Government today said that four nuclear plants proposed to be set up in different states by Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) are awaiting environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).
"NPCIL had submitted applications for approval for Terms of Reference (TOR) for Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Studies for the sites in Fatehabad (Haryana), Mandla (Madhya Pradesh), Srikakulam (Andhra Pradesh) and Bhavnagar (Gujarat) to the MoEF.
"The TORs are to be approved by the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of MoEF. EAC, after review of the submissions of NPCIL, has advised NPCIL to provide additional details on land use and environmental setting of site," Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan told Lok Sabha in a written reply to a question.
"Each of the projects has an associated township for the employees. EAC also advised that TORs for township be also submitted along with projects so that both can be approved together. The revised TORs, as advised by EAC have been submitted to MoEF in respect of Haryana project.
"In respect of the other three projects, the township location and other details are being finalised with the respective state governments, after which the revised TORs will be submitted for approval of MoEF," he said.
Chavan said NPCIL officials, who had gone to collect soil samples in Bhavnagar, were recently attacked by villagers.
"NPCIL has awarded geo technical investigations for the site at Bhavnagar to Gujarat Power Corporation (GPCL). GPCL team was prevented from collecting soil samples by local villagers at the site on June 6, 2010," the Minister said.
"The issue has been taken up with the state government and work is expected to resume soon," Chavan said.
The EIA work on the sites is expected to start this year progressively for all sites after approval of respective TORs by MoEF, he said.
