Key directions given by the Supreme Court Monday on operationalising the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project in Tamil Nadu are:
* The plant should not be made operational unless Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) and department of atomic energy (DAE) accord final clearance ... ensuring the quality of various components and systems.
* Environment and forests ministry should oversee and monitor whether the NPCIL is complying with the conditions laid down.
* Endeavour should be made to withdraw all the criminal cases filed against the agitators so that peace and normalcy be restored at Kudankulam and nearby places.
* The AERB, the NPCIL, the environment and forests ministry and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) would oversee ... safety of the plant, impact on environment, quality of various components and systems in the plant before commissioning of the plant.
* Maintaining safety is an ongoing process not only at the design level, but also during the operation for the nuclear plant ... the NPCIL, the AERB and the regulatory authority should maintain constant vigil and make periodical inspection at least once in three months and if any defect is noticed, the same has to be rectified forthwith.
* The NPCIL shall send periodical reports to the AERB which shall take prompt action on those reports, if any fallacy is noticed in the reports.
* Spent nuclear fuel (SNF) needs to be managed in a safe manner to ensure protection of human health and environment ... for which sufficient surveillance and monitoring programme have to be evolved and implemented.
* The AERB should periodically review the design-safety ... so that there will be no adverse impact on the environment.
* A deep geological repository (DGR) has to be set up at the earliest so that SNF could be transported from the nuclear plant and stored. The NPCIL says the same would be done within a period of five years.
* The NPCIL should ensure that the radioactive discharges into the environment ... shall not cross the limits prescribed by the regulatory body.
* The Union of India, the AERB and the NPCIL should take steps at the earliest to comply with rest of the 17 recommendations, within the time stipulated in the affidavit filed by the NPCIL Dec 3, 2012.
* SNF is not being re-processed at the site, which has to be transported to a Re-Processing facility. Therefore, the management and transportation of SNF be carried out strictly by the code of practices laid down by the AERB, following the norms and regulations laid down by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
* The NPCIL, the AERB and Tamil Nadu should take adequate steps to implement the National Disaster Management Guidelines, 2009 and also carry out the periodical emergency exercises on-site and off-site.
* The NPCIL, in association with the Tiruneveli district collector should take steps to discharge corporate social responsibilities.
* The NPCIL and Tamil Nadu, based on the comprehensive emergency preparedness plan, should conduct training courses on-site and off-site.
