While sharing public concerns over nuclear safety in the aftermath of the accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, the Centre is quite clear that the logic of generating nuclear power in India has not lost its validity. “Nuclear power remains among the cheapest and cleanest sources of power,” official sources underlined here on Wednesday.
Answering questions over protests in Koodank-ulam area in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district over the construction of the two units of nuclear reactors, top sources said the government was also “worried” over safety issues, and had therefore undertaken a safety review and put out all relevant material in the public domain. The protests over nuclear safety gathered momentum after state chief minister J. Jayalalithaa addressed a letter to the Prime Minister on the issue.
Sources said people’s concerns had to be met in a democracy, and this was the reason why minister of state in the PMO, V. Narayanswami, was sent to Tamil Nadu to explain the position on the ground.
Political processes had to be respected, sources said, and noted that the chief minister had supported the Koodankulam project in the Assembly in the past.