Submitted by :

VARUN KRISHNA R

ME11B098

AFTERMATHS OF FUKUSHIMA-REACTION IN INDIA/KUDANKULAM ISSUE

Fukushima incident caused ripples throughout the world of nuclear scientists,the proponents of Nuclear energy and governments like India who had spent a large amount in developing nuclear plants like the one in Kudankulam to fulfil their ever-growing energy requirements.It also added fuel to the local people’s protest against the power plant which was based on the grounds that it didn’t meet the safety guidelines.

About Kudankulam Nuclear plant- The harbinger of the large-size LWR technology in India:

Kudankulam Nuclear Power plant(KKNPP) is located near the southern tip of our country in the district of Tirunelveli in the state of Tamil Nadu. The plant's first reactor is the first Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) belonging to the Light Water Reactor (LWR) category in India, and the 21st nuclear power reactor in the country.

History of the plant :

Kudankulam idea was first conceived after the nuclear test in Pokhran in the year 1974 when India was isolated from the west due to this and hence came under the influence of Soviet Union.A nuclear deal was discussed with the Soviet Union in this backdrop by the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai which bore fruit during the tenure of Rajiv Gandhi and he signed a deal for the plant with the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev in 1988.But,because of the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi,the deal was stalled.After almost ten years,the then PM HD Deva Gowda signed a supplement agreement with the then Russian PM Boris Yelstin and commissioned a detailed project report on Koodankulam.Accordingly,Russia agreed to supply two VVER-1000 water cooled and water moderated reactors.Since it was linked with other major defence deals with Moscow,New Delhi had to go ahead with the deal inspite of the concerns with the safety of the reactor. Construction of the plant began on 31 March 2002 which was delayed due to the agitation of the local people and the repercussions faced due to it. The plant was commissioned six years after the scheduled date, and 12 years after the construction of the plant began, when unit 1 was synchronized with the southern power grid on 22 October 2013.The original cost of the two units was 13,171 crore, but it was later revised to 17,270 crore. Russia advanced a credit of 6,416 crore to both the units.

Why Kudankulam was chosen?

The factors which were considered were assessment of seismicity, location of faults, geology, foundation conditions, meteorology, potential of flooding (from tsunami, storm surge, etc. at coastal sites and from rain, upstream dam break, etc. at inland sites), proximity to airports, military installations, facilities storing explosive and toxic substances, etc. The environmental setting comprising of bio-diversity, including flora and fauna, marine ecology etc. in the region is also evaluated. In addition, availability of land, water, electricity demand in the region and the availability of other energy options also form the basis for evaluation. The SSC submits its recommendations to the Government. The Government after due process, accords “in principle‟ approval for the site.It was mainly chosen,amongst all the above said factors,for the fact that it has a very low probability for an earth quake and also its height is favourable against Tsunami and other high tidal waves.

Setting all these technical reasons apart,there could also have been some political interests in choosing Kudankulam.The state of TN already had a nuclear plant at Kalpakkam.Congress was washed off in TN after Kamaraj’s rule.This could have been a plan to build the party’s reputation by offering more employment and developmental opportunities in addition to the power generated that was added to the state grid.

PROTESTS AGAINST KUDANKULAM:

1) First anti-KKNPP protest

Photo : www.chaikadai.com

2) Protesters during the recent upheaval

Photo : Reuters

The first protest against the plant was started in 1989(Pic-1) itself when around 10,000 people assembled under the umbrella of National Fish Workers’ Union(NFWU).This was mainly due to the proposal to draw water from the Pechiparai dam and release the water into the ocean which threatened the livelihood of the people in and around Kudankulam who were mostly from the fishing community.The acquired land for the project(done in the late 80’s) was around 929 hectares of land for the project and another 150 hectares for the township.It also promised jobs along with overall growth and development of the surrounding areas.Many people sold their land for a paltry amount of Rs 2000/acre and Rs 100/cashew tree.The tamarind trees in the lands were not paid for.After the 10 year delay,NPCIL started its work on the plant.But the promises made to the people didn’t materialise.Only some people amongst thousands were able to get the jobs.Hence,in 2001,people came together under the banner of PMANE(People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy) to protest against the further expansion of the plant from two to six units.The struggle intensified as the comprehensive environment impact assessment(EIA) never reached the people while the mandatory public hearings were held in places that were far-away and stage-managed.Since the EIA was mandatory,NPCIL approached NEERI(National Environmental Engineering Research Institute) to carry out the study.But,the people were not satisfied with the study as they feared that it was natural for NEERI to give a positive report on KKNPP and some features like mentioning the changes to bio-diversity were neglected during the study.With respect to public hearings,there were a lot of hearing which were planned and then adjourned due to several reasons of which the main ones were in relation to the local up-burst. Some points put forward by the locals include:

