PMANE to intensify protest against Kudankulam nuclear plant

The People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), which is spearheading the agitation against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project Plant in Tamil Nadu, has announced to intensify their protest even as preparations for fuel loading in the first unit of the two 1,000 MW Russian reactors have already begun.

"We are requesting all the "supportive" Tamil parties and movements to brush aside their differences and disagreements and join hands together to protect our people, our natural wealth and our future generations," the PMANE said in a statement.

Demanding that no fuel loading take place at the KKNPP, the organisers threatened to embark on a Satyagraha struggle on September 9, 2012, Sunday from Idinthakarai which is the epicenter of the stir.

"We request the "supportive hundred" Tamil parties and movements to take up this historic opportunity and fight together for the welfare of the Tamil society. They should also engage in constituency adjustments and face the upcoming Parliamentary elections together," PMANE said.

On Friday, the Madras High Court cleared the Kudankulam nuclear project, while asking the government to set up hospitals and schools for locals.

The court dismissed petitions filed by eight different petitioners on environment safety and upheld the recent clearance granted by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB).

The court said it cannot suspect AERB's expertise and all the 17 safety recommendations of the task force should be implemented as committed. It also asked the Pollution Control Board and AERB to conduct regular inspection at the site.

The Tamil Nadu government meanwhile has been asked to set up quality schools affiliated with CBSE and state board in and around Kudankulam along with multi-speciality hospital, a port with cold storage facility and other key infrastructure for the fishing community.

The loading of 163 enriched uranium fuel bundles in the first unit of the two Russian reactors is set to take place around Sep 11.

"We expect the fuel loading to happen around Sep 11. We are not working towards any specific date. Going the current situation, the first reactor will be fuelled by Sep 15," SA Bhardwaj, director (Technical) at Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) told IANS.

The agitation at Kudankulam by thousands of villagers, activists and church groups had earlier crippled work at the plant and delayed its commissioning by almost a year. The protesters expressed fear that the ecological damage by radioactivity would affect the livelihood of thousands of fishermen around the plant.