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India’s Jaitapur nuclear ambitions up against the people’s opposition

Regardless of their passionate convictions, the locals haven’t been given a choice in the matter, as the land acquired for the site was forcibly done so. Residents were offered money for their seized property, but many refused to be reimbursed as a form of protest. The government offered 1.5 million rupees ($33,000) per hectare (2.5 acres) and has seized over 2,300 acres, but roughly only 150 of the 2,000+ landowners accepted the money…….

India’s Nuclear Power Future: Tensions Rise As Plans Commence, Green Answers, By Elizabeth Barris , 07/28/2011  Jaitapur is one of India’s most productive agricultural ports, renowned for Alphonso mangoes, cashews, and its abundant fishing industry. Although many homes lack electricity, life is good for villagers, who thrive on fruit and fish exports. But this way of life is threatened by the Indian government’s plans to build the world’s largest nuclear power plant on forcibly-acquired farmland. The people of Jaitapur are not happy about this at all, and since Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi disaster, tensions are running higher than ever.

Jaitapur is intended to be the location that heads up India’s technological renaissance, and even though the country would not sign the global Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the U.S. engaged in a diplomatic effort in 2008 to help India purchase civil nuclear information and uranium fuel from Western nations. Nonetheless, progress has been slow, and Senator Hillary Clinton visited India this week in an attempt to overcome some of the legal formalities for U.S. nuclear firms.

But legal formalities are only part of the nuclear project’s problem, as their dealings with the United States are faced with a great deal of mistrust. A. Gopalakhrishnan, former chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Regulatory Board comments, “The U.S. interest in promoting nuclear power in India is solely because of their interest in establishing a huge market for [their] power business and not because of any charitable distribution to the power-starved millions in India.”

Gopalakhrishnan’s view is backed by thousands of others in India, who promise a tough road ahead for nuclear power in India. Opposed citizens have made this clear in protests, which became violent this spring following the events of the Fukushima power plant. ……..It is also an area of regular seismic activity, and has had at least 95 earthquakes in 20 years……….Regardless of their passionate convictions, the locals haven’t been given a choice in the matter, as the land acquired for the site was forcibly done so. Residents were offered money for their seized property, but many refused to be reimbursed as a form of protest. The government offered 1.5 million rupees ($33,000) per hectare (2.5 acres) and has seized over 2,300 acres, but roughly only 150 of the 2,000+ landowners accepted the money…….
http://greenanswers.com/news/253566/indias-nuclear-power-future-tensions-rise-plans-commence

July 29, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, opposition to nuclear