Madras high court notice on plea against Koodangulam Nuclear Power Project 3, 4 units
Chennai: The Madras high court has ordered notice to the authorities on a petition seeking to restrain Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and Koodangulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) from establishing KKNPP 3 and 4 units.
The first Bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M. Sundar, before which the PIL filed by G. Sundarrajan, managing trustee of 'Poovulagin Nanbargal' came up for hearing, has ordered notice and posted the matter to September 15 for further hearing.
In the petition, Sundarrajan submitted that as per norms an area up to 1.6 km radius around the plant shall be physically isolated from external areas by plant fencing and no public habitation permitted in the area. This 'exclusion zone' comes under the control of the plant. Surrounding the exclusion zone - a radius of 5 km known as 'sterilized zone' and only natural growth shall be permitted.
As per norms, there should be no population comprising more than 10,000 persons within 10 km of the plant and there should be no population of more than one lakh persons within 30 km from the plant and the total population in the 'sterilised zone' should be smaller, preferably less than 20,000.
Six villages having a population of more than 10,000 persons each located within a distance of 10 km from the site for the proposed KKNPP Units 3 to 6. The AERB could not have granted consent for the site in 2011. Violating this AERB passed an order on according sanction to the new units.
He said the order of AERB granting site consent for KKNPP units 3 to 6 is violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
It may be noted that the KKNPP units 3 and 4, with a production capacity of 1,000 MW each, area being built with the help of the Russians. The project would complete in about 69 months from the time construction starts.
