India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

[negi]

You guys read too much into this tamasha when was it last that a big infra project was completed without any agitation ? Be it Tehri project, or even the first phase of KKNP there was always a section of crowd which was skeptical of these big projects and to be honest it is true for everyone for instance when they made a flyover near Lata Mangeshkar's house she raised a big hue and cry about it, no farmer would like a factory come up near his fields . The Naval base in Arakkonam was initially not well recieved by the locals , the IN is still fighting cases over illegal encroachment in Goa ; the environmentalists have been wailing since ages against Chandipur MTR or even the Neutrino detector so how is this any different from what we have seen in the past ? Even in the worst case scenario a la-Singhur the project itself shall move to some other place (although I don't think that will happen) as of now the way I see things KKNP shall be built as per Indian standard time.

[SSridhar]

Negi saab, totally agreed. But, it still has to be fought.

[Yogi_G]

In the the context of this movement being backed by Church. So I walk into this scan centre which is run by a Xtian trust. All employees in this scan centre, as expected were Xtian. The employees were glued on to some Tamil Xtian channel and then switching back and forth between the news channels reporting on this protest. The discussion when I walked in was only on Kudankulam and I seemed to be disturbing them (imagine, customer bothering them). That's when I realized this movement is being closely tracked by the Xtians. Some of my employees who are Xtian also seem to have this as a hot topic in chain mails. Church reached critical mass in Kerala long time ago and influenced elections, now TN seems to have reached this mass. Andhra won't be far away.

[chetak]

In the the context of this movement being backed by Church. So I walk into this scan centre which is run by a Xtian trust. All employees in this scan centre, as expected were Xtian. The employees were glued on to some Tamil Xtian channel and then switching back and forth between the news channels reporting on this protest. The discussion when I walked in was only on Kudankulam and I seemed to be disturbing them (imagine, customer bothering them). That's when I realized this movement is being closely tracked by the Xtians. Some of my employees who are Xtian also seem to have this as a hot topic in chain mails. Church reached critical mass in Kerala long time ago and influenced elections, now TN seems to have reached this mass. Andhra won't be far away.

APJAK has said in his report that global forces and commercial / market forces are also at play here. ( scrolling news on all TV channels)

Why do we foolishly allow foreigners to interfere in our strategic projects??

Are we still dazzled by white skin???

[SSridhar]

APJAK has said in his report that global forces and commercial / market forces are also at play here. ( scrolling news on all TV channels)

Why do we foolishly allow foreigners to interfere in our strategic projects??

Are we still dazzled by white skin???

The 'greens' are there, then there are those local folks who are genuinely worried, a minuscule by themselves and the vast majority because of deliberate misinformation and then there are 'the others' who have a different agenda. That agenda ranges at one end, from the need to close ranks with the community even if they did not understand the situation (as Yogi_G pointed out for example) to anti-nationalism at the instigation of foreign agents, at the other end. The different categories, sub-categories have to be dealt with differently, from ignoring some completely to dealing with some 'severely'.

[Pratyush]

Kalam, as is usual for him makes good points and has come up with a technocrat's solution for the problem. The trouble is that the instigators of the agitation will not be convinced by the solution.

Kalam suggests 10-point action plan on KNPP project

Kalam said 1.5 km radius around the plant was an exclusive sterilised zone and the site came within the project and there was no question of any displacement of habitants. Contending that Tamil Nadu was free from seismic disturbances during the last 1000 years, he said the towers of Meenakshi Temple at Madurai and Big Temple at Thanjavur had not been affected by any earthquake. Citing the historic Grand Anicut built by Chola emperor Karikalan in the first century AD, Kalam said if the king had thought that the dam would burst and destroy humanity, the dam would not have come up and so the present apprehensions on KNPP were unnecessary and unwarranted.

“We are all caught too much with the disease of fear and danger. History is not made by cowards. Sheer crowd cannot bring about changes. Only those who think everything is possible can create history and bring about changes,” he said in an apparent attack on the protestors.

“Nuclear power is a God’s boon to human race and to make the best or the worst of it, totally lies in our hands,” he said, strongly batting for nuclear energy.

Beautifully said.

