PRESS RELEASE DATE: 5 August 2013 • Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA)’s CRZ clearance to the proposed 6000 MW Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) at Mithi Virdi, is self contradictory, conditional and casually done. • GCZMA submits its CRZ clearance to MoEF; villagers to oppose it and write independently to MoEF highlighting procedural anomalies. • Villagers to ask MoEF to seek explanation from GCZMA on giving clearance without undertaking site visit and its negligent approach to safety aspects. • We condemn and oppose such non-serious casual approach of the Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA). The recent news about the Gujarat government department of Environment and forest, giving CRZ clearance to the proposed 6000 MW Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) at Mithi Virdi is an act of endorsing the illegal and unconstitutional act of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and Engineers India Limited (EIL). During and before the Environmental Public Hearing for the proposed NPP, villagers, local Panchayats and Voluntary Organisation like Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti have brought to the notice of the authorities that EIL does not have necessary accreditation to prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIA) for a NPP. However, in an instance of utter disregard and disrespect to the Environmental Law and the Constitution of India, NPCIL and EIL went ahead with the EIA study and the collector tried to go ahead with the illegal Public Hearing. On 5 March 2013, the day of Public Hearing about 6500 villagers, local Panchayats and Voluntary Organisation raised this issues and sought clarification from the Chairman of the Public hearing, the then collector of Bhavnagar Shri V. P. Patel with no answers to the important questions raised by them tried to go ahead with the hearing, the villagers left with no choice but to walkout from the illegal, unconstitutional public hearing. NPCIL and EIL has since then continued to resort to the illegal practices. This is evident from its application and presentations for CRZ clearance to the authorities in Gujarat without submitting adequate documents and information. On 11 June 2013, while giving so-called CRZ clearance to the NPP the Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) states that “The Authority deliberate the proposal of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited and after detailed discussion, the Authority decided to recommend to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India to grant CRZ clearance for construction of intake, outfall facilities, jetty and Desalination plant at Village: Mithi Virdi, Dist: Bhavnagar by M/S Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, only after submission of the following details to this Department : 1. Detailed note regarding the safety aspects and site selection criteria along with its advantage for this site and submit to this Department. 2. A site visit should be carried out by GCZMA Member.” This clearly means that they are not serious about the CRZ clearance because they have casually given this clearance without asking for and reading the note on safety aspects, site clearance report and without undertaking the site visit. GCZMA has not taken in account basics, for instance eventualities like population increase in the immediate vicinity of the proposed plant. It is unclear if the GCZMA is a victim of the non-transparent and secretive approach of NPCIL, which has not attached the report dated 28 June 2007 of Site Selection Committee even in the EIA document and also to the Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA). It is pertinent to note here that the report dated 28 June 2007 of the Site Selection Committee for the proposed Mithi Virdi Nuclear Power Plant states that “Lignite mining is being carried at a distance of 5 kms. towards South. The famous ship-braking yard ALANG is at distance of 20 kms. on the Southern side of the site. The site is about 30 kms. from the Bhavnagar. On the southern side a small check Dam has been constructed to arrest rain water before flowing in to sea. There is hillock after the check dam. The Kalpsar Project, a multi utility concrete dam across Gulf of Khambat is being planned just 18 kms. upstream of the site which may have bearing on the design of intake and outfall structure for the plant.” The report further states that “Lignite mining is carried out nearby but as informed by state government the lignite is of poor grade and mining will be stopped if Nuclear power plant is located in the region. […] Government of Gujarat had informed that there is proposal to develop Mithi Virdi as a port. Gujarat Maritime Board has agreed to shift the proposed port at least five km from the central line of reactor. […] Kalpsar Project Authorities proposes a Dam of 65 Kms. in length and top width of 35 m across Gulf of Khambat of 18 kms north the Chhaya (Mithi Virdi) site. This will have following effects on the Nuclear Power Plant. Sedimentation and effect on intake and out fall of plant, Flooding due to dam break, Aspects of reservoir induced seismicity. […] This Ship Breaking Yard is touching the exclusion zone boundary of the plant. As per AERB Code, within sterilized zone upto 5 Km natural growth is permitted but planned expansion of activities, which will lead to an enhanced population growth are not allowed by administrative measures. These aspects have been brought to the notice, Government of Gujarat who submitted a Technical report in this regard to state the process of ship breaking and enforcement of necessary Regulatory mechanism in each stages of ship breaking.” The report further states that “A detailed Seismotectonic Study 300 kms radius around site is to be carried out for the assessment of seismic hazards leading to determination of design basis ground motion parameters during design state. Seismotectonic status of off shore region will be included in this study in order to ascertain and offshore existence and extensions of lineaments and faults. Micro- seismic survey of the surrounding area will generate useful data for this purpose. In addition effect if any due to Kalpsar on seismicity (RIS) should be taken into account at site evaluation stage.”. The very report states in the end: “4.14. RECOMMENDATIONS: […] 3) It is recommended that a detailed study be conducted to examine the effect of Kalpsar dam in the upstream of NPP site on the flooding of the proposed site due to breaking of dam in the event of an earthquake of very high magnitude as the Kalpsar dam is located over deep sited fault. 