LEGAL NOTICE SENT TO NPCIL& AERB FROM THE PROJECTED AFFECTED PEOPLE (PAP) T. Lajapathi Roy M.L., Advocate “The Earth provides enough to satisfy everyone’s need But not for everyman’s greed” M.K. Gandhi VAIGAI LAW FIRM Office & Communication Address : Plot No. 593, K.K. Nagar, Madurai – 625 020. Lawyers Chamber No.99, Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, Madurai – 625 023 Phone : 0452 – 4391785 Mobile : 98432-51788 To:- 1. The Chief Managing Director The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) Vikram Sarabhai Bhavan Central Avenue Road Anushakthinagar Mumbai 400 094 2. The Chairman Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) Niyamak Bhavan Anushaktinagar Mumbai 400 094 3. The Site Director Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) Koodankulam 627 106 Tirunelveli District Tamil Nadu On-behalf of:- 1. Mrs. Tamizharasi, W/o Mr. Sahayaraj 377 Casa Nagar Idinthakarai 627 104 Tirunelveli District 2. Mrs. Ladisla Mary, W/o Mr. Gonsal 246 Casa Nagar Idinthakarai 627 104 Tirunelveli District T. Lajapathi Roy M.L., Advocate “The Earth provides enough to satisfy everyone’s need But not for everyman’s greed” M.K. Gandhi VAIGAI LAW FIRM Office & Communication Address : Plot No. 593, K.K. Nagar, Madurai – 625 020. Lawyers Chamber No.99, Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, Madurai – 625 023 Phone : 0452 – 4391785 Mobile : 98432-51788 3. Mr. K. Kebiston, S/o Mr. Kuzhandaisami 12/243 North Street Idinthakarai 627 104 Tirunelveli District 4. Mr. S. Paul, S/o Mr. Santhiagu Rayappan 17/25 East Street Idinthakarai 627 104 Tirunelveli District 5. Mr. John Thomas Anton, S/o Mr. Sesu Arockiam 1/91 North Street Koothenkuzhi 627 104 6. Mr. J. Lasar, S/o Mr. Jesu Anthony 1/34 North Street Koothenkuzhi 627 104 7. Mr. N. Rajalingam, S/o Mr. Vel Nadar 3/83 Kamaraj Nagar East Street Koodankulam 627 106 8. Mr. A. Aathilingam, S/o Mr. Anbiah Nadar Gandhi Nagar Kalyana Mandapam Street Koodankulam 627 106 T. Lajapathi Roy M.L., Advocate “The Earth provides enough to satisfy everyone’s need But not for everyman’s greed” M.K. Gandhi VAIGAI LAW FIRM Office & Communication Address : Plot No. 593, K.K. Nagar, Madurai – 625 020. Lawyers Chamber No.99, Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, Madurai – 625 023 Phone : 0452 – 4391785 Mobile : 98432-51788 I have been instructed by the above said clients, who are project affected people living in the villages/hamlets near Koodankulam that fall within 5 km radius of Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant (herein after referred as KKNPP), the commissioning of the plant will vitally affect their health, lives and livelihoods of people around Koodankulam and therefore I am constrained to send you this Notice. 1. The First of you own the KKNPP and will be commissioning and operating the same. The Second of you is mandated to oversee and regulate nuclear safety with the overall responsibility for public safety that has been placed on the pedestal of ‘Constitutional Trust’ in the Supreme Court judgment delivered on 6 May 2013. 2. My clients are given to understand that under the 1998 inter-governmental supplementary agreement, between the Russian and Indian Governments, the Russians are to provide the reactor designs and supply the major equipment. The instrumentation and control (I&C) design package, including installation details, were also to come from Russia. The NPCIL and its Indian contractors would build the reactors, but a small team of Russian specialists (“advisers”) would stay at the site to render technical assistance at all stages of construction, in the installation of reactor equipment and in the commissioning and operation of the reactors, until addressee No. 1 takes over. T. Lajapathi Roy M.L., Advocate “The Earth provides enough to satisfy everyone’s need But not for everyman’s greed” M.K. Gandhi VAIGAI LAW FIRM Office & Communication Address : Plot No. 593, K.K. Nagar, Madurai – 625 020. Lawyers Chamber No.99, Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, Madurai – 625 023 Phone : 0452 – 4391785 Mobile : 98432-51788 3. My clients understand that KKNPP reactors are pressurised water reactors (PWRs) of the Russian VVER type, of 1000 MWe rating. The past Indian experience is entirely on pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs), India having built only a very small PWR for a submarine which is yet to be operated. The PHWRs are technologically very different from the VVER-1000 reactors, and the Russians have designed and built more than 20 of them. The experience gained over the years by Indian contractors who have steadily worked with NPCIL is also limited to PHWRs. Therefore, it is certainly not a right decision to insist that KKNPP Units 1 & 2 shall be built under the above division of responsibilities, because there is no technological finesse required to build a large and complicated PWR for the first time in India. 4. My clients are aware that the reactor and other core equipments had arrived at the site in early 2005 and KKNP was originally scheduled to start commercial operation in December 2007. Yet, despite announcing several datelines by the Prime Minister, Minister of State in PMO and senior functionaries of First and Second of you there is no sign of commissioning the plant. Repeated tests appear to have failed and everything is being kept under wraps in the name of maintaining secrecy. T. Lajapathi Roy M.L., Advocate “The Earth provides enough to satisfy everyone’s need But not for everyman’s greed” M.K. Gandhi VAIGAI LAW FIRM Office & Communication Address : Plot No. 593, K.K. Nagar, Madurai – 625 020. Lawyers Chamber No.99, Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, Madurai – 625 023 Phone : 0452 – 4391785 Mobile : 98432-51788 5. My clients state that in June, 2012, there were reports of welding in the core region of the pressure vessel which was against the original design. At the beginning of 2013, there were reports of Russian Federal prosecutors charging and arresting the procurement officers of Zio-Podolsk of corruption in connection with the supply of substandard systems and components to a few nuclear power plants including KKNPP. This included use of low quality steel in the fabrication of the Reactor. 