India’s Kundakulam nuclear plant in final stage

The Kundankulam Nuclear Power Plant, installed at the southern tip of India, is in the final stages of being commissioned. Last month a safety drill was conducted at Kudankulam. Based on Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster experience, the drill simulated the steps that needed to be taken if the Kudankulam reactor had a meltdown and there was a radiation leak.

Activists in India continue to protests against the Kudankulam nuclear plant. In a letter sent to the chairman of India’s Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy said more than 1.5 million people lived within the 30 kilometres of the Kundankulam, and that it

An accident at Indian plants would release radioactive material into the atmosphere. Dispersed radionuclides could end up in Sri Lanka.

not be possible to evacuate that many people quickly and efficiently in case of a nuclear disaster.

The Central Information Commission of India asked the Indian Government to release a safety analysis report on the Kudankulam nuclear plant. S. P. Udayakumar, who leads the campaign, wrote: “The KKNPP reactors from Russia are being set up without sharing the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Site Evaluation Study and Safety Analysis Report with the people, people’s representatives or the press. After a 23-year-long struggle, we obtained a copy of the outdated, incomplete and erroneous EIA only a few months back.”