New public involvement project on the anvil: Atomic Energy Regulatory Board chief

MUMBAI: Justice A M Thipsay of the Bombay high court on Saturday said while its true that Indian needs more energy, the important question when it comes to Nuclear power plants is how to ensure safety first. "Rules need to be very clear as safety of people is more important and there needs to be no ambiguity."

The judge was present at a meet on India's Nuclear Energy sector held by the Nuclear Law Association in the city which saw the legal heads of various large corporations including Pierre Charreton, general counsel, Areva present.

The chairperson of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board S S Bajaj announced that a new public involvement approach is on the anvil and will be implemented during their next review of the proposed Nuclear Power Plant in Haryana. He said that authorities were raking seriously some of the concerns expressed.

The head of the corporate legal group at General Insurance Corporation of India GIC Re Y Ramulu said the company was planning to go ahead with nuclear insurance for smaller projects even for the "hot zone''.

Ravi Kadam the former advocate general of Maharashtra spoke of the need to decide public interest litigations more speedily when they are filed to oppose large technical projects. In his inaugural address R B Grover, Homi Bhabha Chair and Director, Homi Bhabha National Institute said that the relaxation of NSG guidelines had led to concrete results. He pointed out that "Uranium has been imported and has been used in existing PHWRs resulting in improved capacity factors and increased electricity generation'' with 2011-12 seeing a steep rise in power generation over the previous two years.

Behram Vakil, Senior partner of the leading law firm AZB chaired a session on nuclear energy projects and private sector participation which focused on international collaborative projects, international investments and liability issue. He did say that funding does pose a concern for mega projects with half the money to come from within the country.

Charting out the next five year plan since 2012, Grover said for Uranium—the main raw material—augmentation of operations at Tummalapalle in AP are on and new production centres coming up at Gogi in Karnataka, Labapur in AP and KPM in Meghalaya as well as Kanampalle in AP. When it comes to fuel fabrication, the next five year plan also envisages the completion of ongoing projects at Pazhayakayal, expansion in Hyderabad, a new unity at Kota and another unit at a green field site, he said.

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New public involvement project on the anvil: Atomic Energy Regulatory Board chief