hardware from Russia for decades, is now largely importing oil from the country to benefit a few Indian corporates. Even the maritime corridor being developed between Chennai and Russia’s Vladivostok is aimed at benefiting Adani’s port near Chennai. If every Indian has to get benefit from Indo-Russian trade relations, India, buying inexpensive oil from Russia, should sell the fuel at a low price to Indians. However, the cheap oil is imported by a few Indian corporates, which sell it for ₹102 a litre. So, the common man has nothing to celebrate,” Mr. Appavu said.

The Speaker also criticised the NPCIL for not recruiting the locals and the land-losers for ‘C’ and ‘D’ category posts since 2011. “In violation of the agreement signed by the NPCIL in the late 90s to build the KKNPP to give priority only to locals and the land-losers in the recruitment of ‘C’ and ‘D’ category workers, employees are being filled by transferring workers to KKNPP from other nuclear installations across the country. Even after Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had sent appeals to the NPCIL, it is adamantly refusing to honour the agreement,” the Speaker said.

When asked for his comments on Union Minister L. Murugan’s charges against the DMK in Parliament that the Thirupparankundram row was worsened by the Stalin-led government’s poor handling, Mr. Appavu alleged that 50 “trained troublemakers” were deployed to create a riot-like situation with the backing of a “few organisations” in the name of religion. “An organisation that murdered Mahatma Gandhi and triggered consequent riots, now wants to create religious riots in Tamil Nadu ahead of Assembly poll. This will never happen here,” Mr. Appavu said.