File affidavit on implementation, compliance of guidelines

The Madras High Court today directed Tamil Nadu government to file an affidavit on implementation and compliance of guidelines for disposal of radioactive waste stored in and around Madras Atomic Power Station at Kalpakkam in Kanchipuram district as mandated by Atomic Energy Regulatory Board in is August 31 2011 report.
The first bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M M Sundresh before which a PIL filed by an advocate M Vetri Selvan came up today, stated this after recording the affidavit of the central government which stated that all their requirements have been fulfilled.
The state government submitted that implementation of the guidelines will be taken up in phased manner, to which the bench asked it to file an affidavit, setting out the compliance with the guidelines within four weeks from today.

The petitioner, associated with 'Poovulagin Nanbargal", a registered public trust working for protection of environment, questioned the 'failure' of authorities to implement the guidelines on management of nuclear and radiological emergencies with regard to MAPS.
Mentioning the heavy water leaks on March 26, 1999 in MAPS when seven people received full radiation, he said even after a caution by the former AERB Chairman, there were two more incidents in 2001 and 2002.
He said an estimated 30,000 workers live in five villages within five km radius from MAPS. There is a DAE township with thousands of permanent workers and their families.

Within a 16 km to 20 km radius from MAPS, there are about 60 villages where more than one lakh people live. Since plant operations began in early 1980s, incidents of cancer and auto-immune thyroid diseases in the surrounding villages had increased, he alleged and reffered to the case of a minor child of a contract labourer, diagnosed with cancer of eyes.

Doctors had said radiation from the plant was responsible for the child's condition, he quoted doctors as having said.
The petitioner said AERB had also admitted that no environmental clearance on storage of spent fuel in MAPS has ever been obtained by the respondent - authorities. Obviously, unstoppable and unstorable nuclear waste would always have environmental impact. It was saddening to note that without this, MAPS was functioning for more than three decades, he said.

He referred to the 2013 verdict of the Supreme Court in G Sundarrajan Vs Union of India and others. The apex court had said that no plant, specifically one dealing with radioactive material, can be allowed to function or commission even if it has been cleared by AEC, AERB, NPCIL unless it strictly conforms to standards set by the statutory authorities like MoEF, TNPCB and follow environmental laws."
MAPS' failure to make a fresh Environment Impact Assessment and obtain a fresh Environmental Clearance would be violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, the petitioner claimed and sought a directive that the units be run with all fresh clearances and guidelines as per AERB and other authorities concerned.