Jaitapur site vulnerable to earthquakes: US-based geologist

A US-based geologist has dismissed Maharashtra government's claim over the safety of the proposed nuclear plant site at Jaitapur, stating that the site is vulnerable to quakes.

"Since Jaitapur lies in the same compressional stress regime that has been responsible for generating two major earthquakes at Latur and Koyna in the past five decades it can be argued that a similarly intense quake could possibly occur directly beneath the power plant," Prof Dr Roger Bilham of the University of Colarado said here.

Dismissing government's claim that the nuclear plant site falls under seismic zone 3, Dr Bilham said "it falls under seismic zone 4, which means there is a threat of high damage".

"If you don't have history of earthquake you cannot do a statistical study. Either there were no earthquakes or historians have not written it down," he added.

He said it was not possible to confidently say that an earthquake of a "high magnitude" would not occur in Jaitapur as one needs to examine reliable data spanning many centuries in order to do so.

"With regard to Jaitapur, the available data that can be relied upon only extends to last 200 years -- a small time in geological history," he said at a press conference organised by environmental organisation Greenpeace.

Former Scientific Officer of the BARC Pradeep Indulkar said that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) prepared by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), that had claimed that the proposed site in Ratnagiri district fell under zone 3 as opposed to being zone 4, does not address the true seismicity of the region.

"Small earthquakes are more dangerous than the bigger ones as they give major jerks to the nuclear plant," he said.

"The outer surface of the nuclear plant can be made stronger with the help of technology. However, due to jerks inside the nuclear plants leakages can take place as there are delicate complex parts," he added.