4) As regards the Ship Breaking Yard Sosiya presently located at outskirt of the plant boundary 2 Km away from the centre of the 6th reactor building, the restriction of the growth of population in this sterilized zone (5 Kms) is required to be maintained by administrative action. 5) As regards Lignite Mining, surface mining as done in Kudankulam project can be permissible up to the start of plan construction in case of deep surface mining being taken up by the mining authorities any time permission will not be given without ascertaining its impact on the plant safety.” Why this information is not crucial for the Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA)? While the Environmental Appraisal Committee (EAC) of Ministry of Environment and Forest has sought the clarification regarding the issue of accreditation of EIL for NPP, GCZMA has hastily decided to grant conditional clearance to the project without even checking the mandatory accreditation certificate of the EIA consultant. Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti and Gujarat Anuurja Mukti Andolan condemns and oppose such non-serious casual approach of the Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA). We demand that the so-called conditional clearance or recommendations accorded by the Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) should be revoked. Krishnakant Rohit Prajapati Swati Desai Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti Chunibhai Vaidya Gujarat Anuurja Mukti Andolan Shaktisinh Gohil (Sarpanch of Jaspara) Arjunbhai Dabhi (Mithi Virdi) Bhavnagar Jilla Gram Bachao Samiti Relevant pages of the meeting dated 11 June 2013 of the Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA). 19.6 CRZ clearance for proposed Nuclear Power Plant at Village: Mithivirdi, Dist: Bhavnagar by M/S Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited M/S Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), vide its letter dated 10/01/2013 had approached this Department seeking recommendations from this Department for obtaining CRZ clearance from the MoEF, GOI for their proposed project for proposed Nuclear Power Plant at Village: Mithivirdi, Dist: Bhavnagar. Representative of the NPCIL made a presentation before the Technical Committee which was held on 25-03-2013 about the activities to be carried out in CRZ area, EIA report prepared by the Engineers India Limited and CRZ map alongwith demarcation of HTL CRZ Boundary etc. prepared by the Anna University (An agency authorized by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India). Based on the discussion in Technical Committee, the NPCIL has been asked to submit various details on 16-04-2013. The details has been submitted by the NPCIL vide its letter dated 02-04-2013. The representative of the NPCIL made a presentation before the GCZMA and submitted that following activities would be carried out in CRZ area: • Construction of Intake Channel: 100M wide;10m deep below MSL • Construction of Outfall Tunnels: 6 nos of 8m dia. of the concrete tunnel of length varies from 2.5km to 3.5km; • Jetty, • Desalination Plant and associated facilities The representative of the NPCIL submitted that there is no Wildlife Sanctuary /bird sanctuary/National Parks around the proposed nuclear power plant location and within 10KM radius. There is no notified Ecologically Sensitive Area near the proposed project site. The representative of the NPCIL, based on the EIA report prepared by the Engineers India Limited, and INDOMER Coastal Hydraulics(P)Ltd,submitted that the sea water is free from the major pollution .There is extremely poor and sparsely mangrove distributed in the study area. There was no turtle nesting ground noticed. There is no coral patches or broken/dead corals along the intertidal area. The diversity values for phytoplankton and zooplankton were moderate to good. There is very less fishing activity observed in this area. The expected generation of liquid radwaste will be 87.29 M3 /Year/Unit The resultant rise in temperature will be less than MOEF, GOI ‘s limit of 70 C. There will not be any contamination of radio activity in the effluent. The radioactive wastewater from the plant will be collected in various collection and storage tanks prior to its treatment and disposal. The liquid rad waste system treats radioactive waste with an upstream activated carbon filter followed by ion exchange resin vessels in series. After, deionization , the water passes through an after –filter where radioactive particulates and resins fines are removed. The process water then enters one of three monitor tanks . When one of monitor tanks is full, the system is automatically realigned to route processed water to another tank. The contents of the monitor tank are re-circulated and sampled. In unlikely event of high radioactivity, the tank contents are returned to a waste holdup tank for additional processing. Further , the treated liquid radioactive discharges are diluted with condenser cooling water so as to maintain the radioactive level much below the discharge limit as stipulated by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board(AERB). It was further submitted by the representative of NPCIL that the plant will generate low solid waste , which will be processed and disposed in line with AERB requirements. It is further submitted by the representative of the NPCIL that a forests land of 21 ha is required for the proposed project for which application is submitted to State Forests Authority. The quantity of dredging is estimated at 3X106 M3 and is proposed to be utilized onshore to raise the level of the plant area. The baseline data collected from the project region and the review of the available information indicate that the water quality parameters are within the acceptable limits for the coastal waters. The coastal waters are well mixed and free from any major pollution. As per the CRZ map prepared by the Anna University, Chennai, the proposed activity falls in CRZ-I(B), CRZ-III and CRZ-IV categories and permissible activity as per the Provisions of the CRZ Notification 2011 The Authority deliberate the proposal of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited and after detailed discussion, the Authority decided to recommend to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India to grant CRZ clearance for construction of intake, outfall facilities, jetty and Desalination plant at Village: Mithivirdi, Dist: Bhavnagar by M/S Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, only after submission of the following details to this Department : 1. Detailed note reading the safety aspects and site selection criteria along with its advantage for this site and submit to this Department. 2. A site visit should be carried out by GCZMA Member
Posted on: Mon, 05 Aug 2013 07:30:56 +0000