With enriched uranium fuel set to be loaded in the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu, protests against the controversial project have once again intensified. The police fired teargas shells today to disperse villagers gathered on the sea shore around half a km away from the plant.
Villagers in and around the site of the plant held a rally yesterday to reiterate their demand of shutting down the controversial nuclear plant. Defying prohibitory orders, the protesters tried to lay siege to the plant and refused to pay heed to repeated appeals by authorities to disperse. Although police stopped them around half kilometre away from the plant, villagers continued to camp on the sea shore through the night.
The procession, the first outside the village of Idinthakarai in six months, is viewed as an attempt to lay siege to the plant, according to sources. With Pattali Makkal Katchi's (PMK) support to the rally, elaborate security arrangements were made with around 5000 policemen, including from the Rapid Action Force, were deployed around the plant.
Police said they will take action "as per the prevailing situation." The security authorities had also asked SP Udhayakumar, the face of the movement, to stay away from the rally.
However, over 1,000 anti-nuclear protesters led by Mr Udayakumar tried to march towards the plant but were prevented from proceeding by the Rapid Action Force personnel and police, half a kilometre from the site, police said.
Mr Udhayakumar is the coordinator of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy or PMANE, the banner under which the agitation is being carried out.
The fresh protests come in the wake of the country's nuclear watchdog, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), having given its go-ahead on August 10 for loading of 163 enriched uranium fuel bundles in the first unit of the two 1,000 MW Russian reactors at the Kudankulam plant. After the reactor is fuelled, activities to approach first criticality-starting fission chain reaction, for the first time in a reactor, will be taken up. Then the power generation will be gradually scaled up on AERB's permission based on the results of various studies.
The project has been fiercely opposed by the locals and activists who have cited health and safety concerns arising out of the functioning of the nuclear plant. The agitation, which began last year, has pointed towards the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima plant in Japan last year that was triggered by a tsunami. The marathon sit-in protests and hunger strikes, which even saw the participation of children, had resulted in work being stopped at the plant.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had repeatedly allayed the fears of the locals with an expert committee constituted by the Centre having declared the project safe in January this year. The Tamil Nadu government, which initially sided with the locals and passed a resolution last year asking the Centre to halt work at the site, later gave its nod to the project in March this year. Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had also announced Rs.500 crore for local area and infrastructural development.
The Madras High Court had, last month, greenlighted the commissioning of the plant.
But that has failed to convince the agitators who remain adamant on their position.
(With inputs from Agencies)