---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Oct 15, 2006 4:28 PM
15.10.2006 Press Release KSMTF DEMANDS EIA (Environment Impact Assessment) AND PUBLIC HEARING ON KOODAMKULAM NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, KOLLAM, PATHANAMTHITTA AND KOCHI. "STOP KOODAMKULAM PROJECT". As we all know a Nuclear Reactor is a Radioactive waste-making machine.A typical 1000 Mega Watt Nuclear reactor creates about 250 pounds of "spent fuel" that is the nuclear waste. A small amount of electricity is also produced. However looking at the economics, that is the cost of mining the radioactive ore, the cost of production of the nuclear fuel (milling, enrichment, and fuel fabrication), the cost of construction of the power plants, the cost of cancers, leukemias, and birth defects caused by numerous radiation releases during power plant operation and during each phase of the nuclear fuel cycle, the cost of storing and/or reprocessing the used reactor cores, the cost of transporting them between each stage, the cost of cleaning up and "decommissioning" the reactor, and the cost of catastrophic failure if the reactor cores are dispersed into the environment. One has to bear a heavy cost. Do we need such power plants??? No, not at all. The Koodamkulam Project will have a devastating effect on Kerala coast. The commissioning of this project will be the end of "God's Own Country". People living in Kerala right from the Tamil Nadu border till Kochi will all be affected by radiation, since the Koodamkulam project is a mega project. The fish catch will go; only dead fish will be there for the fishing community to catch that will be the end of the fishing community. People living on the coasts will be prone to various kinds of cancers. The discharge of hot water with radioactive pollutants into the sea will increase the temperature of the seawater and damage the health of the fish and the people who eat that fish. Our fishermen will lose their livelihood and sink further into poverty and misery. And the already malnourished farming families will stand to suffer even more. Moreover, the southern tip is also seismically vulnerable and has had quite a few small tremors. There have also been minor volcanic eruptions in Tirunelveli district. Cyclones, huge monsoon thunderstorms, unrelenting sea erosion, and increasing global warming can also prove to be potential dangers. And if a tsunami strikes it will be a major disaster. The Koodamkulam nuclear power plant coupled with the sand mining operations of the Indian Rare Earths Limited and other private parties on our shores is threatening our fisherfolk's lives and livelihood. Our agricultural land, our water resources, our air, and our food chain are all going to be contaminated by the additional burden of radiation that will emerge from the Koodamkulam nuclear power plants. Tourism will also come to an end since the westerly winds will bring with it all the radioactive waste to the coasts of Kerala. And no foreign or Indian tourist will like to risk in a radioactive zone. In total it will be the death knell for Kerala. The Kerala government cannot allow commissioning such a dangerous project. They must immediately demand cancellation of this nuclear power plant for the sake of millions of keralities living on the coast. KSMTF demands that the DAE (Department of Atomic Energy) and the Government of India respect the Right to Life and Livelihood of our farmers, fisherfolks and others of southern Tamil Nadu and Kerala and cancel the Koodamkulam project forthwith. There is no transparency and accountability whatsoever by the Dept of Atomic Energy and Government of India when it comes to Nuclear Power Plant. They even threaten their opponents with the Atomic Energy Act of 1962. All this is done under the cover of the Official Secrecy Act. The people of southern Tamil Nadu and Kerala would like to bring your kind attention to the great dangers the Koodamkulam nuclear power plant will pose to our health, safety, our children's well-being, to our natural resources, and to our overall environment. We, the people of Kerala along with our brothers and sisters in Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts of Tamil Nadu, have been demanding the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Government of India to respect our Right to Information and to release the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the Site Evaluation Study, and the Safety Analysis Report that are claimed to have been done for the Koodamkulam Nuclear Power Project back in 1988. Even though these studies are now outdated and many changes have been brought about in the project, we have the right to know what the government and the Indian nuclear establishment really argue. Even more worrying is the fact that the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has been sidestepped by the DAE in getting proper permission for setting up the Koodamkulam project. And the mandatory Public Hearing has not been conducted to this day. The Public hearing has to be conducted not only in Tamil Nadu but also in Kerala. The first attempt to conduct a fraud public hearing at Tirunelveli was stopped by the people during the first week of October this year. KSMTF demands a proper EIA and Public Hearing on the project to be conducted by the DAE and Government of India in Trivandrum, Pathanamthitta and Kollam districts of Kerala also since these areas are close to the Plant site. T. Peter President, KSMTF --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ greenyouth mailinglist is the activist support mailinglist for kerala run by Global Alternate Information Applications (GAIA) To post to this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
