<p>Will pre-construction mining operations in the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) area affect its “geological stability” from where two 1,000 MW reactors are to operate for 40 years?<br /><br /></p>.<p>The anti-KNPP protestors, who had flagged this as a major issue as posed by their own “experts committee” advising the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) to back their demand to scrap the project, have been wary of the fallout of limestone mining allowed in that area.<br /><br />But the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) nominated 15-member group of Central experts, set up to dispel apprehensions of the Kudankulam area people on all aspects of safety-related issues of the nuclear plants built with Russian assistance, has dismissed fears from this mining twist to the row by the anti-KNPP protestors led by S P Udayakumar, as unfounded.<br /><br />In its latest 70-page Supplementary Report on Safety of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project And Impact of Its Operations on Surroundings, given by the Central Experts Group (CEG) to the state panel at their fourth meeting, which was marred by violence at Tirunelveli on Tuesday, the CEG has said “only surface scrapping works had been carried out since 1994”.<br /><br />The DAE panel said when land for the Kudankulam project was acquired in the early 1990s, a leading cement manufacturer, India Cements, was having a mining lease to mine limestone in that area. When the project-related infrastructure works of KNPP started in 1993-94, India Cements had requested for continuing limestone mining “with the latest technology of surface scrapping using a surface miner, which would ensure the topography is intact and would maintain a pollution-free atmosphere,” the CEG’s report pointed out.<br /><br />Considering the “superior technology” deployed, the DAE in October 1996 issued an NOC to the Tamil Nadu Government stipulating that “only surface mining should be carried out in the identified areas within the plant boundary.” Based on this, the the DMK, who was in power then, in July 1999 had issued a mining lease to India Cements for five years up to September 2004, the report said. It was conditional on two things: that they will continue to do only ‘surface scrapping’ and should vacate the area when DAE required it.</p>
<p>Will pre-construction mining operations in the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) area affect its “geological stability” from where two 1,000 MW reactors are to operate for 40 years?<br /><br /></p>.<p>The anti-KNPP protestors, who had flagged this as a major issue as posed by their own “experts committee” advising the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) to back their demand to scrap the project, have been wary of the fallout of limestone mining allowed in that area.<br /><br />But the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) nominated 15-member group of Central experts, set up to dispel apprehensions of the Kudankulam area people on all aspects of safety-related issues of the nuclear plants built with Russian assistance, has dismissed fears from this mining twist to the row by the anti-KNPP protestors led by S P Udayakumar, as unfounded.<br /><br />In its latest 70-page Supplementary Report on Safety of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project And Impact of Its Operations on Surroundings, given by the Central Experts Group (CEG) to the state panel at their fourth meeting, which was marred by violence at Tirunelveli on Tuesday, the CEG has said “only surface scrapping works had been carried out since 1994”.<br /><br />The DAE panel said when land for the Kudankulam project was acquired in the early 1990s, a leading cement manufacturer, India Cements, was having a mining lease to mine limestone in that area. When the project-related infrastructure works of KNPP started in 1993-94, India Cements had requested for continuing limestone mining “with the latest technology of surface scrapping using a surface miner, which would ensure the topography is intact and would maintain a pollution-free atmosphere,” the CEG’s report pointed out.<br /><br />Considering the “superior technology” deployed, the DAE in October 1996 issued an NOC to the Tamil Nadu Government stipulating that “only surface mining should be carried out in the identified areas within the plant boundary.” Based on this, the the DMK, who was in power then, in July 1999 had issued a mining lease to India Cements for five years up to September 2004, the report said. It was conditional on two things: that they will continue to do only ‘surface scrapping’ and should vacate the area when DAE required it.</p>
