Mango Farmers, Fisherman Fight India Nuclear Plant
Mango Farmers Invoke Japan to Fight India Nuclear Plant
Adeel Halim/Bloomberg
Fishermen repair nets in Nate.
Fishermen repair nets in Nate. Photographer: Adeel Halim/Bloomberg
April 6 (Bloomberg) -- Fisherman Amjad Borkar and mango grower Praveen Gavankar talk about their opposition to a proposed nuclear power plant in Jaitapur on the western coast of India. In the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster, local villagers fear the plant, to be built with France’s Areva SA, will damage their health and their livelihoods. The opposition pits fishermen and farmers against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government, which is struggling to bridge a 10 percent peak power shortfall needed to maintain growth in one of the world's fastest growing economies. (Source: Bloomberg)
Mango Farmers Invoke Japan to Fight India Nuclear Plant
Adeel Halim/Bloomberg
The direction for Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project is displayed on a banner on a road in Jaitapur.
The direction for Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project is displayed on a banner on a road in Jaitapur. Photographer: Adeel Halim/Bloomberg
Mango Farmers Invoke Japan to Fight India Nuclear Plant
Adeel Halim/Bloomberg
A lighthouse stands at the site of Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project in Jaitapur.
A lighthouse stands at the site of Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project in Jaitapur. Photographer: Adeel Halim/Bloomberg
Mango Farmers Invoke Japan to Fight India Nuclear Plant
Adeel Halim/Bloomberg
Shobha Chavan, a doctor and housewife, speaks during an interview.
Shobha Chavan, a doctor and housewife, speaks during an interview. Photographer: Adeel Halim/Bloomberg
A man sits near a banner opposing the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project in Jaitapur. Photographer: Adeel Halim/Bloomberg
Mango Farmers Invoke Japan to Fight India Nuclear Plant
Adeel Halim/Bloomberg
Site for the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant is seen in the background of a fisherman's boat in Ratnagiri.
Site for the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant is seen in the background of a fisherman's boat in Ratnagiri. Photographer: Adeel Halim/Bloomberg
Mango Farmers Invoke Japan to Fight India Nuclear Plant
Adeel Halim/Bloomberg
A man walks at the site of the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project in Jaitapur.
A man walks at the site of the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project in Jaitapur. Photographer: Adeel Halim/Bloomberg
Mango Farmers Invoke Japan to Fight India Nuclear Plant
Adeel Halim/Bloomberg
Young girls carry shrimps at a jetty in Ratnagiri.
Young girls carry shrimps at a jetty in Ratnagiri. Photographer: Adeel Halim/Bloomberg
Mango Farmers Invoke Japan to Fight India Nuclear Plant
Adeel Halim/Bloomberg
An aerial view of Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project site in Jaitapur.
An aerial view of Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project site in Jaitapur. Photographer: Adeel Halim/Bloomberg
The temple for the Hindu monkey god Hanuman, near Jaitapur on the western coast of India, seems a long way from Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi, where the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl continues to unfold.
For the crowd gathering amid the scent of incense and prayer lamps, the crisis is looming on their doorstep. Less than three miles away, the Indian government plans to build what would be the world’s largest nuclear-power plant and the villagers, fearing a repeat of the Japanese catastrophe, are here to protest.
Opposition to the development, to be built with Paris-based Areva SA (CEI), pits local fishermen and farmers, growers of the world’s most expensive mangoes, against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government as India struggles to bridge a power shortfall to maintain the second-fastest rate of growth among major economies. The site would generate double the power produced at Fukushima, even as that crisis prompts nations such as Germany to scale back their nuclear plans.
“After Japan, our politicians should realize that nuclear plants are not safe,” said Shobha Chavan, 40, a doctor and housewife in the nearby town of Ratnagiri. “In this region, earthquakes have happened. Businessmen and politicians want to build the plant because they want to build their bank balances.”
Giant Wave
Even before the 9-magnitude temblor struck Japan on March 11, sending a giant wave crashing into Fukushima, locals campaigned to stop the 9,900-megawatt development, arguing that hot water discharge posed a risk to fish stocks, while a security cordon would block access to the sea. The prawns, mackerels and king fish from the sea off Jaitapur are exported to markets from Europe to Thailand and Japan.
Now, protesters say Jaitapur could suffer the same fate as Fukushima, where Tokyo Electric Power Co. is struggling to contain radiation leaks after a partial meltdown. The planned complex sits in an area of seismic activity and state-owned Nuclear Power Corp. of India, India’s monopoly atomic generator, is underplaying the risk, according to Janhit Seva Samiti, a movement comprising hundreds of locals opposed to the plans.
“Earlier, government officials used to say: ‘Look at Japan. It has so many nuclear plants in earthquake-prone areas and there have been no accidents,’” said Praveen Gavankar, a 57-year-old Alphonso mango grower who is also one of the leaders of the movement. “Now we are saying: See, we told you it was dangerous.” A box of a dozen Alphonsos can cost as much as $100 in the U.S.