[Philip]

If Mahatma Gandhi was God's gift to India pre-Partition, APJ Kalam has been one of his greatest gifts to us post-Partition.His wisely chosen words about cowards never achieveing anything for the human race should signal an end to the controversy-that is if intellignt minds ruminate upon his words.However,if the quislings are still being pumped up by the foreign puppeteers,then we will have to take strong measures on the ground to deal with them.I agree about the foreign NGOs,etc.They should be rounded up and deported asap at the very least and the NGOs they represent banned from India.

[SSridhar]

There has been a 4-page write-up (complete 4 pages without ads etc.) on the necessity and safety of KKNPP by Shri APJAK in a local Tamil newspaper today. Yet to read that.

[Prasad]

There has been a 4-page write-up (complete 4 pages without ads etc.) on the necessity and safety of KKNPP by Shri APJAK in a local Tamil newspaper today. Yet to read that.

Which one sir?

[Philip]

The Hindu has also carried Kalam's report in full.

[SSridhar]

There has been a 4-page write-up (complete 4 pages without ads etc.) on the necessity and safety of KKNPP by Shri APJAK in a local Tamil newspaper today. Yet to read that.

Which one sir?

Dinamalar (yesterday's issue)

[Sanatanan]

[quote="Prasad"]Which one sir?[/quote][quote="SSridhar"]Dinamalar (yesterday's issue)[/quote]
For those interested in reading Dr APJAK's article published in Dinamalar, online, in Tamil, here is the URL (one can access the 11 sub-articles from this link):

http://www.dinamalar.com/news_main_kalam.asp

[Aditya_V]

Looks like a climb down, if Amma approves we are ok, We can then fry her in the next elections while we enjoy the power produced.

For these folks, APJ Kalam's word is not good enough, But Jayalalitha word is good enough- WTF

Jayalalithaa will take call on KKNPP: Activist

[svenkat]

There is intense pressure on the 'activists' to act reasonable,given the enormous respect Shri Abdul Kalamji commands in TN.Also TN is pro-development.People have started questioning the credentials of the 'activists'.

[devesh]

these days I keep saying in many posts that something is "very interesting". this is another occasion. The DMK is against the "sponsored" protesters while the AIADMK is for them!!!

[svenkat]

Devesh,
Good observation.But theres more (I think) than that meets the eye.

[ramana]

Kalamji bailing out UPA is altruistic especially when they did their best to ensure he doesn't get second term as President. This is second time he bailed them out. First time was the nuke deal.

Truly a mahatma..

[Pratyush]

Kalam is a patriot, he looks at a subject and decides if it is in the interests of the nation and the future of the country. Any one who has read the Scientific Indian and Ignited minds and India 2020. Will understand this.

[Prasad]

See. Another political angle is this. Amma sides with the protestor, cites the big bad wolf of vadakku yindia congress run central govt and her siding with the people. Then APJ rides in as the knight in shining armour and everybody knows that if he stamps his approval on something, not many are going to call him out on it or villify him. Thats just stupid. People will realise instantly that you're a quack. So now that he has done it, amma can claim to have supported the people, then apj showed that things are really safe, which is what the people wanted to be sure of. Alls well now. So get your a$$ in line and vote for me in the next election. Simple as that.

[chetak]

The church is not involved!!

Kudankulam nuclear plant row: Priests told to keep off stir

Nov 9, 2011
CHENNAI: The strident anti-nuclear protests in Kudankulam showed further signs of toning down on Tuesday with the Roman Catholic diocese of Tuticorin instructing parish priests in the Kudankulam region to distance themselves from the agitation.

To sidestep allegations that the agitation was drawing support from the church and a predominant Christian population in Kudankulam and surrounding hamlets, the Roman Catholic diocese has also instructed its parishes in the region to maintain a distance from the protesters.


"I have asked the parish priests that they are not supposed to lead the protests, but may express their solidarity to the people," Bishop Yvon Ambrose told TOI. His intervention is seen as a move intended to help break an impasse, which has led to multiple delays and now threatens to prevent the commissioning of the project in December.

