'Clean' energy plant promises jobs

The Rs 20,594 crore nuclear power plant in Haryana comes with a promise of a hospital, educational institutions, better road network and job for 8,000-10,000 locals.

“Eight to ten thousand people will get employment and providing jobs to them will be a priority. There will be a hospital in Gorakhpur and the local sports stadium will be modernised,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said while laying a foundation stone for two 700 MW nuclear power plants here.

Moreover, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd in association with the state government plans to set up a deer park and herbal park besides strengthening the local road networks. 

“No one will be displaced for the project. The locals will get the maximum benefits,” Singh said.

At any point of time, there will be about 8,000 people working at this site, majority of whom would be drawn from the local population, said 

T R Arora, project director. “Construction of unit III and IV may start around 2017-18 when civil construction of unit-I and II come to end,” K C Purohit, NPCIL chairman cum managing director, told Deccan Herald.

India’s biggest nuclear power plant with indigenous technology will get water from a canal of Bhakra Nangal barrage. 

Though a section of locals has expressed radiation fears, the NPCIL has undertaken an elaborate communication and outreach programme to convince them about the safety of nuclear energy.

“The amount of radiation you receive at the boundary of a nuclear power plant after one year is less than the radiation (natural source) that comes from eating one banana daily 365 days in a year,” said Nalinesh Nagaich, executive director at NPCIL, quoting studies carried out by International Atomic Energy Agency.