Tamil Nadu CM’s appeal to PM on nuclear fuel disposal

Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to transport back to Russia the Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) from the nuclear power reactors in Kudankulam or permanently store it in a Deep Geological Repository in an uninhabited and ecologically non-sensitive area.

Making the appeal on behalf of eight crore people of Tamil Nadu, Stalin, in his letter to Modi on Friday, said the request was being made in the interest of public safety, health and welfare of the people of the State.

Drawing the Prime Minister’s attention to the public concern regarding SNF disposal at the Kudankulam Nuclear Project located in Tirunelveli District, he said the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd had proposed to construct ‘Away from Reactor’ (AFR) facilities in the site itself for the storage of the SNF generated from the six reactors there.

Of the envisaged six nuclear power reactors of 1000 Megawatt capacity each, two units had already been commissioned and two others were under construction.

‘When the Ministry of  Environment, Forests and Climate Change had earlier accorded  permission to Units 1 & 2, the agreement was to collect and store the  spent fuel temporarily within the unit’s premises (At Reactor) and  then send it back to the country of origin, Russia,’ he said.

Subsequently, without consulting the State government it was decided to store the SNF in the AFR facility inside the unit, which had caused deep concern and apprehension among the people of Tamil Nadu, including various political parties.

The fears were over the hazards and potential danger of the AFR storage facility within the plant premises as several such facilities across the world had faced accidents leading to disastrous impacts on the environment and the people residing in and around such plants.

'The local people are apprehensive of the fallouts and have been protesting against the AFR facilities within the complex,' Stalin said.