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SC rejects petitioner's plea to close down Kudankulam plant, grants time till 2022 to build AFR facility

The apex court, which had earlier granted time till May 30 this year for the purpose, extended the time for the NPCIL to set up the 'Away From Reactor Facility' (AFR) to store the spent nuclear fue

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The Supreme Court today directed the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) to set up a facility for safe storage of radio-active spent nuclear fuel at Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) by April 2022. It rejected the plea of the petitioner to close down Kudankulum nuclear plant out of safety concerns. 

The apex court, which had earlier granted time till May 30 this year for the purpose, extended the time for the NPCIL to set up the 'Away From Reactor Facility' (AFR) to store the spent nuclear fuel. A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud considered the submission of Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the corporation, that the deadline for setting up of the storage facility be extended till April 30, 2022.

The bench, however, made it clear that no further extension of time shall be granted to the corporation for setting up of the AFR at the nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu. The apex court had earlier allowed the Centre to operationalise the nuclear plant subject to compliance of various safety measures including the safe storage of the spent nuclear fuel. 

Supreme Court essentially rejected petitioner's plea to shut down the plant till AFR facility is built. Petitioner Prashant Bhushan said that the nuclear plant operating without 'deep underground repository' is extemely risky with  possible catastrophic fallout. 

Bhushan cited example of Fukushima to say how atmosphere remains contaminated in case of a nuclear accident. 

“I don’t want to stop anything... but how can they store spent fuel in the plant itself? What if there is an accident in the plant", said Bhushan in SC, reports The Hindu. He also said that reactor has been shit down over 70 times due to various reasons since October 2013. SC though showed leniency and said that in public interest, NPCIL will be given an extension to complete the work.

With PTI inputs

 

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