Current Affairs- FAQ on Kudankulam issue- Part 3

ANNEXURE II

1) KKNPP Status

During the visits to KKNPP the Expert Group observed that the further construction activities are not progressing and the status quo is maintained by only some essential surveillance of the installed equipment.

2) Statements on Safety of KKNPP

Statements on the KKNPP have appeared in the press on the safety and present status of the plant. In the opinion of the expert group, there have been no contradictions among statements made regarding the current status and safety of KKNPP.

3) Availability of EIA Report, Performance Reports etc.

The EIA report is available on the NPCIL website www.npcil.nic.in. The VVER performance data is available on the IAEA website www.iaea.org and has also been given below.

Performance of VVER reactors worldwide has been very good. There are about 55 VVER type reactors. Four new VVER‐1000 plants have been connected to grid (three in Russia in 2010, and one in Iran) in 2011.

There are nine VVER‐1000 units in operation in Russia and eleven VVER‐1000 units in Ukraine. Seventeen VVER‐1000 units built in the 1980s in erstwhile USSR have cumulative load factor of 72%.

Three VVER‐1000 units which started commercial operation (a) in 1996 (Zaporozhe‐6, Ukraine), (b) in 2002 (Rostov‐1, Russia) and (c) in 2004 (Kalinin ‐3, Russia) have lifetime cumulative load factor of 83%.

Outside Russian Federation, the reactors at Loviisa 1 & 2 of VVER‐440 (Finland) which went into commercial operation in 1977 and 1980 respectively have around 88% cumulative load factor and they are considered amongst the best performing PWRs in the world.

The Site Evaluation Report and the Safety Analysis Report are documents that have been made available to AERB which is the statutory body authorized to accept and review these documents.

4) Inter governmental Agreement

Not addressed.

5.1) Siting of KKNPP 1&2

NPCIL submitted an application for site clearance of twin units of 1000 MWe capacity of Russian VVER in 1988 to AERB

Specialist Committees were appointed by AERB to review the application.

           

Based on the specialist committee recommendation, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board  granted Clearance for citing of two 1000MWe VVERs at Kudankulam site on Nov 10, 1989

           

The review and assessment process was based on the

            a) IAEA Safety Codes & Guides;

            b) Prevalent International documents on the subject and

            c) AERB Safety Code on Siting

For KKNPP basic design considered was V320 with enhanced safety features/ systems as            pecified by NPCIL

The Review process and Assessment were based on the following areas of significance

a) Those related to the site and the environmental conditions and aspects that will  influence the design basis of NPP such as geological data, topography, hydrology and  hydro‐geology, meteorology data, natural phenomena such as earthquakes, floods,  tornadoes, tsunami, potential external man‐induced events such as plane crash, fires and  explosions, failure of dams, availability of cooling water.

b) Those related to the effects of the plant on the environment that could warrant specific design and operational requirements, namely dispersion of radioactive/ toxic  liquid and gaseous effluents, the impact of radiation exposures to public during Normal  Operation and Postulated Accident conditions taking into account dispersion patterns, population distribution, public water supply, milk and food consumption

      c) Exclusion Zone of 1.6 Km and Sterilized Zone up to 5 Km are provided. Emergency   preparedness planning is done for zone up to 16km. ESL carries out the radiation  monitoring in this area.

      d) Availability of Infrastructural facilities to assess response to a Postulated Emergency             condition

5.2) EIA

            Environmental clearance obtained from MoEF, New Delhi for KKNPP 1&2 as per Environmental Protection Act 1986 on 09‐05‐1989.

No Public hearing was stipulated as per the above act.

           

Ministry (MoEF) vide their letter dated 6th Sept 2001 (Letter no: J.14011/I/88‐IA.II(M) dated September 6, 2001 issued by Director MoEF) confirmed that the Environmental Clearance issued in May 1989 is valid and there is no requirement of public hearing and fresh environmental clearances.

However, NPCIL with the assistance of NEERI prepared a Rapid EIA for KKNPP 1&2 in the           year 2001 and subsequently a comprehensive EIA was prepared in year 2003.The        comprehensive EIA report is available in NPCIL Web site www.npcil.nic.in.

     

Comprehensive EIA and EMP for KKNPP 3‐6 was prepared as per EIA notification 2006   (latest), This includes impact of KKNPP 1&2 and Unit No KKNPP 3‐6 (which are similar in            design to that of KKNPP 1&2) has obtained environmental clearance from MoEF in 2008 & 2009.

5.3) CRZ

The environmental clearance for KKNPP 1&2 was obtained in 9th May 1989 as per Environmental Protection Act 1986 with the exemption for constructing the plant within 500 Mtrs from HTL.

All the conditions were fulfilled as per the stipulations. Hence there is no violation

5.4) Public hearing process

There was no requirement by MoEF for the public hearing process at the time when the KKNPP1&2 clearance was granted in 1989. The brief history of the MoEF clearance for KKNPP 1&2 is given at 5.2 above.