nuclear-news

Call for Russian accountability in nuclear power reactors sold to India

Bring Russia under N-liability clause: Activists  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Bring-Russia-under-N-liability-clause-Activists/articleshow/15370086.cms  TNN | Aug 6, 2012,  CHENNAI: People’s Movement for Nuclear Energy (PMANE) on Sunday demanded that the Centre scrap the 2008 Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with Russia as it puts the onus on the Indian government and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) for any damage in the event of an accident occurring at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) site in Tamil Nadu.

PMANE convenor S P Udayakumar, in a letter to MPs from TN and other states, stated that the agreement in effect boiled down to the Russian government or their companies having no liability whatsoever for their technology and the equipment used at the site.

He said that under Article 13 of the IGA, the operator of the power plant units at the site would be fully responsible for any damage within and outside the Indian territory caused to any person and property. This simply allows the polluter to go scot free.

He said any blanket waiver to the foreign suppliers would make the Nuclear Liability Act a cruel joke. “Russians claim that the Kudankulam reactors are the best and the safest in the world. If that is so, why should they shy away from offering any liability for their technology and components, but keep insisting that the Indian operator, NPCIL, is responsible for all damages?” he asked.

PMANE’s reaction comes in the wake of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh questioning the department of atomic energy’s decision not to exercise its ‘right to recourse’ in the event of a nuclear accident in the up-coming units 3 and 4.

August 6, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, politics international