India to study French nuclear safety report before finalising contract

Mumbai: India has sought reports from the French nuclear authority on freshly conducted tests related to safety issues which were raised in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster in Japan. The report will be studied before orders for reactors from France's atomic energy giant Areva are finalised.

An anti-nuclear lobby has once again become active in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in March this year.

"We have asked the French to provide the ASN (Nuclear Safety Authority) report on the safety features related to EPRs after the new assessment," India's Atomic Energy Commission, chairman, Srikumar Banerjee said Tuesday.

Banerjee, who is attending the International Atomic Energy Agency's 55th general conference, said that he had conveyed the decision to access the ASN report to French energy minister Eric Besson.

The ASN report would be available in December this year, he said.

Last year, in December, India signed a $9.5 billion framework deal under which Areva would build two European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs) for the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP) in Maharashtra, with an option for four more.

The proposed project is now facing increasing opposition.

In copy-cat protests some people are now on fast at Koodankulam in Tamil Nadu, where a 2000 MW atomic power plant is nearly ready for commissioning.