New Delhi (Sputnik) — India’s National Green Tribunal has refused to entertain a petition seeking to block the expansion of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
The petition, filed by G Sundar Rajan, trustee of an NGO Friends of the Earth, had challenged the Environment Ministry’s Coastal Regulations Zone (CRZ) clearance for a further four nuclear plant arguing that an incompetent body had performed the environmental impact study.
However, the environmental watchdog refused to hear the petition because the Supreme Court had already considered the matter. In 2013, the Supreme Court, while recording the Environmental Clearance (EC) and CRZ clearances given to the project, had approved the first two units of the nuclear power plant.
The National Green Tribunal is a statutory body set up under an act of Indian Parliament for speedily & effectively hearing cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources.
Units 1 and 2 of the Kundankulum nuclear power plant have already attained criticality. These are operated by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) under IAEA safeguards, with supervision from Russian specialists. Enriched uranium fuel for the entire life of the plant is to be supplied by Russia. Work on units 3-6 are in various stages completion.
