After the Fukushima nuclear disaster caused by a tsunami,

France's Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority carried out a thorough re-assessment of Areva's EPR and mandated several major modifications to its hardware, sub-systems, design and safety parameters, Karat said, adding that Finland's regulatory body STUK also sought a set of modifications. "When the reactor is still on the drawing board undergoing changes, what is the hurry in signing this agreement," Karat asked. CPI's Raja said the French company Areva had been "given the contract without any public tender or competing bidding process. The government is also not transparent in sharing the cost details, with an estimate showing that one EPR would cost as high as USD one billion or almost Rs 6,000 crore." Raja also said that Areva was "insisting that they must be absolved of any liability. This shows that the French firm does not want to take any responsibility in case of an accident. We ask the government not to sign the agreement." Karat also said that the French electricity company, Electricit� de France, recently announced that after this latest escalation, the cost of the single 1650 MW reactor in Flamanville (France) "stands at 8.3 billion Euros, far beyond its initial projected cost of three billion Euros." Maintaining that the state-run NPCIL and government have "refused to disclose" the costs and resultant tariff for the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant, the CPI(M) leader said if these costs are any indication, the electricity tariff from Jaitapur would not be less than Rs 12-14 per unit. "This is not viable as it would impose very high rates of tariff for Maharashtra and other consumers," Karat said. He said the Jaitapur plant and designs "must be subjected to a public scrutiny, both on techno-economic grounds and on questions of safety, before any decision is taken."