Chaos at Koodankulam safety meet

CHENNAI: A meeting to explain the safety features of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) here on Sunday witnessed chaos and uproarious scenes as a section of the audience protested over what they called unconvincing response and denial of opportunity to pose questions to experts.Organised by the Chemical Industries Association, panelists at the meeting included Station Director of Madras Atomic Power Station (Kalpakkam) K Ramamurthy, Associate Director of Radiological Safety B Venkateswaran, Additional Chief Engineer of Directorate of Projects, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), P S Pathak.No sooner had the question and answer session started after the formal presentation of two senior officials than a section of the audience sought clarifications on certain aspects. The organisers, however, did not allow them to speak and instead asked them to give questions in writing. Protesting, they shouted that the views presented were lopsided and expressed doubts over the veracity of the claims made.As the vociferous objections continued unabated, the organisers cautioned that the programme would be wound up abruptly.Several participants, including CPM member of Parliament T K Rangarajan, pacified the agitated men. “You [protestors] organise a programme, will we listen to your views. But allow the meeting to go on,” he told a dissenter. Others shouted at those dissenting to leave the hall.A participant still managed to reach the microphone and tried to pick holes in the argument of Pathak. The NPCIL official had said that the Koodankulam plant’s location was about 1,500 km away from the tsunami faultlines that were prone to major earthquakes. Even other quakes were at the very least 300 km away from Koodankulam. The participant, however, claimed that several earthquakes had been reported within 250 km radius of the plant site, including quakes in the Gulf of Mannar region over the past 100 years.Earlier, Pathak explaining safety features said that the hydro accumulators ensured supply of borate water to the reactor core in the event of loss of coolant. It also ensured long term flooding of reactor core with borate water at lower pressures. The molten core catcher would confine the molten core/fuel within the boundaries for the containment.