Activists protest against Prithviraj Chavan’s Jaitapur comments

Even before the intra-ministry spat over the Navi Mumbai airport has settled, the comments made by union minister  of state for science and technology Prithviraj Chavan over the proposed Jaitapur nuclear power project, which is yet to gain environment clearance, have invited voices of discontent from activists and experts.

At a press conference on Saturday in Mumbai, Chavan had given a clean-chit to the 9,600mw nuclear power project, saying the project is secure as far as environmental issues are concerned.

The committee against the proposed nuclear project is outraged by the minister’s statement and has called it ‘pre-conditioning’ for the nuclear power project.

“The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) hasn’t cleared the environment impact assessment (EIA) report yet. Then how can a minister from the central government make such statements? The report is yet to be presented before the expert appraisal committee. The final decision can be taken only after that,” said Advait Pednekar of the Konkan Bachao Samiti (KBS).

The MoEF has already been at loggerheads with a number of other ministries for not giving environmental clearances.

The KBS, which is against the power project, has also alleged that Chavan’s comments over nuclear waste have created a lot of confusion. The minister had claimed that nuclear waste generated from the proposed Jaitapur nuclear power plant will be reprocessed.

“The reprocessing of nuclear waste is a highly polluting process and has been stopped all over the world over environmental concerns.

The EIA report prepared for the Jaitapur project does not even mention reprocessing units,” said Pradeep Indulkar of the anti-nuclear project committee.

“Reprocessing or disposal of nuclear waste is next to impossible, as it remains active for nearly 10,000 years. None of the developed countries, including the United States, has managed to find a solution for this,” said Satyajit Chavan, of the committee.

The KBS alleges that the EIA report talks about nuclear waste management only for the next 100 years.

“It is important for any nuclear project to have a perfect waste management plant before it actually comes up. Konkan land is made up of laterite (porous rock), and the area receives high rainfall. The site where nuclear waste is to be buried should be of non-porous rock and should receive low rainfall,” said Pednekar.

The activists demanded that the minister apologise to the nation for his statement.