CHENNAI: Observing that the comparison of the first generation Fukushima nuclear plant with the third generation Koodankulam plant is totally wrong, former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam said the people need not have even a nano-sized doubt about the safety aspect of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP).“Mock drills are conducted to create awareness among the people and using this as a weapon to intimidate them cannot be accepted,“ Kalam and his associate V Ponraj said in their detailed report on the KKNPP said.As far as an atomic power plant was concerned, four safety aspects -- Nuclear Criticality, Radiation Safety, Thermal Hydraulic Safety and Structural Integrity Safety -- were very important and all the four aspects were fully taken care of in Koodankulam, Kalam said. He added that the Thermal Hydraulic Safety has been established in Koodankulam as a special feature.Kalam’s report observed that government had formulated very stringent regulations for setting up nuclear reactors. Koodankulam could withstand even if tsunami and an earthquake struck the plant together.The former President said the 1.5-km radius around the plant was an exclusive sterilised zone and that site came within the project. There was no question of any displacement of inhabitants.Pointing out that Tamil Nadu was free from seismic disturbances in the last 1,000 years, he said the towers of the Meenakshi temple in Madurai and the Big Temple at Thanjavur had not been affected by any earthquake.Even if an earthquake measuring six on Richter Scale occurred in Koodankulam, there would be no damage to the plant as its entire operation would come to a halt safely within three minutes of the occurrence of any natural calamity, the report pointed out adding that Koodankulam came under seismic zone two.Citing the historic Grand Anicut built by Chola king Karikalan in the first century AD, Kalam said had the king thought that the dam would burst and destroy the people staying around, it would not have become a reality. Similarly, the present apprehensions on the KKNPP were unnecessary and unwarranted.“We are all caught too much with the disease of fear and danger. History is not made by cowards. Sheer crowd cannot bring about changes. Only those who think everything is possible can create history and bring about changes,” he said.He said the argument that even advanced countries such as Germany had given up their nuclear power plants was lacking in strength. Germany’s decision to shut its plants was based on the fact that its uranium deposits would exhaust by 2022. Besides, it had achieved self-reliance in power generation even without atomic power, the former President said.
Comments
0 comment