19 April 2011
As far as Taramati Vaghdhare is concerned, there is no question of accepting compensation to make way for the world’s largest nuclear power plant.
“If you want the land, make us stand on the land – shoot us – and then take the land,” said the feisty 53-year-old, gesturing with a spatula.
“Our land is our mother. We can’t sell her and take compensation,” said Vaghdhare, who was among villagers detained during recent protests against the plant at Jaitapur.
The stakes are high for chronically power-short India. The plant would eventually have six reactors capable of generating 9 900 megawatts – enough to power 10 million Indian homes.
Long-running opposition to the proposed plant has hardened amid the nuclear crisis in Japan, with village posters depicting scenes of the devastation at the Fukushima plant and warning of what could be in store.
Even if villagers and fishermen derail the plant, India is unlikely to back down from its broader nuclear ambitions given surging power demand and a lack of alternatives.
India suffers from a peak-hour power deficit of about 12 percent that hinders an economy growing at nearly 9 percent and causes blackouts in much of the country. About 40 percent of Indians lack electricity.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh staked his career on a 2008 deal with the US that ended India’s nuclear isolation dating to its 1974 test of a nuclear device, opening up a $150 billion (R1 trillion) civilian nuclear market.
India now operates 20 mostly small reactors at six sites with a capacity of 4 780MW, or 3 percent of the country’s total capacity. It hopes to lift its nuclear capacity to 63 000MW by 2032 by adding nearly 30 reactors.
Shortly after the earthquake and tsunami that crippled the plant at Fukushima and triggered a global rethink of nuclear power, Singh said India’s atomic energy programme was on track but regulators would review safety systems to ensure plants could withstand similar disasters.
“I do not believe that there is any panic reaction in terms of calling for a halt for the nuclear projects,” said MR Srinivasan, the former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India, who selected the Jaitapur site.
A recent visit to the site saw little activity other than a group of policemen playing cricket. Defaced signs on the road to Jaitapur are evidence of the opposition to the plant. While the surrounding area is thinly populated, farmers in nearby villages grow cashews, jackfruit and mangoes.
About 120 of the 2 370 families eligible for compensation for their land have accepted it, according to Vivek Bhide, a doctor and mango farmer from the district. Community members say they are unified, and those who have accepted compensation are mostly absentee landowners.
Nearby, the fishing port of Sakhri Nate is home to 600 vessels that bring in about 50 tons a day. Residents fear the plant will disrupt access to fishing areas and raise water temperatures.
“The warm water which will come into the sea will drive away the fish,” said Majeed Latigowarkar, a 45-year-old fisherman. He said officials had offered electronic gear such as fish-finders and GPS systems in a failed effort to win support.
During a December visit to India by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the two countries signed a framework agreement for state-owned Areva to build two of its next-generation 1 650MW EPR reactors at Jaitapur and supply reactor fuel for 25 years in a deal worth e7bn (R69bn).
The Areva reactors would be the first of as many as six at the site, with construction set to start this year and operation to begin by 2018. Final contracts have yet to be signed.
Russia’s state-owned Rosatom plans to build 18 reactors in India, while the General Electric/Hitachi joint venture and the Westinghouse Electric unit of Toshiba are also eyeing opportunities in India.
Opposition to the plant is based in part on worry about seismic activity and concern that India would not be prepared to manage a crisis. India suffered one of the world’s worst industrial accidents in 1984 when about 3 000 people were killed by gas leaks from a factory in Bhopal.
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India, which would own and run the plant, said no active geological fault was within 30km of the site.
Critics also say Areva’s EPR technology is untested and expensive. No EPR reactors are in operation but four are under construction. The power parastatal has said the price of power from Jaitapur would be competitive.
Whether the Jaitapur plant is built or not, India has little choice but to add a lot more nuclear power.
While numerous thermal power projects are in development, environmental and land use restrictions mean power producers are having difficulty securing coal, which accounts for 60 percent of India’s energy use.
Gas output from the KG basin, for which India has high hopes, has lagged expectations, while competition for imports is intensifying. Alternatives including wind and solar are relatively expensive and lack the capacity to provide base load supply.
While New Delhi is committed to nuclear power, India’s leaders are sensitive to public opinion.
Residents in Jaitapur are encouraged by India’s history of civil disobedience and say they are bolstered in their argument by the crisis in Japan.
Praveen Gavankar, a farmer and leader of opposition to the nuclear plant, said villagers planned to start farming on the site and if the government tried to block them, they were prepared to go to Delhi and stage their own hunger strike.
“We will have to change the government’s mind,” he said. “The government can’t do anything to change our minds.” – Reuters