[SSridhar]

Supporters of KKNPP plan relay fast

Even as the anti-nuclear energy relay fast is on at Idinthakarai, the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project Supporters' Movement has announced that its members would observe a relay fast at Chettikulam, about 14 km from Idinthakarai, from Friday, demanding immediate commissioning of the almost completed nuclear power project .

They demanded action against Bishops and priests who supported the anti-nuclear protests and “malicious campaigns.”

The supporters, who met the Central committee's convener A.E. Muthunayagam, appealed to him to ensure the early commissioning of the “prestigious and ambitious project of the Centre.”

Even as the protesters' representatives were speaking to the media in front of the District Collector's office after the meeting, the supporters raised slogans in support of the project and demanded the arrest of those orchestrating agitations under the National Security Act.

“We can't be a mute spectator anymore to all these anti-national happenings around Kudankualm for the past two months. We appeal to those who support the project to join hands to ensure the early commissioning of the project so as to ensure adequate electricity to the power-starved State. We will crush any force that dare to nullify our relay fast {Looks like not only one group but the other can also use 'aruvals' as they are also from the same tough area and equally volatile},” said N. Vijayan, who had recently submitted petitions to the Collector and to former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam during his recent visit to KKNPP.

The Hindu Desiya Congress president, P. Madhusoodhana Perumal, in a petition submitted to the Collector, R. Selvaraj, after the end of the meeting between the Central and State committees, said the Centre should probe the role of church in opposing the project and “their malicious campaign against it .”

“Action should be taken against Bishops and priests, who even make appeals to the public to protest against the project during prayers, and also against S.P. Udhayakumar and his associates for spreading rumours and false information about the project. The Centre should impound his passport and deport him to the United States,” Mr. Madhusoodhana Perumal said. He appealed to the State government to take action against aided school administrations which allowed students to take part in the ongoing agitations against KKNPP.

[Virupaksha]

http://www.kalpakkam.net/2011/11/pmane- ... l-for.html

the above link gives more information about "expert" people group. Interesting thing is some of them are clearly and outrights stated to reflexively anti nuclear (including for security)

[sum]

State gives green signal for uranium mining at Gogi

Even as concerns of health and environmental hazards remain unsettled, the State government has given its much-awaited approval for the project proposal - uranium ore mining and processing plant - of the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) at Gogi and other villages in Shahapur taluk of Yadgir district, about 80 km from here.

With this, the controversial project has crossed a major hurdle although it is required to obtain the all-important environmental clearances from the State and Central agencies.
The State accorded the ‘in-principle approval’ at the recent State High-Level Clearance Committee meeting to the Central undertaking for carrying out mining and processing operations at Gogi, Saidapur, Diggi, Umardoddi Khanapur and Shakapur villages of Shahapur taluk.

The UCIL has proposed to invest Rs 550 crore, generating employment to only 361 persons. The State has also decided to extend infrastructure facilities like land, water and power, besides incentives and concessions as envisaged in the industrial policy of the State.

The company is permitted to acquire 306.40 acres of land under Section 109 of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act in the said villages while obtaining permission from the Shahapur Town Planning Authority. The UCIL will require 1.08 MLD (million litres a day) of water for its activities and the same will be made available from River Bhima.

The project proponent will have to file a separate application to the Water Resource Department for water allocation. It will require 8100 KVA of power, which will have to be serviced by the Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company.

The State government has put forth certain conditions, which are general in nature and applicable to all other project proposals. They include securing Consent For Establishment from the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board and environmental clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. The UCIL has been asked to prepare a plan for development of human resources required for the project, train local people and provide employment.

“The company should take all measures with regard to environment, well being of the persons living in and around the project. The local people should be educated and informed about the project, safety measures adopted and the steps taken by the company to avoid any environmental hazards,’’ an order issued by the Commerce and Industries Secretariat said.

The UCIL has plans to extract 150 tonnes of uranium per year in the form of sodium diuranate (SDU) salt for about 15 years. The uranium ore reserves of Gogi are approximately 3,077 tonnes. Uranium mining lease is spread over 39.13 ha of Gogi while the site of processing is spread over 102.23 ha under Saidapur, Diggi, and Umardoddi.
It will produce 1.5 lakh tonnes of uranium ore, which will be processed to extract 150 tonnes of SDU per year. The uranium extracted as crude salt will be trucked to the Nuclear Fuel Complex at Hyderabad for further processing. The minerable reserves of uranium ore are adequate for 15 years with a rated capacity of 500 tonnes a day.

