nuclear-news

Protestors in Kerala want the State Government to take a stand on the Kudankulam plant as the Tamil Nadu Government had done. In case of a nuclear accident at Kudankulam, the districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Pathanamthitta districts of Kerala could be directly affected. Radiation carried by winds can affect Idukki and Kottayam districts as well, they say.

“About 25-years ago, Keralites had defeated a bid to install a nuclear power plant here. Now a huge plant is preparing to go on stream in our neighbourhood. Kudankulam is indeed in Tamil Nadu territorially but it is as good as we had it in Kerala when we think of the possible effects of an accident,” said Mohandas, an anti-nuclear plant campaigner.

Kerala-wide protests in mid-1980s had forced the Government to drop its plan to set up a nuclear power project in the State at Kothamangalam or Peringome. Since then, no Government has ever revisited the idea of nuclear power despite serious power deficits the State with high population density had been witnessing summer after summer.

According to anti-project activists like N Subramanian, the Kudankulam project, if not abandoned, will remain a nuclear time bomb ticking in Kerala’s neighbourhood. It is not just an issue between the people of the Kudankulam region and the Central Government but it is also a problem for Keralites, they argue.

Fishermen’s forums in Kerala are also in the forefront of protests against the nuclear power project. They point out that the effects of any leak or other accident at the Kudankulam nuclear plant will not be limited to the fishing sector of Tamil Nadu coast alone. They quote weathermen to suggest that the radiations could be carried into the Kerala coasts as well.