nuclear-news

The application was filed earlier this week by NGOs Common Cause and Centre for Public Interest Litigation as well as some prominent citizens.

On November 14, acting on the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by these NGOs and citizens, a Bench headed by the Chief Justice, Mr S.H. Kapadia, had asked the petitioners to first write to the Government on the matter.

The apex court had adjourned the matter saying it would consider the petition only after the petitioners show that they had moved the concerned department regarding their grievances.

It will now hear the matter again on December 5.   Advocate Mr Prashant Bhushan, representing the petitioners, had said that they had already written to the Department of Atomic Energy about the concerns on nuclear safety but the Government failed to take any action despite their representations.

The petitioners in the PIL include the two NGOs as well as prominent persons such as former Cabinet Secretary Mr T.S.R. Subramanian, former Chief Election Commissioner, Mr N. Gopalaswami, and former Navy Chief Admiral L. Ramdas.

They wanted the apex court asking to direct that an independent expert body conduct a thorough safety re-assessment of the country’s existing and proposed nuclear facilities.

The PIL also sought the court’s direction for the expert body to carry out a thorough cost-benefit analysis of all proposed nuclear facilities and a comparative cost-benefit analysis vis-à-vis other sources of energy.

The petitioners also wanted the court to “issue an appropriate writ cancelling clearances given to the proposed nuclear power plants and staying all proposed nuclear power plants till the requisite safety assessment studies, thorough comparative cost-benefit analysis and meaningful public hearings are carried out by or under the supervision of an independent expert body.”

The new application of the petitioners said that a recent BBC survey said 77 per cent of Indians do not support the building of nuclear plants.

Most countries have not installed any nuclear reactors in the last 25-30 years, it said, adding that nuclear energy has been on a decline due to its costs and risks.

But the Government has decided to install mega-nuclear parks costing lakhs of crores of rupees without any safety analysis, it said.

“This reckless expansion of nuclear energy could have potentially disastrous consequences for the people of the country and therefore violates their right to life and environment.

In a densely populated country like India, a nuclear accident can affect lakhs of people,” it said….

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/article2687093.ece