India: Nuclear land deals grounded ?
Atul Chatterjee
September 14, 2008
The Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) of India has cleared 4 sites to set up nuclear power plants of a total 45,000 Megawatt capacity. This is in anticipation of India being freely allowed to import equipment and uranium.
However, in Tamil Nad villagers whose land is to be bought have already started raising objections on grounds of the radiation hazards. In Bengal the proposed site is being targeted by Mamata Banerji who has all but driven out one project of the Nano car from the state, all over the issue of land.
Farmers want land for land, besides compensation and some want jobs. In the case of the Kochi airport in Kerala which was one of the best managed land deals farmers were also given a stake in the profits of the final entity. Landholders across the country are rising in protest. Given that elections are due early next year it is likely the government is going to drag its feet over land acquisitions.
So the NPC may not be able to start operations easily.
All the sites are located near the sea coast so that they can desalinate sea water for the plants. Three worries remains 1. Danger of an earthquake 2 Danger of a tidal wave (tsunami) 3 Danger of poor operations leading to accidents.
There was an earthquake in Japan and a power plant had to be shut down. This danger is not so great for these plants since they are not located in high seismic activity zones.
So far no tidal wave has hit any nuclear power plant. (Most of China´s plants are located by the sea coast)
Poor operations are a worry given the poor track record of the running of most power plants. Horror stories abound about what is going on in various power plants like Kalpakam etc. Since the amount of manpower required in a nuclear facility is very low it may best allow the French or Germans or whosoever to run the plants as well.
Finally when you look at India´s power scenario there is something very disquieting. Transmision and Distribution losses are as high as 38 % for the whole country. Of this the major part is in distribution that is the second last and last mile of delivering power. If this alone is improved power availability will jump without any new power plants being added. Also the cost of power would fall, since power (besides the stolen amount which is substantial) is being wasted.
Unfortunately most of distribution is still in the hand of state entities. We hope the government will do something in this direction. Mega projects are impressive but basic problems remain to be addressed.
However, in Tamil Nad villagers whose land is to be bought have already started raising objections on grounds of the radiation hazards. In Bengal the proposed site is being targeted by Mamata Banerji who has all but driven out one project of the Nano car from the state, all over the issue of land.
Farmers want land for land, besides compensation and some want jobs. In the case of the Kochi airport in Kerala which was one of the best managed land deals farmers were also given a stake in the profits of the final entity. Landholders across the country are rising in protest. Given that elections are due early next year it is likely the government is going to drag its feet over land acquisitions.
So the NPC may not be able to start operations easily.
All the sites are located near the sea coast so that they can desalinate sea water for the plants. Three worries remains 1. Danger of an earthquake 2 Danger of a tidal wave (tsunami) 3 Danger of poor operations leading to accidents.
There was an earthquake in Japan and a power plant had to be shut down. This danger is not so great for these plants since they are not located in high seismic activity zones.
So far no tidal wave has hit any nuclear power plant. (Most of China´s plants are located by the sea coast)
Poor operations are a worry given the poor track record of the running of most power plants. Horror stories abound about what is going on in various power plants like Kalpakam etc. Since the amount of manpower required in a nuclear facility is very low it may best allow the French or Germans or whosoever to run the plants as well.
Finally when you look at India´s power scenario there is something very disquieting. Transmision and Distribution losses are as high as 38 % for the whole country. Of this the major part is in distribution that is the second last and last mile of delivering power. If this alone is improved power availability will jump without any new power plants being added. Also the cost of power would fall, since power (besides the stolen amount which is substantial) is being wasted.
Unfortunately most of distribution is still in the hand of state entities. We hope the government will do something in this direction. Mega projects are impressive but basic problems remain to be addressed.
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