After the prolonged agitation against the Kudankulam project in Tamil Nadu, which is therefore behind schedule, Nuclear Power Corporation says it is trying to reach out to people to allay their apprehensions.
The government had in October 2009 given in-principle approval to develop new projects at Kovvada in Andhra (3,000 Mw), Chhaya Mithi Virdi in Gujarat (2,200 Mw), Gorakhpur in Haryana (1,400 Mw), Chutka in Madhya Pradesh (1,400 Mw), Jaitapur in Maharashtra (3,300 Mw) and Haripur in West Bengal (2,000 Mw).
These are part of the proposed capacity addition of 16,000 Mw during the 12th Plan (2013-17). The Haripur project, cancelled by the West Bengal government but pursued by NPC, was not included for launch by the end of 2017.
| POWER PLANS (Mw) | |
| Jaitapur in Maharashtra | 3,300 |
| Kovvada in Andhra Pradesh | 3,000 |
| Chhaya Mithi Virdi in Gujarat | 2,200 |
| Haripur in West Bengal | 2,000 |
| Gorakhpur in Haryana | 1,400 |
| Chutka in Madhya Pradesh | 1,400 |
N Nagaich, executive director of NPC, told Business Standard: “The in-principle approval of the government is the first step towards setting up a nuclear power project. Then, pre-project activities, to be completed before starting project construction, are taken up.
“A public outreach programme is initiated to disseminate information. All stakeholders — people in the vicinity; people’s representatives like sarpanchs, legislators and community leaders; local, district, state officials; students and teachers in nearby schools and colleges — are told about the project and all related matters. Upfront community welfare activities, in consultation with the state authorities, are also initiated in the areas near the site.”
He said these outreach programmes were being scaled up at Kovvada, Chhaya Mithi Virdi, Gorakhpur, Chutka, Jaitapur and Haripur. Other pre-project activities were at various stages at different sites.
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Nagaich said NPC would constitute four modules to deal with the key issues of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R), obtaining statutory environmental clearance from the Union environment and forests ministry and site clearance from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), and preparation of a detailed project report and obtaining project sanction from the government.
Land acquisition and R&R were involved only in new sites. The other pre-project activities are required to be completed for all projects.
Detailed site investigations (topography, geology, geo-hydrology, meteorology, seismology, population distribution) to obtain site clearance from AERB and to get design inputs for preparation of detailed project reports are also taken up. The state governments concerned are involved in land acquisition and formulation of R&R packages. Support of the state authorities and local administrative officials concerned is needed for smooth progress of pre-project activities, and done in consultation with them.