1) Documents were not made in the local language of Tamil which didn’t facilitate them to comprehend the issue.

2) There were no advertisements in the newspaper regarding the public hearing which clearly portrays the attitude of the government to neglect the people’s views and concerns.

Finally,after facing a lot of hurdles,the government conducted the public hearing on the issue on June 2, 2007 which was attended by around 7000 people from the district guarded by 1200 police men.But this too didn’t prove to be worthy as the collector declared that the questions raised by the people were cleared by the NPCIL and ended the meeting.The protest rose again to a new level after the Fukushima disaster in March,2011.It was after this incident that thousands from the vicity of the plant, have protested against it fearing a nuclear disaster. According to the protesters, evacuation of people in the event of a nuclear disaster would be impossible. According to S P Udayakumar, of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy, "the nuclear plant is unsafe". However, in 2012, the chief of India's nuclear energy program, Dr Srikumar Banerjee, called the plant "one of the safest" in the world.There have also been rallies and protests in favour of commissioning this nuclear power plant.On 24 February 2012, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed American and Scandinavian NGOs for fuelling protests at the power plant. In March 2012, nearly 200 anti-nuclear protesters were detained for a few hours by the police. More than 300 cases have been filed against about 150000 people. 10,000 people have been charged with Sedition and waging war against the state.The protesters were set to join protests objecting resumption of work of one of two 1 GW reactors, a day after the local government restarted work on the project. In December 2012, The Hindu reported that hundreds of villagers in the region were largely ignorant of the risks and benefits of the plant. News agencies reported that three of the NGOs had used foreign funds received for social and religious purposes to fuel the protests, violating foreign exchange regulatory rules. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has also been filed against the government’s civil nuclear programme at the Supreme Court. The PIL specifically asked for all proposed nuclear power plants be stopped until the safety issues are resolved.In May 2013, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the plant, stating that the project was in larger public interest and the apprehensions about public safety and environmental concerns have been allayed in view of the unanimous expert opinion. The plant, it added, was safe and necessary for country's economic growth.

VIEWS OF TOP SCIENTISTS OF INDIA ABOUT THE KKNPP:

Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam was satisfied with the safety of KKNPP plant after visiting and discussing with the officials.Principal scientific adviser to the federal Government of India and a nuclear scientist Rajagopala Chidambaram has said “We have learnt lessons from the Fukushima nuclear accident, particularly on the post-shutdown cooling system”.He also added Fukushima nuclear accident should not deter or inhibit India from pursuing a safe civil nuclear program.

WILL KUDANKULAM BE ANOTHER FUKUSHIMA?

Tsunami entering Fukushima plant

Picture : Time

Since the Central government measures failed to bring the protests under control,TN government appointed an expert panel of four to assess the safety of the plant which included Dr. M.R Srinivasan(Former Chairman,Atomic Energy commission of India) reviewed the safety features and he was completely satisfied with it.He also added that one should never compare the Fukushima plant with Kudankulam and added "The Fukushima plant was built on a beachfront, but the Kudankulam was constructed on a solid terrain and that too keeping all the safety aspects in mind. Also, we are not in a tsunami prone area. The plants in Kudankulam have a double containment system which can withstand high pressure. At least Rs.14,000 crore has been spent. If we don't operate the plant immediately, it will affect the economic stability of our country".Mr.Parthasarathy,a former secretary of AERB,in his article(Link in the references) argues that a Fukushima type of accident will not occur in Kudankulam nuclear power plant. He adds to it that it is a Generation III plus reactor with robust design and contains most advanced safety features where the reactor design incorporates several reliable, redundant safety systems, besides passive safety systems. He feels that the specialists have reviewed the design of Indian nuclear power reactors in the light of the accident at Fukushima and recommended additional safety measures which are being implemented at various plants.The Fukushima lesson teaches us that safety must be sought both from the point of view of design failure as well as damages caused due to the natural disasters of concern.

