India's Supreme Court gives go ahead for nuclear plant
New Delhi, 07 May 2013: The Supreme Court of India on Monday gave the go ahead for
a new nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu, south India, ending a legal challenge to the facility
and years of protests.
Justice K S Radhakrishnan and Justice Dipak Misra said
the project was vital for the country’s economic growth and that a balance had to
be struck with concerns over the project, including environmental and human health
fears in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan.
The ruling came
in response to petitions filed in September last year by anti-nuclear activists, including
that of People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), which has been spearheading
the campaign against the Koodankulam nuclear plant.
S. Uday Kumar, a PMANE
leader, described the judgment as "disappointing" and said, "everyone in the country
seemed to be only interested in nuclear energy and development and not in human lives."
Tamil
Nadu fishermen, who form the majority of the population in the plant's vicinity, are
worried that the nuclear plant will adversely affect marine life and hence their livelihood.
Protests have broken out over the project in the past.
The federal government-run
Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is building two 1,000-megaatt nuclear
power plants for US$3 billion with Russian investors. The plant was scheduled to start
in December 2011.
"The first unit of the Koodankulam project is expected to
start operations later this month," said V Narayanasamy, federal junior minister. Source:
UCAN