How long before protesters converge on this site and disrupt this mine too?

[SSridhar]

Kanyakumari 'tsunami centre' to get equipment

The ‘tsunami alert centre' being constructed in Kanyakumari will get modern equipment installed in 10 days, according to port officials.

[Pratyush]

You said it Sum Ji.

[vishvak]

From http://twitter.com/#!/Swamy39/status/134050390005137409

Per SSwamy:

Ultimately it can be traced to those who want India to be squeezed to sign the NPT

[Theo_Fidel]

Sounds like a reasonable man on TV... ..

http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/commen ... ut_1609107

The Kudankulam stand-off: A way out
Dr A Gopalakrishnan | Tuesday, November 8, 2011

In conclusion, may I request the prime minister, his nuclear establishment, and the Kudankulam protesters to consider the following five-point action plan:

1. I agree with the DAE/NPCIL statement that preventing the minimum number of engineers and technicians from entering the plant could potentially damage, for example, critical subsystems like electronic and computerised instrumentation & controls, turbine subsystems, variety of pumps and chemical purifiers, all of which have to be kept continuously operational and monitored. These are technical issues which most of the protesters do not seem to understand. What they really need is an assurance that the reactor would not be taken to nuclear criticality without their prior knowledge and consent. This can be achieved by both sides agreeing that nuclear fuel loading into the reactor shall be done only with mutual agreement. After reaching a written agreement on this issue with the DAE and the state government, the protesters must allow free access to DAE and contract personnel into the project premises.

2. For the Phase-1 Kudankulam Project, consisting Units 1&2, it is disputed whether an appropriate Environmental Impact Assessment report, in strict conformity with the Ministry of Environment and Forests’ EIA Guidance Manual of March 2010, has ever been prepared, translated into Tamil and distributed to the local population. It also appears that no public hearing on such an EIA report has been organised by NPCIL. As a first step, therefore, the protesters and NPCIL authorities must jointly assess the adequacy of the existing EIA, revise it if necessary and translate it into Tamil, and conduct orderly public hearings thereafter.

3. The local people must have an opportunity to study the Preliminary and Final Safety Analysis Reports for the Kudankulam plant to understand the detailed safety evaluations done by NPCIL, and their conclusions. I realise that certain minimum set of facts, figures, and other details from the actual safety analysis reports may have to be kept away from public knowledge before releasing these reports because of physical security implications. The protesters too must understand that such censoring by the NPCIL is absolutely essential from a public safety standpoint. A sanitised version of these reports may be made available on the NPCIL website.

4. All NPCIL efforts, including civil works and ordering of equipment, related to setting up the future four VVERs (Units 3 to 6) at Kudankulam or elsewhere should be stopped forthwith. Whether or not any foreign nuclear power reactors are to be imported, including the future VVERs, is a matter to be decided only after the government prepares a comprehensive nuclear power policy and gets it debated in the Parliament. An integral part of this policy must be to re-emphasise the indigenous three-stage Bhabha Plan of the past, and to give priority support to the pressurised heavy water reactor, advanced heavy water reactor and fast breeder reactor programmes aimed at thorium utilisation. All existing plans and agreements to import reactors must be held in abeyance till such a comprehensive plan is discussed and concurred in Parliament.

5. The newly introduced Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill, 2011, is a totally inadequate legislation for creating an independent and transparent safety regulation agency. This bill must be revised drastically to allow the NSRA to operate free from the threats and manipulations of the government. The bill must also include the provision for creating a permanent Local Information Committee at each nuclear site in the country, for conducting regular and periodic exchange of information and data on matters related to public safety and the environment, between the site authorities and local representatives. In addition, the minimum required provisions for ‘whistleblower protection’ for nuclear workers must be built into the NSRA Act, without waiting for a national law in this matter to emerge in the future.

