Visakhapatnam: The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has accepted the fresh Terms of Reference (ToR) the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) had submitted to conduct the new Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) for the nuclear power plant at Kovvada in Srikakulam district. The earlier EIA report had lapsed as per the guidelines of MoEF.
The NPCIL is now gearing up to conduct the EIA study from December first week. The environment study will be conducted during summer, winter and monsoon. After the EIA is submitted to MoEF the environmental public hearing will be held to seek the final nod to go ahead with the plant. Meanwhile, the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) survey by the AP government in villages that are going to be affected was also completed. The state government had also issued a notification for conducting the public hearing on the SIA report. Two weeks from now, the SIA report on the public hearing will be held.
A fresh EIA study was necessitated due to the changes in reactors rating. The move came in the backdrop of GE-Hitachi showing no interest in the proposed power plant project at Kovvada though the land was offered to it. After GE-Hitachi expressed its inability to partner in KNP, another American company Toshiba Corp's Westinghouse Electric was offered the Kovvada site by NPCIL. While GE-Hitachi's nuclear reactors were of 1593 MW capacity Westinghouse Electric's AP-1000 Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) is of 1,100 MW capacity.
Westinghouse Electric was earlier offered a site at Mithi Virdi in Gujarat for a nuclear power plant which was now shifted to Kovvada after widespread public opposition in the state. "Now that the fresh ToR was approved by MoEF we will start EIA from December first week. After the EIA study for three seasons, the report will be submitted to MoEF and put in the public domain to seek objections. In the later stage environment, public hearing will be held for the final nod from MoEF. Land alienation proposals were also submitted to the state government. There are many positives we have found in the SIA report," NPCIL chief engineer and Kovvada Nuclear Park (KNP) project director, G. Venkata Ramesh told DC. It is learnt that the ToR prepared by the NPCIL for the Mithi Virdi site in Gujarat offered to Westinghouse was submitted to MoEF.
