Kudankulam plant is safe beyond any doubt, Centre tells SC

Appearing before a bench of justices K S Radhakrishanan and Deepak Misra, Attorney General G E Vahanvati said the Kudankulam plant is absolutely safe beyond all doubts and all the apprehensions are misplaced.

The bench also asked the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) to give details safety measures to be placed at different stages before the plant is commissioned.

Vahanvati said the 17 safety measures sought to be placed was not the condition precedent for the operation and commissioning of the plant as other safety measures are good enough to withstand the Fukushima type of Tsunami.

He said the 17 measures were the additional safety measures evolved to be put in place in phased manner to ensure that the plant is fully safe.

Attorney General Vahanvati submitted that the anti-nuclear activists were proceeding on wrong assumption that task force was appointed by the government. He said it was appointed by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCL) and approved by the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP).

The reports given by the NPCL are reviewed by the Project Advisory Board which is under the AERB, he said adding that all the recommendations on safety aspect also go through the high level committee appointed by the AERB. (More)