Resolution of the current Kudankulam imbroglio would require face-to-face meetings between the NPCIL authorities, the DAE expert committee, and the leaders of the protest, without the atmosphere being vitiated through the participation of staunch votaries or die-hard opponents of nuclear power from either side.

Both sides must also clearly recognise that, after already spending about Rs15,000 crores of tax payers’ money, the nation is not in any mood to abandon the Kudankulam Units 1&2 unless evidence beyond any doubt can be presented to establish that these two VVER units are distinctly dangerous in comparison to all VVER-1000 reactors safely operating in the world since 1981. Let us hope that attention can be first focused on items 1, 2, and 3 above, since the work should proceed towards fuelling Unit-1 only after these three steps are completed to mutual satisfaction.

The author is a former chairman, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Government of India

--------------------------------------------------------

This would be a good start...
Kalam has a lot of respect in this area despite what some may say to media.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/kalam ... lam-147551

To address the worries of the people, Dr Kalam has also suggested a 10-point development programme, which he suggests should be implemented by 2015. The plan, which would cost about Rs. 200 crore to implement, envisages building four-lane highways, a mega desalination plant and construction of houses, schools and hospitals in the are to benefit Kudankulam and its 60-odd neighbouring villages, IANS reports.

The 39-page report, which also suggests setting up industry to provide direct employment in the area, has been authored by Mr Kalam and his advisor V Ponraj and has been submitted to the Tamil Nadu and central governments. Dr Kalam's 10 points include:

Link Kudankulam and other villages in Tirunelveli district, around 650 km from here, with Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari and Madurai.
Industries that can provide direct employment to around 10,000 people should be located within a 30-60 km radius of Kudankulam and youth should be extended subsidised loans for starting their own business ventures, suggest Kalam and Ponraj.
Build 'green houses', apartments for people living along the shores of Kudankulam and neighbouring areas.
For the benefit of fishing community small jetties, fish processing units, cold storages should be built.
Set up a one million litres per day desalination plant and also bring water from Pechiparai dam for drinking as well as agricultural use.
Build a 500-bed hospital in Kudankulam area, set up tele-medicine hospitals in all villages and two mobile hospitals with facilities to carry out diagnostic tests.
Set up five state board and Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) stream schools with hostel facilities.
Provide broadband connections and disaster management centre.
Provide higher education with proper training to selected youth and place them in permanent jobs.
Also start other schemes in consultation with the local populace.
The report has also suggested that the government should allay fears about the plant by providing them proper information and start generation of power at Kundankulam that houses the safest reactors in the world.

The report has also suggested that the government should allay fears about the plant by providing them proper information and start generation of power at Kundankulam that houses the safest reactors in the world.

An expert committee appointed by the Centre is expected to begin interaction with local communities in a bid to convince them of the plant's safety soon. Activists in the area say many issues are unsolved. "We are not just worried about the safety of the reactor, we need to know about the waste issues, the decommissioning issues, the overall freshwater issues. There are so many other issues that have been left unanswered until now," said SP Udhayakumar, Coordinator, People's Movement against Nuclear Energy.

[Sanku]

Great post Theo; I hope folks can see from the above post that we are all on the same side really -- It will be good to get a closure on this in a way that really helps to set a template for all future Nuclear projects in India.

This is both a challenge and a great opportunity. Lets see how it pans out.

[ramana]

As I said before there atleast four prespectives for every issue: Scientific/Technical and its opposite Interpersonal/Social, Systemic and its opposite Existential. NPCIL and GOI has been looking at the Scientific /Technical and Systemic prespectives and not looking at Interpersonal/Social and Existential prespectives. A whole axis is missing. Hence the stalemate.

The local community needs a slice of the pie, see direct benefits from the plants and be informed. Kalam's 10 point agenda addresses that. Its mostly local development and share of the benefits of the power plant if you drill down.

AKG's five points address the existential issues after Fukushima disaster and emphasizes the safety and local population buy-in for the power plants.

[Yogi_G]

So now this KKNP movement has rubbed off on people around Kaiga plant in Karnataka. One more project of importance to be milked by vested interests with 500 rupees and biriyani packets on offer. Sad indeed.

