Public Hearing at Jaitapur

Jiatapur is a place not known to most people in India. But very soon it is likely to be known to people across the world. This is the proposed site of the largest nuclear power plant in the world: A 10,000 MW nuclear power plant in the western Indian State of Maharashtra. Till date, Japan’s Kashiwazaki nuclear plant, with 7 operating units and total capacity of 8,212 MW is since 1997 the largest station of its kind in the world. On 16 May 2010, villagers from five villages in the Konkan region in Maharashtra were torn between two options- to attend celebrate Akshaya Tritiya -the most auspicious day of the year (according to the Hindu Calendar) or to attend a Public Hearing to protest against a project which would affect their lives and the lives of the generations to come for ever. An appeal had been to the administration to change the date of the Public Hearing – but to no avail. It was a tough decision for the people. But the project in question was a 10,000 MW nuclear power plant being set up by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) at Jaitapur- a project expected to be ten times the size of Chernobyl. Finally, more than thousand people chose to attend the Public Hearing. The Public Hearing was organized at the top of a plateau which was three to five kilometers away from all of the five project-affected villages - Madban, Mithgawane, Karel, Niweli and Ansure. No public transport reaches the venue and the closest tarred road is 1.5 kilometer from the venue. No special transportation arrangements were made by the local administration. The villagers wound their way up the plateau on a hot day shouting slogans, waving black flags and holding placards with anti-project messages. There was graffiti drawn against the project along the road sides and on bus stops. Over 300 police personnel were present at the venue. But this type of intimidation did not stop the people from continuing their loud protests. Protests from the public stalled the Public Hearing for more than an hour. 200 fresh objections were filed by the people. The EIA report, which has to be made available at all project affected places 30 days before the Public Hearing, had not been made available in three of the five affected villages. Even in villages where it was made available, it was only in English language and not in Marathi- the local language – until few days before the Hearing. It was only after the Collector promised to record the objections that the people allowed the proceedings to start. However, slogan shouting continued through-out the Hearing. The project requires 968 hectares of land which would mean 2300 people would lose their land. No assessment has been done about the impact of the project on endangered species of wildlife in the area. No hydrological and geological studies had been undertaken in the project area. In case of an accident what would be repercussions and what would be compensation scheme had not been discussed in the EIA report. According to the State government’s latest economic survey the cost of two units at Jaitapur are estimated to be Rs 60,000 crore (Rs. 600 billion). Based on this, the cost of one MW of power is Rs 18 crore (Rs. 180 million) and the cost of a unit could go up to Rs 9.90. Other options through which power can be generated at much cheaper rates have not been explored. A detailed critique on the EIA has been done by Mark Chernaik on the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW) on the request of local groups. His analysis dealt with the following aspects of the EIA: 1) assessment of the environmental consequences of a severe accident; 2) assessment of the environmental consequences of the transportation of radioactive materials; 3) assessment of alternatives to the proposed project. An ELAW intern is preparing a second memo that evaluates the EIA’s assessment of the discharge of hot contact-cooling water on the marine environment. • The EIA for the Proposed Nuclear Power Park at Jaitapur does not contain an assessment of the environmental consequences of a severe accident - an assessment that Indian authorities should require and that would be required if the project were being proposed in the United States • The EIA for the Proposed Nuclear Power Park at Jaitapur does not contain an assessment of the environmental consequences of the transportation of radioactive materials - an assessment that Indian authorities should require and that would be required if the project were being proposed in the United States. • The EIA for the Proposed Nuclear Power Park at Jaitapur does not contain an assessment of reasonable alternatives to the proposed nuclear power plant - an assessment that Indian authorities should require and that would be required if the project were being proposed in the United States. The critique of ELAW was read out at the public hearing along with comments of other scientists. Given the fact that not a single nuclear power plant was ever rejected by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, it remains to be seen how this irregularity in the Public Hearing process is justified by the Pollution Control Board, the Project Proponent and the Ministry of Environment and Forest.

Ritwick Dutta (ritwickdutta@gmail.com), Report on Public Hearing by Gaurav Shirodkar and Shibani Ghosh of EIA Response Centre and TAI India