Shelve Jaitapur project: Lok Sabha members

Members in the Lok Sabha today drew the attention of the government to the proposed nuclear plant at Jaitapur and said since the region came under seismic zone the project should be shelved as a Japan-like situation could arise there.

Raising the issue during the zero hour, CPI(M)'s Ramchandra Dome said the proposed 9900 MW nuclear plant at Jaitapur in Maharashtra falls under seismic zone III as per the report of the Geological Survey of India.

"The region has faced 92 earthquakes since 1985. In 1993, one of the biggest earthquakes measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale occurred," Dome said.

He said the scientific data shows the soil in the region is unstable.

Dome said though he had "good faith in our scientists" and was not against civil use of nuclear energy the project for a nuclear plant at Jaitapur should be shelved as hundreds of farmers and fishermen would be affected in the event of an earthquake.

The member cited the damage caused to nuclear power installations in Japan by the recent massive earthquake to reinforce his point.

Saidul Haque [(CPI(M)] spoke on similar lines and asked the government not to go ahead with the project.