There was a complete failure of promotion of nuclear activities in Kudankulam.After investing such huge amounts,the way our government acted was questionable.Government has to learn a lesson from Kudankulam to prevent such kind of incidents happening in the near future.

Some steps that can be followed by the Government include:

1) Making the local population,a crucial stake holders of the plant.

This was not done in the case of Kudankulam as the local population except a very few were left out of the plant’s development which could have easily given a lot of employement opportunities to them.Involving some people among them as a part of the safety regulating committee would also be a good idea.

2) It must be the centre of growth with a lot of economic activity around the plant area.

As mentioned earlier,showing the people a possibility of an economically strong livelihood around the plant would have not hindered the plant’s commissioning.

3) Education of local population on the matters of nuclear power.

Reports must be made available in the local language and public hearings must be held in a more sensible way.Government must make itself people friendly and erase all the doubts in the minds of the people.

According to author M V Ramana in his book The Power of Promise: Examining Nuclear Energy in India, there were some nuclear projects in India which have come close to a “disaster.” Other experts contradict this claim, pointing to a lack of evidence and they remind us of the fact that the difference between an “accident” and a “disaster” is significant.There seemed to have been a lot of accidents that have happened in the nuclear projects in India but the clear fact that they have not been recorded gives us the extent to government is transparent in such issues

The following excerpt is from an article written by SP Udayakumar,leader of PMANE which lead the protest in Kudankulam.I have given my views for each of the issues that he had raised.Red indicates the issues that are critical and are not properly actuated by the government and green indicates the settled ones.Orange ones are a mixture of both positive and negative points.

Thirteen Reasons Why PMANE Do Not Want the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project

1) Openness to the public:

Concern - Sharing the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Site Evaluation Study and Safety Analysis Report with the people, or the people’s representatives or the press.

Present situation – All the files are made available in the KKNPP website now.This would have been an issue sometime back when the government did not provide clear explanations to the protesters with regard to this issue.

2) Displacement of the people

Concern - 2 to 5 kms called the sterilisation site.People might be displaced.But plant authority are giving only oral assurances.For about 25-30 km radius,there are around 1 million people to be evacuated which is impossible.

My view : There would always be a situation where people would have to be displaced in case of a special project that is about to be set-up in a place.This added to the additional safety concerns for a power plant would pile up to mass displacement.It is the government’s responsibility to ensure that the people who are being displaced would get enough compensation for their displacement which was not done in this case.

3) Emissions of the plant into the sea would undermine fishing industry.

From my research in the internet : Generally,any power plant would require water to cool the system.Such needs are even present in case of ships and submarines.It is true that the hot water released might affect the marine life in the surrounding areas.Hence it is regulated by the environmental regulation from the Ministry of Environment & Forests (i.e Water released must not be more than 7 degree Celsius hotter than the ambient conditions). At Department of Atomic Energy Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (DAE-BRNS) Thermo-ecology study was carried out at Kalpakkam and Kaiga stations with several experts from institutions like National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Central Electro Chemical Research Institute (CECRI) and other such universitites.No adverse effects were found to be caused on the marine life.

4) Lot of health issues prevailing in the area.

My view - The radiation in the region is also very less compared to the Natural background radiation present already.

5) The workers and contractors itself question the integrity of the structure.

From the Internet - The quality of construction of civil works and piping has been proven at Kudankulam. The reactor building containment has withstood the structural integrity and leak rate test at the test pressure, which is much higher than the design pressure. The pressure test of various piping systems and the hot run has also established the excellent quality of construction at the site.

6) Jairam Ramesh declined permission to KKNPP 3-6.It is pertinent to ask why did he give permission to plants 1&2.

