Kalams stand on N-plant questioned

PUDUCHERRY: A group of anti-nuclear activists here on Friday said that former president A P J Abdul Kalam’s statement vouching for the safety of Koodankulam power plant is not acceptable.“The (former president’s ) statement is against truth if we consider the disaster that occurred at Fukushima in Japan,” Father X T Selvaraj, an anti-KKNPP activist, said at a press conference here.He said that a nuclear plant and safety could not go hand in hand if one went by the history of nuclear plants.Kalam, after an inspection of the plant a few days ago, assured the people not to nurture any fear about the safety of the plant.Another activist, Prof A Marx, rejected the contention that the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project was safe even in the aftermath of a 6 magnitude earthquake.  “What if the intensity of the quake is similar to the one that struck Japan a few months ago,” Marx wondered. He said tsunamis would have a devastating effect on the nuclear plants situated along the coast. To further support his claim that nuclear plants were unsafe, Marx said that accidents had occurred even at Kalpakkam atomic power plant. The activist said that the life of a nuclear power plant would be 30 years, while the cost for storing the nuclear power generation related waste safely would be much more.