Jaitapur N project gets green nod

Mumbai, Nov 28 (PTI) The 9,900-mw Jaitapur nuclear
power project to be set up in collaboration with a French firm
in the western Indian state of Maharashtra on Sunday received
clearance from India's Environment Ministry which prescribed
35 conditions and safeguards.
Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said he
considered various issues like economic growth,
diversification of fuel mix for power generation and
environment protection before giving nod to the proposed
project on the western Konkan coast, which had faced
opposition from locals and green groups.
The clearance for the project, to be jointly developed
by state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) and French
giant Areva, came in 80 days from the day NPC submitted the
environment impact assessment report, Ramesh said.
The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Ministry
had already recommended a conditional environmental clearance
to the project which involves setting up of six units of 1,650
mw each and is the outcome of India's civil nuclear agreement
with France.
An agreement between Areva and NPC is expected to be
signed during French President Nicholas Sarkozy's India visit
next month.
The project would help energy deficient states like
Maharashtra which face compulsory power cuts and NPC expects
the first unit of the project to be commissioned by 2017-18.
The project had been opposed by groups like the
Konkan Bachao Samiti which expressed concern about the
radiological safety of the nuclear plant and its impact on the
environment.
They also pointed "faults" in the environmental
impact assessment report prepared by the National Environment
Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) alleging that it is
based on generic and incomplete inputs on radioactive threats.
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