French envoy meets Chavan to ensure Jaitapur progress

The French ambassador to India met Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan in the wake of the agitation against the 10,000-Mw Jaitapur nuclear power project in Ratnagiri district. The reactors are to come from Areva of France, and the company’s India head, Arthur de Montalembert French firm was also present.

Project critics and opponents have raised safety issues on Areva’s Evolutionary Pressurised Reactors (EPRs). Six of them, if 1,650-Mw each, will be installed at Jaitapur. The Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) and the state and central governments have strongly defended the EPR technology. NPC and Areva have agreed on preliminary contracts and are expected to sign a definitive agreement by June.

Chavan is expected to visit the project site on February 26. His office told Business Standard: “The Maharashtra government has assured all possible assistance for the project development. The CM informed the French ambassador about his meeting with stakeholders on January 18 to discuss various issues pertaining to the project.”

The French Consul-General’s office and that of the Areva India declined to comment on the meeting. Critics say EPRs would use sea water as a coolant and this would result in a sharp rise in temperature when superheated water would be discharged into the sea. This would also adversely affect the local fishing community. They have also raised doubts on Areva’s record and its finances.

The ambassador and the Areva India chief told the CM the design of the EPRs’ cooling chain takes into account strict Indian regulations and would keep the cooling seawater temperature increase below 7°C. Comprehensive sea flow models have been computed by NPC to verify proper lukewarm sea water dilution. Further, the EPR has modern safety features designed to contain the consequences of an unlikely accident to the limits of the plant itself, avoiding negative impact on the environment around.

They added that Areva had consistently shown commitment to working in cooperation with national authorities to achieve the highest levels of safety, and no regulatory body anywhere had questioned the overall level of safety of the EPRs.

Also, goes the defence, the EPR site would generate its own fresh water. Neither the water table nor other available fresh water resources would be tapped. Instead, the facility would rely on its own desalination plant, converting sea water into demineralised water for reactor operations, and into fresh potable water for the other needs on site and in the colony.