6. My clients believe from the inputs of experts that besides the installation of substandard parts in KKNPP reactors due to laxity of quality control, it is now evident that another major safety issue related to the Instrumentation & Control systems in the KKNPP, because of which the Unit 1 start-up is being repeatedly postponed. The problem appears to be the inability to eliminate spurious signals of untraced origin appearing in many of the instrumentation cables of paramount importance to safety, like the reactor neutron chamber output lines, wiring of the safety and shut-off rod control systems, etc. Such phenomena belong to a broad class of problems known as Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI). This spurious input can add to or subtract from the “real” signals, thereby sending erroneous control inputs to a variety of crucial safety systems, possibly leading to unpredictable and serious malfunctions or accidents. T. Lajapathi Roy M.L., Advocate “The Earth provides enough to satisfy everyone’s need But not for everyman’s greed” M.K. Gandhi VAIGAI LAW FIRM Office & Communication Address : Plot No. 593, K.K. Nagar, Madurai – 625 020. Lawyers Chamber No.99, Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, Madurai – 625 023 Phone : 0452 – 4391785 Mobile : 98432-51788 7. My clients learn from experts that KKNPP cable system, as completed today, has not conformed to the norms and standards of cable selection, EMI shielding, or layout as per Russian, Indian or any other standards. Because of EMI problem plant control system gets tripped during tests after emanating spurious signal/noise that has created panic in the villages they live. This was because the containment structures of the Reactor pressure vessel were cut open and instrumentation /control cables laid in the same tray making the system unreliable. In the present condition if the reactor is commissioned it would either lead to a catastrophic release of energy in a short time interval or the fission process can become uncontrollable and the nuclear reactor could turn into a nuclear bomb destroying the habitat of my clients. 8. My clients have information that in the last few years not less than five deaths have taken place due to electrical leak/shock caused by the defective/substandard control cables. The following deaths are reported with the police 1. Dhinesh S/o, Dharmaraj (Crime No. 129/09). 2. Arumugaperumal S/o, Muthusami pillai (Crime No. 259/09) 3. Praveenkumar S/o, Chithirai (Crime No. 50/11), 4. Kalyanasundaram S/o, Mayandi (Crime No. 395/12) 5. Ashok Samantharai S/o, Sushil Samantharai (Crime No. 52/13) Local police has confirmed this, the concerned NPCIL/Project officials are liable for prosecution for culpable homicide not amounting to murder/death caused due to negligence. T. Lajapathi Roy M.L., Advocate “The Earth provides enough to satisfy everyone’s need But not for everyman’s greed” M.K. Gandhi VAIGAI LAW FIRM Office & Communication Address : Plot No. 593, K.K. Nagar, Madurai – 625 020. Lawyers Chamber No.99, Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, Madurai – 625 023 Phone : 0452 – 4391785 Mobile : 98432-51788 9. My clients believe that there is no Disaster preparedness/management or emergency evacuation systems in the villages where they live. District and nuclear authorities are totally unprepared in the event of any accident and are not capable of saving the lives of the people. Our clients learn that Kanyakumari District collector has never been consulted in the emergency preparedness process despite the fact that there are several villages and hamlets falling within the 16 km radius of the KKNPP. 10. Our clients learn that condition # 15 laid down by the in the Supreme Court judgment delivered on 6 May 2013 enjoins the First and Second of you to oversee each and every aspect of the matter, including the safety of the plant, impact on environment, quality of various components and systems in the plant and filing a Report to that effect in the court before commissioning of the plant. 11. Our clients believe that substandard and defective quality of components and systems in KKNPP and their non-reliability has been within the knowledge of the First and the Second of you since 2007. Despite this you have not shared any of these with them and kept these under cover of secrecy. What is worse, you have been repeatedly trying to commission the plant and make it operational with the full knowledge that it could cause catastrophic effects leading to serious harm to their health, life and livelihood. It could also lead to mass death and destruction in and around the villages and hamlets my clients live in. T. Lajapathi Roy M.L., Advocate “The Earth provides enough to satisfy everyone’s need But not for everyman’s greed” M.K. Gandhi VAIGAI LAW FIRM Office & Communication Address : Plot No. 593, K.K. Nagar, Madurai – 625 020. Lawyers Chamber No.99, Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, Madurai – 625 023 Phone : 0452 – 4391785 Mobile : 98432-51788 12. Through this Notice you are called upon to cease and desist all activities in KKNPP and close the plant constructed with sub standard materials without any further loss of time. You are also called upon to clearly and categorically state the truth that the First and Second of you have been aware and not disclosing to our clients for long. 13. In the event of these reasonable and lawful demands not being complied with within a period of fifteen days from the date of receipt of this Notice, it will be construed that you have willingly and deliberately intended to commission and operate a defective and sub-standard KKNPP knowing fully well that it might cause incalculable harm, death and destruction to the lives and livelihood of our clients, their relatives, friends and neighbours. You are aware that right to life including right to livelihood is assured to my clients by Article 21 of the constitution and the addressees cannot tread over it, and if any untoward incident occurs the addressees are responsible for criminal negligence and our clients will have no other option but to initiate appropriate legal and other proceedings including Civil, Criminal and Constitutional against you holding you responsible for the costs and consequences thereof. PLACE : MADURAI DATE : 04.07.2013 ADVOCATE
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 07:00:44 +0000
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