France seeks to allay fears over Jaitapur nuclear plant

New Delhi: Seeking to allay fears over the safety of Jaitapur nuclear power plant it proposes to build, France today said it was already operating 58 reactors and was willing to take locals to those sites for their satisfaction.

Talking to reporters in New Delhi chairman of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission Bernard Bigot said he hoped the commercial agreement could be possible this year for the project which is facing protest from locals in Maharashtra.

Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited plans to establish up to six 1,650MW units there.

“You can bring some of the representatives of the local populations and visit France and see how it (the plants) works. We are operating 58 nuclear power units,” he said.

Bigot, who met secretary of the department of atomic energy, Srikumar Banerjee, said the Indian side was “pleased” with the safety review report carried by French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) following Fukushima accident in Japan.

The report said the facilities examined offer sufficient level of safety.

The Indian nuclear operator was awaiting the report on the safety aspects of the Evolutionary Pressurised Reactor (EPR) which was reviewed by ASN along with the 58 nuclear power units under operation in France. The EPR reactors are proposed for the Jaitapur nuclear project.

On the nuclear liability issue, he said France was awaiting the “Indian Parliament to make its final decision and once we have the final decision and rules after the law, we will come to Indian government and see what are the rule which guarantee at best what is the expectation of the suppliers.”

The talks on signing a commercial agreement between NPCIL and French company Areva had been stalled after the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Asked about the resistance from the locals to the project, Bigot said the Indian government was doing its best to address people’s concerns and felt talking to them is the best solution.

“If you have no clear support of the majority of local people, there is no way to operate such a reactor. So the recommendations is that for full agreement…go to the local people, let them ask any question they have and to the best of your knowledge and with full sincerity make the right answer,” he said.

He said safety was the key issue when he met Banerjee earlier today and shared the review report with him.

When his attention was drawn to Germany which was developing cold feat over nuclear power especially after the Fukushima nuclear accident, he said the German move was more “political” in nature as a committee which reviewed their plants had said there was no specific nuclear safety concerns in the country.

Bigot expressed hope that the commercial agreement for setting up of the plant in Jaitapur would be done by this year and the ground breaking next year.

“We are on the road to reach the agreement,” he said. Talking about the safety assessment report, he said it has proposed a ’nuclear rapid response force'.

This will be a national emergency force made up of specialised teams equipped to intervene in less than 24 hours on a nuclear site hit by an accident.

PTI