Jaitapur N-plant gets expert nod

Environment minister Jairam Ramesh is expected to clear India’s biggest nuclear plant — to be set up by a French firm — in two weeks, in time for the arrival of French President Nicolas Sarkozy in India.

Updated on: Nov 19, 2010, 02:11:46 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Environment minister Jairam Ramesh is expected to clear India’s biggest nuclear plant — to be set up by a French firm — in two weeks, in time for the arrival of French President Nicolas Sarkozy in India.

The last hurdle for 10,000 MW plant in Jaitapur district, Maharashtra was cleared on Monday when an environment ministry panel considered the Department of Atomic Energy’s environment impact assessment report of the plant being built by French firm Areva.

“Very soon approval will be announced,” said a ministry official when asked about the Expert Appraisal Committee’s decision. It will soon submit its suggestions to Ramesh. “You can expect the approval in two weeks and that is well before President Sarkozy’s visit to India”.

The agreement between Areva and Department of Atomic Energy is expected to be signed in Sarkozy’s presence.

Officials said most hurdles for the plant have been cleared. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India, the project proponent, has been asked to put the revised environment impact assessment report on its website.

The EAC had visited the site on October 27 to find whether the project would have an adverse impact amid protest by locals, who claim the plant will destroy a plateau in Western Ghats.

The report prepared by National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) had said there will be no adverse impact. “It is a rocky and barren land with no habitation and vegetation... Thus, the conversion of this land will have no impact on the flora, fauna and human activities,” the report read.

But, those opposing the project claim that the plateau has a seasonal bio-diversity for which NEERI did not collect any data. The Konkan Bachao Andolan had also alleged that the information on impact of radioactivity from the plant on locals have not been shared with them.

The EAC now appears to have validated the NEERI claim, enough to grant clearance to the project.

Done deal?

The 10,000 MW nuclear power park will be set up in 968 acres Jaitapur district.

The land required for the project has been acquired.

Nuclear Power Corporation of India had claimed that not a single family would be displaced since 67% of the land being acquired is barren.

Some opposed the plan, said that radiation hazards have not been studied.

The EAC has reportedly told that this aspect has been studied.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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