The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Visakhapatnam News : Proposal to set up N-power plant opposed

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Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

Proposal to set up N-power plant opposed

Special Correspondent

It is hazardous for future generations: HRF

HRF team visits Kovvada Matyalesam village in Ranasthalam mandal of Srikakulam district
Nuclear power is not a solution to the climate crisis, it says

VISAKHAPATNAM: Human Rights Forum (HRF) has urged the Centre to drop the proposal to set up a nuclear power plant at Kovvada Matsyalesam, a fishing village in Ranasthalam mandal of Srikakulam district.

An HRF team, which visited the area on Thursday, is of the opinion that nuclear power has to be rejected because it is hazardous for future generations. Contrary to popular perception, nuclear power is actually more expensive than power from conventional sources like coal, gas and hydro.

Furthermore, nuclear power was not a solution to the climate crisis, HRF State general secretary V.S. Krishna and secretary K.V. Jagannadha Rao said in a statement here on Friday.

“Nuclear power remains the most dangerous form of energy. Even during normal operations of a nuclear power plant, radioactive materials are regularly discharged into the air and water.

There are huge problems associated with the safe storage of nuclear waste and safe disposal of outlived power plants.

A solution for the long-term storage and treatment of radioactive waste has yet to be found,” they said.

The HRF leaders cited the disastrous accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine provinceon April 26, 1986 and pointed out that almost a quarter century after Chernobyl, people were still suffering from health problems caused by it.

‘False assumption’

They described as ‘false assumption’ the recent statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that India could increase its atomic electricity generation capacity to 470,000 MW by 2050, if new power plants and technologies were in place as it would not only sharply reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuels but also contribute to global efforts to combat climate change.

Also, it was because nuclear power is economically unattractive and socially unacceptable, on account of radiation hazards and risks of catastrophic accidents, that no order for new nuclear reactors was placed in the USA and most of West Europe during the last 30 years.

It is unfortunate that the Indian government is becoming their willing collaborator in this pursuit.

India had recently decided to take a quantum leap in installed capacity for nuclear power generation.

New plants

As part of this, the government has reportedly already approved 15 new plants at eight sites, including the Kovvada Matsyalesam site.

The HRF believed that thedecision was an invitation to disaster, they said, and demanded that the government put a complete stop to the construction of all new nuclear power plants and uranium mines.

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