Experts okay Jaitapur n-park

The proposed nuclear park in Jaitapur,Maharashtra,which will eventually house six nuclear power reactors and produce about 10,000 MW of electricity annually,has been recommended for clearance by the expert committee of the Ministry of Environment and Forests and put up before Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh for his final decision. The nuclear park the first in […]

The proposed nuclear park in Jaitapur,Maharashtra,which will eventually house six nuclear power reactors and produce about 10,000 MW of electricity annually,has been recommended for clearance by the expert committee of the Ministry of Environment and Forests and put up before Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh for his final decision.

The nuclear park the first in a series of several such multiple-unit reactor complexes planned to be set up by the government is being developed by the Department of Atomic Energy in collaboration with Areva company of France.

The reactors at Jaitapur will not just be the largest in India but are also based on the new EPR (European Pressurised Reactor) technology developed by Areva. Only four such nuclear reactors exist in the world as of now.

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The recommendation of the Expert Advisory Committee to give environmental clearance to the project was given a couple of days ago,despite stiff opposition and protests from locals around the site. The opposition centred around claims that the EIA (Environment Impact Assessment) carried out by the Pune-based National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) was faulty. The protesters also claim that NEERI did not have the expertise to assess the radiological impacts of a nuclear power plant.

It is not yet clear how long Ramesh will take to decide on the project.