Bengal Nuclear Plant Sites To Be Finalised Today

The nodal agency for selection of sites for a 2,000 mw nuclear power station in West Bengal is expected to finalise today four sites from about a dozen possible sites in four districts of the state.

The selected sites will be communicated to the Site Selection Committee of the Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) immediately thereafter. The final selection of the site, however, will depend on the committee's opinion on various sites not only in West Bengal but also in Bihar and Orissa.

Though the first stage of the power station will have two units of 500 mw each, there will be a second stage of equal capacity. At Rs 5.9 crore per mega watt, the plant will cost nearly Rs 12,000 crore at current price level.

 

The state government will favour the plant to be set up in the South 24 Parganas district. A team led by Barun Ray, the additional district magistrate (development) has identified six possible sites in the district. The team also included senior district leaders of the CPM - Samir Pututunda, the district secretary, Radhikaranjan Pramanik, MP, and, Kantiranjan Ganguly, a Calcutta Corporation functionary.

Four of these sites are around the confluence of the rivers Matla and Piyali. Land is available all around the place. The plant on any of these four sites will be able to draw water from the confluence.

Two other sites are at the Kulpi area on the eastern bank of the Hooghly river. One is at Tangrar Chawk, and, the other at Nischindipur, the two sites being about 10 kilometer of each other. All the proposed six sites are about 80 km. from Calcutta.

The district administration considers the two sites on the bank of the Hooghly as better sites considering the close proximity to the highway, settled firm land and availability of electric power. It is also possible to approach the sites from the river.

However, the only possible negative point could be the sites' closeness to the Haldia industrial belt. The industrial township is just the opposite to these two sites. The exact aerial distance between the two banks of the rivers is being looked into. This is going to be the eastern region's first nuclear power station reflecting a major policy change of the Government of India that the coal-rich eastern region need not have a nuclear power plant.

The Nodal Agency has written to the district magistrates of North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Purulia and Darjeeling districts for finding suitable sites for the plant keeping in view various parameters set by the NPC.

The nodal agency will meet under the chairmanship of the state chief secretary, Manish Gupta on Wednesday. Nayek, secretary, Site Selection Committee, NPC, will also be present at the meeting.

The plant will require 1,000 hectares (7,000 bighas) of land. The water requirement will be 24,000 cubic meter of water per hour of which 50 per cent will be consumptive.

The CPM leaders believe that both the Hooghly and the Matla-Piyali confluence have enough water to cater to the plant's demand.