The second meeting of the experts committees formed by the central and the Tamil Nadu governments to allay fears about the Koodamkulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) in Tamil Nadu ended in a stalemate on Friday, said a leader of the anti-project protesters.
"Members of the experts panel appointed by the central government did not consider the 50 questions (points) raised by us seriously. Their view is that the questions are not related to fears about the nuclear power plant," M. Pushparayan, convener of the Coastal People's Federation and a leader of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) that is spearheading the anti-KNPP movement, said.
There were widespread protests against the two 1,000 MW nuclear power reactors that the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd was building with Russian technology and equipment in Koodamkulam, around 650 km from Chennai.
Villagers feared for their lives and safety in case of any nuclear accident and the long-term impact it would have on the population. Their agitation has put a stop to the project work, thereby delaying the commissioning of the first unit by several months.
In order to allay the fears of the public, the central and the state governments had formed two separate committees. The state panel includes representatives of the PMANE, including Pushparayan.
Pushparayan said the meeting discussed the questions (points) raised by PMANE in its memorandum submitted on November 8 at the first meeting.
However, several disagreements cropped up.
While the PMANE members said work has to come to a halt at the KNPP as per the state government's resolution, members of the central panel said construction work has come to standstill and only maintenance work in the first reactor is under progress.
"The district collector said he would send his official to KNPP to see whether construction work is going on," both Pushparayan and a member of central panel, who did not wanted to be named, said.
Meanwhile, Pushparayan said that on the statement of Atomic Energy Commission chief Srikumar Banerjee that keeping the plant idle is dangerous, the central panel members had blamed the media for misreporting.
"We told that it is the duty of the officials to come out with clarification immediately," he said.
He said that on the PMANE's demand for a copy of the inter-governmental agreement between India and Russia, the central panel said it is with the central government.
"The documents can be obtained through other legal channels like the Right to Information Act (RTI) is what we told them," said a member of central panel.
Meanwhile, the agitators demanded holding of public hearing on the mode of disposal for the spent fuel for the first two reactors as there was a change.
"Initially the spent fuel was to be shipped back to Russia. But later it was changed and India was allowed to reprocess the spent fuel which is a fear factor for the people. We said the two reactors are illegal," Pushparayan said.
He said the experts panel failed to answer some of the basic questions or points raised by them, terming the information "military secrets".
However, according to the member of the central panel, barring five points/issues raised by the agitators, all other points have been answered.
"The five points have nothing to do with the safety fears of the reactors. They pertain to bilateral relations with neighbouring countries, contract details and other aspects," said the central panel member.
However, Pushparayan had a different take.
"At the end of the meeting, we were given a 38-page report by the central panel. They said one more page has to be added. We told them to give that last page to the district collector from whom it will be collected later," he said.
Queried about the next round of talks, he said: "There are no proper documents to carry out the talks."