PMANE’s Statement Demanding an Immediate Stop to the Koodankulam NPP Expansion

 

It has just been announced that the Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi and the Russian President Mr. Valdimir Putin will do the “Base Concreting Work” for the Koodankulam nuclear power plant units 3 and 4 at 1:05 pm on October 15, 2016, Saturday through video-conferencing. It may be remembered that these two leaders dedicated the first unit to the nation a few months back through video conferencing. But the same first reactor is going to be shut down again in December this year for two months for re-fuelling. It must be noted that the same unit was shut down for seven months for re-fuelling earlier this year. The point here is that the first two units of the Koodankulam nuclear power project are sub-standard, unsafe and unviable. In order to hide their complete failure with them, the Indian and Russian governments are doing another gimmick in the name of “Base Concreting Work” even before they undertake the first pour of concrete in the first quarter of 2017.

Since Mr. Putin is here in Goa, India, he could have easily gone to Koodankulam along with Mr. Modi and do this masonry job physically at the auspicious time they have chosen. All these video-conference dedication and video-conference concreting show that their product is defective and that they are afraid to meet the people.

These two leaders must tell the people of India what liability arrangements they have done for the first two reactors at Koodankulam. They should also explain to the people of India why reactors 3 and 4 cost almost double the amount of the first two reactors without incorporating any supplier liability. Furthermore they should explain to the Indian what they are going to do with the spent-fuel and nuclear waste that come from the Koodankulam project.

We strongly condemn the video-conferencing gimmicks of these two leaders and their respective governments. We demand that they stop the Koodankulam expansion right away and take the people of India (especially the people of Tamil Nadu and Kerala) into confidence by sharing the Site Evaluation Report, Safety Analysis Report, Emergency Preparedness Report and all other public documents with regards to the first two reactors and the expansion programs before they go ahead with their authoritarian and undemocratic nuclear power project.

 

People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE)

National Alliance of Anti-nuclear Movements (NAAM)