Nuclear liability According to the
Areva lack of clarity on
The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2010 passed in Indian Parliament in August 2010 is a hurdle in finalising deal. This Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2010 has a clause that deals with the legal binding of the culpable groups in case of a nuclear accident. It allows only the operator (NPCIL) to sue the manufacturers and suppliers. Victims will not be able to sue anyone. In reality, no one will be considered legally liable because the recourse taken by the operator will yield only . United States of America has a law on liability-related issues for all non-military nuclear facilities constructed in the United States before 2026 named
Price–Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act. This American Act establishes a no fault insurance-type system in which the first $10 billion is industry-funded as described in the Act (any claims above the $10 billion would be covered by the federal government).
Debate Debate on nuclear power project at Jaitapur is ongoing on various levels.
Environmental effects of nuclear power and geological issues have been raised by
anti nuclear activists of India against this power project. Even though the
Government of Maharashtra state completed land acquisition in January 2010, only 33 out of the 2,335 villagers had accepted compensation cheques as of November 2010. As of 12 February 2014, land compensation has been accepted by all 2336 title holders. A public hearing on the
environmental impact assessment (EIA) Report, prepared by NEERI was conducted by
Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, on behalf of
Ministry of Environment and Forests on 16 April 2010, at the plant site. The public hearing became controversial as the EIA report was not delivered for study to 3 of the 4
Gram panchayats (local village bodies) a month in advance. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has also been filed against the government's civil nuclear program at the apex Supreme Court. The PIL specifically asks for the "staying of all proposed nuclear power plants till satisfactory safety measures and cost-benefit analysis are completed by independent agencies".
Opponents Since Jaitapur is a
seismically sensitive area, the danger of an earthquake has been foremost on the minds of people. According to the
Earthquake hazard zoning of India, Jaitapur comes under Zone III. This zone is called the moderate Risk Zone and covers areas liable to
MSK VIII. The presence of two major creeks on the proposed site has been ignored while clearing the site. It is not clear where the
nuclear waste from the site will be shipped for recycling or removed for disposal. The plant is estimated to generate 300 tonnes of
used nuclear fuel each year, the volume of a 2.5 m sided cube. Owing to the
Generation III reactors having a higher fuel efficiency than previous Gen II designs, the smaller amount of used nuclear fuel from an EPR will contain "four times" as much
fission products by volume,
Iodine,
Caesium, etc., compared to presently operating Gen II
pressurised water reactors. An independent social impact assessment review of the project are being conducted by the Jamsetji Tata Centre for Disaster Management of the
Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). According to this report, the Government of India has not been fully transparent with its citizens, and is hiding the huge negative impacts on the social and environmental development of the
Konkan region in general. The government is allegedly manipulating the area seismic risk level, lowering it from high severity earthquake zone to moderate
seismic severity zone. The report has been contested by NPCIL stating that they have done sufficient sensitization of the public and the exclusion of reprocessing plant from the 'environmental impact assessment report' was because there were no plan to establish one in Jaitapur.
Proponents Proponents are advocating the Jaitapur Project as safe, environmentally benign and an economically viable source of electrical energy to meet the increasing electricity needs of India. They argue that nuclear power is a
sustainable energy source that reduces
carbon emissions and increases
energy security by decreasing India's dependence on foreign oil. The promoter of Jaitapur project is
Nuclear Power Corporation of India. It is a
public Sector Enterprise under the administrative control of the
Department of Atomic Energy (India). As of 2010, India is sixth in rank, after USA, France, Japan, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Korea, to have twenty or more nuclear power reactors in operation. According to former chairman of
Atomic Energy Commission Anil Kakodkar, the Jaitapur site is the best as it fulfilled the technical and scientific requirements for a nuclear power plant. It is proposed that the spent fuel generated at this nuclear power plant be recycled. Only five percent of it would be encapsulated and stored for 30 to 40 years, till scientists develop some technology to treat it. The
environmental impact assessment and other associated studies of the Jaitapur project have been carried out in detail over the last few years by
National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI),
Nagpur in collaboration with several other reputed organisations specialising in specific environment studies. These studies include
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Pre-operational Baseline Radiological Survey of the Area around JNPP Site, Central Water and Power Research Station Pune,
Thermal Dispersion Studies for Condenser Cooling Water (CCW) Discharges,
Konkan Krishi Vidyapith,
College of Forestry, Dapoli,
Baseline Biodiversity Study of the area around JNPP Site.
Nuclear Power Corporation of India has declared that 1.5 to 2 percent of the net profit from Jaitapur plant would be spent in that area only. Development projects will be decided by local people and NPC will provide the funds to ensure development of these areas. == Protests ==