Present Situation – All units have been given permission now.If there would have been any safety issues with the plants,they would have remodelled the design aspects of it to accommodate within the safety regulations of CRZ.

7) Probability of natural disasters.

Figure P-1 shows the seismic zones and location of power plants in India and Japan.The difference can be very well seen in the figure itself.Japan is very much prone to earth quakes whilst the case of India is very different.The location of the KKNPP is in the zero level hazard region.The structures are designed to withstand an earthquake of about 6.0 magnitude in Richter scale which is a very rare occurrence in such regions and also very less probable when compared to the occurrence of tsunamis.

Figure P-2 shows the elevation levels at KKNPP.The heights are very large when compared to the tsunami waves which were formed during the 2004 disaster in India.And also,Kudankulam is located about 1500 kms from the tsunamigenic faults which are the origin points of tsunamis.Hence it will lose its power and height before reaching the plant.This was not the case with Fukushima,where in the plant was located at about 130 kms from the tsunamigenic faults.

Fig P- 1)

Fig P- 2)

8) These plants tend to remain the prime targets of the terrorists.

My view : Possibility of an air and a water strike is always present.Coastal zone regulation and other security measures must be properly taken care of.By the information provided by the government,the plant is highly secured.This point is very valid and must be of utmost concern to the government.

9) The cost that is associated.

From the Internet: The approved cost is around 13171 crores.But it increased to around 17000 crores as mentioned earlier.The cost of one unit of power from the KKNPP was estimated to be Rs 2.50.From the recent updates,it has increased to Rs 3.25 which is higher than the other forms of power produced.

10) Fukushima disaster.Russia itself not building reactors.

Answer: This was the main point put forth by the protestors.As mentioned in the previous section, the position and vulnerability in the case of Fukushima is several folds higher when compared to KKNPP.Hence,comparing both would be inappropriate.The improvements in security can be learned from these issues.

11) Unwillingness of Government to answer the concerns of the people.

My view: From my searching of information,this seems to be true.It is blatant that the Government had not sought right method to approach this issue.The people should also be blamed to a certain extent for their unwillingness to talk and peacefully settle the issue.

Dr.M.R.Srinivasan’s visit(20^th May 2011) report on Kudankulam Project was given after a safety review of the KKNPP against tsunamis and earthquakes.Salient points pertaining to the fear of the people include:

1) Maximum height of the Tsunami wave was set as 2.5m which is adequate when compared to the maximum wave(2m) which ran up at the site which was got from the different forecasting methods developed by Japan.The 2004 tsunami which hit the coastal Tamil Nadu managed to just raise upto 2m.

2) The Storm Surge criterion combined with tide A wave run up was kept at 7.44 m which is much higher than the calculated 5.4m from the historic data.

IMPORTANT FACILITIES	HEIGHT AT WHICH THEY ARE PLACED
Reactor Building-Ground Floor	8.7m
Safety diesel generator sets	9.3m
Switch gear for Safety trains	9.3m
Group I battery bank	12.9m
Station Blackout battery	16.5m
Control Instruments for safety trains	16.5m
Supplementary Control Room	9.7m

3) With regard to Earthquakes,the strongest one occurred in Coimbatore in 1900 whose magnitude was estimated to be 6.0 on richter scale.The epicentre was about 300km from Kudankulam.The nearest recorded was of Trivandrum in 1856 which had an intensity of 4.3 .Based on these facts,the design basis were arrived upon as:

These values are very less when compared to the earthquakes at Fukushima which shows that the plant will get shut down before the disaster strikes.

4) Decay Heat removal systems are in place in the plant which would have avoided the Fukushima disaster.

