Critical impasse

The Koodankulam nuclear power project had been resuscitated in March when the Tamil Nadu government finally took the decision to make the plant operational. With its hot run conducted in August 2011,the first of the twin Russian-built 1,000 MW reactors was in danger of sustaining systemic damage and the NPCIL was losing Rs 5 crore daily as it failed to go critical. The twin reactors,along with Koodankulam 3 and 4 that the Centre had decided to fast-track earlier this year and the moribund Jaitapur project,are indispensable for a country crippled by power crises and one that needs to diversify its energy basket. Jaitapur promises to provide power to 10 million homes in a country where 40 per cent of the population is still without electricity. Tamil Nadu,with a deficit of 3,000 MW when Koodankulam 1 was cleared,is scheduled to receive 500 MW from it and an advance 500 MW from the second reactor.

Initially,Koodankulam spiralled into a political debacle because of the governments poor management and the NPCILs near-absent communication skills. The NPCIL had,in fact,conducted the hot run without informing the public. But thereafter,a major public information campaign was launched to counter misinformation with facts,such as that Koodankulam,in a low seismic zone and at a height of 13.5 metres above sea level,minimises the threat of a tsunami or an earthquake. This is what former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had underscored last November. The Fukushima investigations report in July,which blamed human error for last years disaster in Japan,is a shot in the arm for the global nuclear power industry; the report can be helpful in promoting a wider awareness of the safety standards of current third-generation nuclear reactors.

The impasse caused by the fresh protests,which spread to Chennai after Mondays violence,must be broken with humane but firm action. While the protests have seen the involvement of foreign NGOs as the prime minister had told Science in an interview in February this year and globe-trotting activists-errant,the government cannot rest at simply blaming them. The foremost priority should be the immediate operationalisation of Koodankulam 1,without further delay.