Alang yard stares at closure

AHMEDABAD: A spectre of relocation or even a closure looms large over the Sosiya ship-breaking yard in Gujarat, which is a part of the world’s biggest ship dismantling facility - Alang. The yard reportedly falls within five kms radius of the 4000 MW nuclear power station planned at Mithivirdi.

Sosiya occupies almost 4 km of the total 10 km Alang-Sosiya ship-breaking yard and separated from it only by one bridge. Mithivirdi is about 10 kms north of Alang and Sosiya.

Highly placed government sources told DNA Money that Sosiya falls within the prescribed danger limit of the sixth nuclear reactor of the proposed plant.

Incidentally, Mithivirdi, now picked by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPICL) as a preferred coastal site for a nuclear power project, was earlier one of the five greenfield sites selected by the Gujarat government to be developed as a deep-draft port.