POLITICS BEHIND THE ISSUE :

The issue crossed its tag of social issue and turned out to be a political issue.Jayalalitha,the current CM of Tamil Nadu has taken different stands at different instances.She initially wanted the Central government to settle the issues of the local people before commissioning the plant.But,as the power crisis in the state of TN increased,she was forced to take the decision to give a green signal to the plant inorder to curtail the power cuts without the concerns of people taken care of.Mr.Udayakumar,leader of the PMANE,felt that the locals were betrayed by the government.It is also important to note that the decision came just one day after the Sankaran-Koil bypoll,a constituency located in Tirunelveli district which also houses the plant.Such selfish acts have done no good for the people who have lost their land and are being displaced.TN government also announced welfare measures to appease the sentiments of the people.Some of them being:

On Dec 28,2013,TN government announced a Rs 68.10 crore integrated drinking water scheme, aimed at benefiting 13 village panchayats which would provide 55 litres of per capita water per day.In an announcement made on September 14, 2013 the Collector of Tirunelveli, C. Samayamoorthy informed about the Government’s decision of housing development plans for the villagers, residing in the vicinity of the KNPP. Free concrete houses will be allocated under the Rs. 500 crore plan of the government, in an effort for the overall development of the area surrounding the KNPP. A list of village panchayats was drawn up, from which the beneficiaries will be selected under the said scheme. The chosen families will be provided with a concrete house worth Rs. 3 Lakh. Preference will be given to the disabled, women and socially challenged individuals. A total of 10,000 such houses will be allocated under the said plan of the government.

PROJECTS UNDER CONSTRUCTION:

PROJECTS UNDER PLANNING STAGE:

Summary:

The tsunami-attacked Fukushima Daichii plant was a private sector run plant.Safety criterions and other factors were compromised due to some claimed links with the public officials. Power system failure was what led to the core meltdown.These are somethings which have been taken care in the KKNPP design.It finally boils down to the question of whether the positives overweigh the negatives.More stress should be given on the probabilities of events like Fukushima happening and how the plant would react in that situation.Independent regulatory panel must be set up to check the plants in the future which also comprises of the locals.Conflict of interest of the nuclear commission and the regulatory bodies is explicit especially in case of our country.Hence autonomy of such bodies will help in improving the confidence of the public.Cleanness of Nuclear Energy should also be taken into account as it would affect the environment while on the other side,the radiations must also be kept under control to avoid any negative affects.The government is carrying on with its nuclear projects if it falls under safety guidelines which is very essential.

Concluding ,I feel that projects like KKNPP are very much necessary for our sustained development.Nuclear energy is a source which we could invest on with other forms of renewable energy are developed by extensive research and brought into existence.But the clear failure of Governmental bodies to peacefully settle the issue is evident and hence it is high time that we learn lessons from the way we handled KKNPP commissioning so that we could avoid such conflicts with the local community.Their concerns must be taken care of as they are the ones who are losing their livelihood for the development of the country as a whole.And also we have to look at this issue from the point of view of the disturbed communities.The pressure of maintaining the growth rate is being thrust on them which eventually they aren’t able to tolerate.Hence,all factors must be considered before commissioning such plants as they are heavily funded and cannot accept withdrawal at the end.

REFERENCES:

1) About Kudankulam -WIKIPEDIA

2) History of the plant - http://infochangeindia.org/environment/rethinking-nuclear-energy/twenty-years-of-resistance-at-koodankulam.html

3) Facts related to earthquake and Tsunami-

http://www.nuclearfriendsfoundation.com/pdf/FactsonKudankulamNuclearPowerProject.pdf

4) How to make Nuclear OK? - http://thediplomat.com/2011/12/how-to-make-nuclear-ok/

5) Fukushima and Kudankulam - http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/how-fukushima-is-relevant-to-kudankulam/article2971209.ece

6) Kudankulam Opposition - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudankulam_Nuclear_Power_Plant#Opposition

7) Mr.Udayakumar’s reasons to protest against Nuclear plant - http://www.transcend.org/tms/2011/08/thirteen-reasons-why-we-do-not-want-the-koodankulam-nuclear-power-project/

8) Review of KKNPP- http://npcil.nic.in/pdf/STATUS_OF_KK_AFTER_FUKUSHIMA.pdf

9) Politics behind the issue -http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/jayalalithaa-clears-kudankulam-plant-activists-cry-foul-187724

10) Development schemes - http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-12-28/news/45653292_1_drinking-water-scheme-kudankulam-nuclear-power-plant-crore