)
The Supreme Court today allowed the controversial Kudankulam nuclear project in southern Tamil Nadu to be commissioned but also imposed tough preconditions to ensure the safety of people living around it and who have been agitating against it.
It also asked the authorities to withdraw all criminal charges against those who had been opposing the Russian-aided plant. In a 250-page judgment, the bench headed by K S Radhakrishnan (the order was written on their behalf by judge Dipak Mishra) stated the plant should not be made operational unless the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) and the Department of atomic energy accorded final clearance for ensuring the quality of various components and systems.
It also said the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) should monitor whether NPCIL complied with the conditions laid down, while granting environment impact assessment clearance. AERB and MoEF are to both ensure all the stipulated conditions are duly complied with before the plant is made operational.
The judgment emphasised that maintaining safety was an ongoing process not only at the time of design but during operations. Safeguarding the plant and radioactive materials, and ensuring physical security are all of high importance. NPCIL, AERB and other regulatory authorities have to maintain vigil, with inspection of the plant at least once in three months. If any defect is noticed, it has to be rectified forthwith.
NPCIL would have to send periodic reports to AERB and the latter is to act on these. It is also to periodically review design safety, so that there will be no adverse impact on the environment due to storage (of radioactive material). NPCIL is to also ensure radioactive discharge to the environmental aquatic atmosphere and terrestrial routes shall not cross the limits prescribed by the regulatory body.
The Union government, AERB and NPCIL are to act at the earliest to comply with the 17 recommendations of the environment panel. NPCIL, AERB and the Tamil Nadu government should take adequate steps to implement the National Disaster Management Guidelines, 2009, and also carry out periodic emergency-test exercises onsite and offsite, it said.
