Should India go ahead with the Jaitapur nuclear power plant after Japan's nuclear reactor meltdown?

In the aftermath of the earthquake of magnitude 8.9 in Japan, the Fukushima nuclear reactor, 250 kilometres north of Tokyo, exploded on March 12, leading to massive radiation leaks. Nearly 45,000 people living within a 10km radius of the plant were evacuated and a nationwide atomic alert was issued.

The explosion has raised questions over the safety of the nuclear power plants in general and the proposed Jaitapur nuclear power plant in Maharashtra in particular. The site and its surrounding areas in the Konkan region are said to be earthquake-prone and experienced 91 tremors between 1985 and 2005 ranging in intensity from 2.9 to 6.3 on the Richter scale.

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited insists the Jaitapur plant is under no threat from earthquakes as adequate safety measures have been taken to deal with even severe earthquakes.

But are you convinced? Is it safe for the government to go ahead with the Jaitapur project? Or should we take the incident in Japan as a warning and call off the project?