[sum]

^^ The problem is that the same set of people will also oppose a thermal/dams/<xxx> if GoI decides to scrap the N-plant today and start work on the new mode of electricity ( case in point is the wind energy plant which is stuck due to opposition since many trees have to be cut to insert the turbines in K'taka)

Future of India and its electricity producing capacity with newer sources/plants is very, very bleak indeed.

[sum]

Kudankulam pot boils, yatra today

Contrary to speculations, villagers of Tamil Nadu’s Turunelveli district continued their protests against the Kudankulam nuclear plant on Wednesday. To spread awareness about the project, more than 100 anti-nuclear energy activists have decided to embark on a four-day yatra from Madurai to Kudankulam on Thursday.

The Catholic Church of Tuticorin also reiterated its solidarity with the struggle, denying rumours that the parish priests were distancing themselves from the agitation.

Certain reports on Tuesday claimed the Church had withdrawn its support after Tuticorin Bishop Yvon Ambrose withdrew from the state committee that was constituted to break the impasse over the nuclear power plant.

In an official communiqué issued on Wednesday night, the bishop said he was with the people “morally and spiritually”.

“As per the Catholic Church’s teachings and the Tamil Nadu Bishop Council’s resolution, I continue to show my solidarity with my people who are under great fear and anxiety concerning the Kudankulam Nuclear Plant,” he said.

Explaining his absence from the first meeting between the Centre-appointed expert panel and state representatives on Tuesday, the bishop said he had excused himself from the panel as he “had no scientific knowledge with regard to nuclear energy and science”.

“But this has given rise to misgivings,” said bishop Ambrose, who has been campaigning actively against nuclear energy.

On Wednesday, People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), which is spearheading the agitation along with the Church, said there would be no let up in the struggle.

“Today is the 23rd day of the relay hunger strike and the enthusiasm of the protesters is intact. The Church continues to support us,” said V Pushparayan, convener of PMANE.

“It would be wrong to assume that we have given up our demand or toned down our stance, contrary to some mediareports.” The yatra of anti-nuclear activists has been organised by the National Alliance of Anti-Nuclear Movements.

[SSridhar]

How Safe Kudankulam Reactors are - by K.S. Parthasarathy in The Hindu

The Unit 1 of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) is under advanced stage of commissioning. Construction of Unit 2 is progressing well. In the meanwhile, sections of the public have expressed apprehensions about the safety of these reactors. Lack of understanding, misconceptions and misinformation contribute to this. Apparently, the Fukushima accident and other issues influence them.

Twenty-five VVER 1,000 MW reactors are in operation now in five countries . Nine more are under construction. The version offered to India is more recent and has more advanced safety features.

Satisfactory

Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) satisfied itself that the plant is of proven design. Indian specialists visited Russia and had significant exchange of information from nuclear power plant designers. Indian engineers had completed licensing training process in either Balakova nuclear power plant (NPP) or Kalinin NPP.

The AERB and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and specialists from reputed academic institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, the Boilers Board and the Central Electricity Authority have spent over 7,000 man-days in carrying out the safety review and inspection of the Kudankulam reactors.

These system-wise reviews were comprehensive. AERB used relevant documents from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and IAEA's peer reviews of VVER for safety assessment of these reactors.

These reactors belong to the Generation 3 + category (with more safety features than Generation 3) with a simpler and standardised design.

The Kudankulam site is located in the lowest seismic hazard zone in the country. The water level experienced at the site due to the December 26, 2004 tsunami, triggered by a 9.2 earthquake was 2.2 metres above the mean sea level. The safety-related buildings are located at higher elevation (Safety Diesel Generators, 9.3 metre) and belong to the highest seismic category and are closed with double sealed, water leak tight doors.

The reactors have redundant, diverse and thus reliable provisions needed to control nuclear reactions, to cool the fuel and to contain radioactive releases. They have in–built safety features to handle Station Black Out.

Besides fast acting control rods, the reactors also have a “quick boron injection system”, serving as a back-up to inject concentrated boric acid into the reactor coolant circuit in an emergency. Boron is an excellent neutron absorber.

