Koodankulam plant can be shut if unsafe: SC

The Supreme Court on Thursday made it clear that it can stop commissioning of the Koodankulam nuclear power plant if it finds that the mandatory safety requirements for it have not been put in place.

A bench of justice KS Radhakrishanan and justice Deepak Misra said the safety of plant and the people living in its vicinity is its prime concern and issued notices to the Centre and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board on a plea challenging the environmental clearance given to the controversial project.

"We will not hesitate to stop the plant if we find that the mandatory safety requirements have not been taken care of at the site," said the bench while posting the case for further hearing on October 4.

The court earlier had refused to stay loading of the fuel in the plant but had agreed to examine the risk associated with the project.

The court was hearing an appeal by social activist G Sundarrajan against the Madras High Court\\\’s decision refusing to impose any restraint against the plant.

The petitioner contended that after last year\\\’s nuclear disaster in Fukushima in Japan, the Atomic Energy Regulation Board (AERB) had recommended 17 safety measures for the plant which have not been put in place.

It said till now only six safety measures have been adopted and the government will take two years to implement the rest of the recommendations.

The petition said the environmental clearance granted in May 1989 was routine and general in nature with little thought given to specific aspects of the project.

“Enormous changes have taken place in the environmental norms since 1989 when the project was given green signal by the Ministry of Environment and Forest,” the petition added.