Environment activists from India, Lanka unite against Kudankulam

Lankan govt has also protested and voiced reservations against the project

Indian and Sri Lankan environment activists are planning a series of joint protests against the proposed Kudankulam nuclear plant in southern Tamil Nadu.

“Several environmental groups are protesting in that country (Sri Lanka), too. We are in touch with the environmental organisations there on a regular basis. Last week, one of them had organised a protest in front of the Indian Embassy in Sri Lanka and we are looking to take this tie-up forward,” said M Pushpanarayan, leader of the Tamil Nadu-based People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), which has completed 583 days of continuous protests against the project.

Sri Lankan environmental groups such as ‘Greens for Change’, too, are in touch with activists on the Indian side. Environmental groups have continued to protest against Kudankulam, even after India’s clarification that 20 of its commissioned nuclear reactors were safe and built with adequate earthquake emergency backup.

Not just Sri Lankan activists, but even the Lankan government has also protested and voiced reservations against the project.

“There are safety concerns related to the Kudankulam plant, which we still have. India must take necessary steps before going ahead with the plan,” Ranjith Laxman Wijayawardana, Chairman, the Atomic Energy Authority, Sri Lanka, told Business Standard.

Of the 20 reactors that India has, only two at Tarapur are of the boiling water reactor type, similar to those in Fukushima and the remaining are pressurised heavy water reactors.

CCS nod for two more n-plants at Kudankulam

As engineers race to commission the nuclear power plant at Kudankulam, the government has given its nod to build two more such units of 1,000 Mw at the site in Tirunelveli district of power-starved Tamil Nadu. The Cabinet Committee on Security, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday, approved the proposal to grant administrative and financial sanction for building units 3&4 at the site.