Retains radioactivity

The enriched uranium fuel is contained in Zirconium-Niobium tubes. It can retain the radioactivity generated during the operation of the reactor. The fuel tubes are located in the 22 cm thick Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) which weighs 350 tonnes. RPV is kept inside a one metre thick concrete vault.

The reactor has double containment, inner 1.2 metre-thick concrete wall lined on the inside with a 6 mm layer of steel and an outer 60 cm thick concrete wall. The annulus between the walls is kept at negative pressure so that if any radioactivity is released it cannot go out. Air carrying such activity will have to pass through filters before getting released through the stack. Multiple barriers and systems ensure that radioactivity is not released into the environment.

KKNPP-1&2 has many new safety systems in comparison with earlier models. The Four-train Safety-System instead of just one system leads to enhanced reliability. The reactors have many passive safety systems which depend on never-failing forces such as gravitation, conduction, convection etc.

Decay heat removal

Its Passive Heat Removal System (PHRS) is capable of removing decay heat of reactor core to the outside atmosphere, during Station Black Out (SBO) condition lasting up to 24 hours. It can maintain hot shutdown condition of the reactor, thus, delaying the need for boron injection.

It works without any external or diesel power or manual intervention.

The reactors are equipped with passive hydrogen recombiners to avoid formation of explosive mixtures .The reactors have a reliable Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS).

Core catcher

Located outside the reactor vessel, a core catcher in the form of a vessel weighing 101 tonnes and filled with specially developed compound (oxides of Fe, Al & Gd) is provided to retain solid and liquid fragments of the damaged core, parts of the reactor pressure vessel and reactor internals under severe accident conditions.

The presence of gadolinium (Gd) which is a strong neutron absorber ensures that the molten mass does not go critical. The vessel prevents the molten material from spreading beyond the limits of containment. The filler compound has been developed to have minimum gas release during dispersal and retention of core melt.Rat

Fukushima plant spread gloom; the Onagawa plant close to it, in contrast, shut down safely; its gym served for three months as a shelter for those made homeless ( Reuters , Oct 21). The plant showed that it is possible for nuclear facilities to withstand even the greatest shocks and to retain public trust.

Kudankulam reactors are more modern and safe. Exercising due diligence, AERB issued clearances to it at various stages. Public may rest assured that Indian scientists and engineers will operate the reactor safely. AERB shall continue to enforce measures to maintain safe operation of these advanced nuclear power reactors.

K.S. PARTHASARATHY
Raja Ramanna Fellow, Department of Atomic Energy

[Sanatanan]

Kudankulam pot boils, yatra today

I wonder whether KK plant site has helipad as might usually be the case to receive VVIPs.

If it exists, perhaps NPCIL/DAE/GOI may consider flying in requisite personnel under some kind of escort/protection, so that they can attend to the essential maintenance activities. A bit of strike-breaking this, but perhaps could be considered essential and inevitable.

[chaanakya]

Kudankulam pot boils, yatra today

I wonder whether KK plant site has helipad as might usually be the case to receive VVIPs.

If it exists, perhaps NPCIL/DAE/GOI may consider flying in requisite personnel under some kind of escort/protection, so that they can attend to the essential maintenance activities. A bit of strike-breaking this, but perhaps could be considered essential and inevitable.

There are Halipads for the Plant but well outside the plant area for safety reasons. Hence difficult to use during agitations.

[Theo_Fidel]

Kudankulam has its own port and boat service. All critical personal actually live on site within the fenced area. It is only casual contract labor that has fled.

Chanaakya,

Even the helipads must be within the fenced area. All protestors remain outside the fence.

[chaanakya]

Kudankulam has its own port and boat service. All critical personal actually live on site within the fenced area. It is only casual contract labor that has fled.

Chanaakya,

Even the helipads must be within the fenced area. All protestors remain outside the fence.

Have a look at G Chacha. It is well outside the plant site and does not appear to be fenced.

I think agitation appears to be unexpected and they would not have planned for fencing the whole site immediately.

Generally security is provided by Local police in case Halipad is being used by VIPs else Plant Security personnel would be enough.