Suffered Shocks
The area around Jaitapur, 420 kilometers (262 miles) south of Mumbai, is ranked as level three in India’s five-step scale of seismic risk, with five being the most severe, according to Nuclear Power Corp., or NPCIL. Konkan Bachao Samiti, another local group opposing the project, provided Bloomberg News with data showing the site is in a level four area. The area around Jaitapur suffered 40 shocks of magnitude 4 or higher from 1996 to 2005, the data show.
A. Sundaramoorthy, director general of the Geological Survey of India in Kolkata, was not available for comment after five calls to his office.
Fault Lines
A 1945 shock along the zone where the Arabian plate slides under the Eurasian plate sent a 2-meter (6.6-foot) high wave slamming into Mumbai, according to a December 2008 paper in the journal Current Science. The 800-kilometer fault, called the Makran subduction zone, could host “a very large earthquake, certainly as big as the one that occurred in Japan recently,” said Phil Cummins, professor of geology at the Australian National University.
Still, there are no active fault lines within a 30- kilometer (18.6-mile) radius of the Jaitapur site, according to a government report last year. That’s more than the 5-kilometer limit stipulated by India’s Atomic Energy Regulatory Board. Furthermore, the site sits on average 24.5 meters above mean sea level, reducing the tsunami risk, NPCIL say.
The company also claims water discharged into the sea will be at most about 5 degrees Celsius warmer and confined to an area of 0.28 square kilometers. There have been no adverse effects on marine life at existing coastal nuclear power sites, according to NPCIL.
Revisit Plans
Nevertheless, the company will “revisit” its plans after it gets more information from Japan, according to Chairman Shreyans Kumar Jain.
Areva didn’t immediately respond to requests to comment. The reactors at Fukushima Dai-Ichi were built by General Electric Co. (GE), Toshiba Corp. (6502) and Hitachi Ltd. (6501)
The Jaitapur plant would be the first to be built in India after the U.S. helped lift a more than three-decade ban on the South Asian nation trading in atomic equipment and fuel in 2008. The project, consisting of six 1,650-megawatt Areva reactors, will be built in phases, with the first set of two reactors scheduled to be completed in 2018, NPCIL said last year.
The company has capacity of 4,780 megawatts, less than 3 percent of India’s total. The government needs to boost electricity generation to plug a 10 percent peak shortfall and meet a target of providing power to all its 1.2 billion people. India’s $1.3 trillion economy may grow as much as 9.25 percent this financial year, the government forecast in February.
Legal Challenge
NPCIL bought 938 hectares of land from four villages for the project, about three times the size of New York’s Central Park. Still, the diggers can’t move in until compensation is agreed. Out of about 2,000 landowners offered money, just 154 accepted, according to Madhukar Gaikwad, the top administrative official of Ratnagiri district.
Protesters also say they are preparing a fresh legal challenge after a 2009 attempt to block the plan was dismissed by the Bombay High Court. If they can show the area is in a seismic zone and the project “would not serve the public purpose,” they can ask the court to stall the project, said Narinder Singh Vashisht, a senior Delhi High Court lawyer who specializes in real estate law.
“They can take advantage of the fallout of the Fukushima disaster as well,” he said.
Mushroom Clouds
Meanwhile, the protests continue. Colorful posters with images of mushroom clouds and warnings of catastrophes worse than those in Japan are plastered at intersections and on trees and shop fronts in the area. Security has been beefed up in the villages and police vans, each with 30 or so khaki-clad officers, are a common sight.
Two rallies near Jaitapur turned violent and 39 people were arrested, according to local inspector Dilip Boraste. All have since been released on bail, he said.
Protesters claim they are being targeted by the Maharashtra state government, headed by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. Gangadhar Mahadeo, 41, a farmer who claims to own 170 acres of land including five which are being acquired by NPCIL, said he was arrested and put in jail for nine days for protesting. He’s now on bail.
“I am ready to go to jail for a year if required but we won’t allow the plant to come up here,” he said.
Chavan didn’t return a call made to his mobile phone. His personal assistant Satish Lalit said the chief minister was unavailable because he was attending the state assembly.
Uddhav Thackeray, leader of opposition party Shiv Sena, has declared his support for the protesters. He’s scheduled to visit Jaitapur on April 9, Gavankar said.
Back at Hanuman’s temple, the crowd listens to the latest news from Fukushima as Milind Desai, the village doctor, reads aloud from a newspaper. A group of policemen watches, one recording proceedings on a video camera.
Then, a group of young folk singers with hand-held drums, cymbals and tambourines and dressed in brightly colored traditional costumes get to their feet. They perform a song dedicated to stopping the nuclear plant.
“No one can predict an earthquake,” says Desai. “Nature will do what it wants and the consequences will be the same for everyone.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Adi Narayan in Mumbai at anarayan8@bloomberg.net; Siddharth Philip in Mumbai at sphilip3@bloomberg.net; Archana Chaudhary in Mumbai at achaudhary2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Merritt at dmerritt1@bloomberg.net
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