[sum]

Another MSM source catches onto the curious church role in this:

Church support to Koodankulam N-plant protests raises eyebrows

It has been three weeks since villagers in Tamil Nadu's Idinthakarai have been on a relay fast to protest against the Koodankulam nuclear plant. The protests are being spearheaded by SP Udaykumar at the Idinthakarai village church. Udaykumar, who stays with the parish priest Father Jaikumar, uses the church's computer to send emails to newspapers about the agitation.

Many have raised the question as to why the church is so actively involved in the protests against the nuclear plant, and there are allegations that the church involvement in the protest is being funded from America. The Koodankulam nuclear plant is being set up with Russian assistance.

According to Anbumani, who is personal assistant to the director at Koodankulam nuclear power plant, Fr Jaikumar is openly hostile to the nuclear plant. "He seems to hate them."

When this correspondent asked Fr Jaikumar about his support for the protestors, he said, "I have to support whatever my flock desires."

However, most people feel that it is the other way round. For instance, the fishermen are protesting the plant because they say the parish priest has asked them to do so.
Fr Thadyuse, the priest of the church in Koodankulam, was forthright. "Did you not see the destruction in Fukushima? Then how come you are supporting the plant? You did not hear the loud noises during the hot run, it was scary. Radiation will mix with the sea water and the fishes will be affected. They told the public to take iodine tablets, which was also scary. The last straw was the idea of evacuation," he told this correspondent.

"Whenever there is danger to any village, people ring the church bell, which is the custom. So it is natural that we take the lead when there is danger, and we see danger in this nuclear plant," said Fr Thadyuse.

Fr S Peter is the priest at the popular St Antony's church in Ovary, another coastal village that sent people to participate in the relay fast at Idinthakarai, to protest against the nuclear plant.

"I don't like the nuclear plant. While other countries in the world are shutting down their nuclear plants how come we are starting new ones? The dangers are more than the advantages. Neyveli has enough power for Tamil Nadu. Tell them to stop giving power to Andhra and Kerala," he said.

"Fukushima now, Chernobyl earlier, are examples of nuclear disasters that we have to learn from. We don't have to wait for it to happen here. The Russians haven't started a single plant in their own country after the disaster at Chernobyl. But they have the nerve to sell us something that they don't use themselves. The radiations from the Chernobyl plant are still affecting people there," Fr S Peter added.

Efforts to meet the bishops of Tirunelveli -- both Protestant and Roman Catholic -- proved difficult. They were not interested in discussing Koodankulam with a reporter who had come without an appointment.

Local Christian priests in the villages told us that the bishop was aware of what was going on in the village and was supporting it.

On Tuesday the central government appointed a 15-member group of experts who met the protestors at the Tirunelveli collectorate to allay the fears of the locals.

Their first meeting was in Chennai, and on Tuesday they met for the second time. While 10 members of the 15-member expert group turned up, only two representatives from the dissenting side attended the meeting -- of which one was Fr Pushparayan.

One thing clear from the article is that Fr.Peter and Fr.JaiPrakash have a view that N-plants arent needed( they say so in clear terms) and so no amount of convincing is going to work on them till the plant is actually dismantled.

[Yogi_G]

And what is attrocious Sum ji is that this is driven by the Church and the local Xtians are following wat is told to them by the clergy, sort of like a Xtian Fatwa. p-sec media remains blind to this. I think earlier in the thread, Theo ji had said that for the Ram Sethu movement the Hindu orgs and seers got involved and if that wasn't bad. Well, that was a religious movement and this one is a "secular" movement. I would have understood if the Xtian clergy got involved if a church was to be demolished to make way for nuclear plant but nothing of that sort is happening here.

TN has reached a critical mass of Xtians who backed by the church can openly influence political and social happenings. We saw it happen in Kerala where entire elections were determined by who the Church advised for voting. I just hope the Muslim and Hindu orgs take a cue from the KKNP movement and start engaging in such movements for one-upmanship. I hope next that the caste equations will not come in the way of projects of national importance. Sad indeed.

[Aditya_V]

Another MSM source catches onto the curious church role in this:

Church support to Koodankulam N-plant protests raises eyebrows

When this correspondent asked Fr Jaikumar about his support for the protestors, he said, "I have to support whatever my flock desires."

He is referring to people attending his Church as sheep.