7/30/2019 Safety petition by scientists on Kudankulam nuclear plant

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7/30/2019 Safety petition by scientists on Kudankulam nuclear plant

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Hon'ble Chief Minister ! ! ! ! Hon'ble Chief MinisterGovernment of Tamil Nadu ! ! ! Government of KeralaSecretariat, Chennai 600 009 ! ! ! Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram 695001cc:Prime Minister's Office! ! ! ! Secretary, Dept of Atomic EnergySouth Block, Raisina Hill! ! ! ! Anushakti BhavanNew Delhi 110011! ! ! ! ! Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Marg, Mumbai 1Respected Chief Ministers:

We, the below-signed (next two pages), are scientists from various disciplines who areconcerned about the quality of components and equipment used at the KoodankulamNuclear Power Plant (KKNP) Units 1 & 2. Our concerns arise from recent media reportsabout the use of substandard components in KKNP 1 & 2, and the revelation at this latestage that four valves in a critical safety system were found defective.

These safety concerns are compounded by the fact that Russian authorities arrested Mr.

Sergei Shutov, procurement director of Zio-Podolsk, on corruption charges for havingsourced cheaper sub-standard steel for manufacturing components that were used inRussian nuclear installations in Bulgaria, Iran, China and India. This has led to severalcomplaints of sub-standard components and follow-up investigations in Bulgaria andChina. The ramifications of such corruption need to be taken very seriously as they haveimplications for the long-term safety of the nuclear plant.

As the Chief Minister of the states hosting and neighbouring the nuclear power plant, thetwo of you have a responsibility to satisfy yourself and the residents of Tamil Nadu andKerala that the plant has been constructed to the highest safety standards. Any exercise toassure oneself of the quality of components used will have to be done before the plant iscommissioned. Once commissioned, the radioactive environment in sections of the plantwill make it impossible to access and test some potentially critical components.

Unfortunately, as we have seen in Fukushima, there is the danger that the impact of a

major hazardous event in Koodankulam may not be localized but could spread to largerregions in both Tamil Nadu and Kerala. To reduce such a risk, in the light of recentrevelations, we believe that it is important to have a fresh independent and thoroughquality inspection of the components used in the two reactors.

We, the below-signed, include scientists who believe that nuclear energy has a legitimaterole in securing our energy future and others that believe that nuclear energy is too risky.

Through this letter, we are not advocating for or against nuclear energy. All of us are of theopinion that when dealing with complex and potentially dangerous technologiestransparency, honesty and a rigorous adherence to the highest quality standards areimperative. We urge you to convey to the Prime Minister and the Department of AtomicEnergy that before commissioning the reactors, they should consult independent nationalexperts to formulate an inspection regime and carry out a full-fledged inspection into thesafety of KKNP 1 & 2. Such an inspection should pay particular attention to the allegationsof sub-standard equipment and components.

13 May 2013

7/30/2019 Safety petition by scientists on Kudankulam nuclear plant

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Name Designation Dept/Specialization Affiliation City

1 Atul Chokshi Professor Materials Engg. IISc Bangalore

2 Sujay Basu Professor/director Energy Jadavpur Univ/Centre of Energy and Kolkata

3 Vinod Gaur Professor Geophysics CMMACS Bangalore

4 Subodh Kumar Professor Materials Engg. IISc Bangalore

5 Debasis Sengupta Professor Oceanography IISc Bangalore

6 Bikramjit Basu Assoc. Professor Materials Science & Engg IISc Bangalore

7 Venu Madhav Govindu Asst. Professor Electrical engg IISc Bangalore

8 Siddhartha P. Sarma Assoc. Professor Molecular biophysics IISc Bangalore

9 Vidyanand Nanjundiah Professor Ecological sciences IISc Bangalore

10 Sanjit Chaterjee Asst. Professor Computer sci. & automation IISc Bangalore

11 K.S. Gandhi Professor Chemical engg IISc Bangalore

12 A.G. Menon Professor Earth sciences IISc Bangalore

13 Bhanu Pratap Das Senior Professor Astrophysics IIA Bangalore

14 Vandana Shiva Founder Environmentalsit/Physicist Navadanya New Delhi

15 Sushma V. Mallik Assoc. Professor Astrophysics IIA Bangalore

16 D.C.V. Mallik Professor (retd) Astrophysics IIA Bangalore

17 Rohini Balakrishnan Assoc. Professor Ecological sciences IISc Bangalore

18 Mahua Ghare post-doc Ecological sciences Centre for Pollination Studies Kolkata

19 Ravi Sankar Kottada Asst. Professor Materials Engg. IITM Chennai

20 Partho Sarothi Ray Asst. Professor Phsyics IISER Kolkata

21 Shiv Sethi Assoc. Professor Astrophysics RRI Bangalore

22 Meher Engineer Professor/ex-director Physics Bose Institute Kolkata

23 K.S. Jagadish Professor (retd) Civil engg IISc Bangalore

24 Supratik Chakraborty Professor Computer sci. IITB Mumbai

25 Deepak DSouza Assoc. Professor Computer sci. IISc Bangalore

26 MJNV Prasad Asst. Professor Materials Engg. IITB Mumbai

27 Kartik Shanker Assoc. Professor Ecological sciences IISc Bangalore

28 Dibyendu Chakravarty Scientist D Materials Engg. ARCI Hyderabad

29 T.A. Abinandanan Professor Materials Engg. IISc Bangalore30 K.V.S. Hari Professor Elec & comm engg IISc Bangalore

31 C.P. Rajendran Visiting Professor Earth sciences IISc Bangalore

32 Arijit Bishnu Assoc. Professor Computer Science ISI Kolkata

33 Renee Borges Professor & Chairperson Ecological sciences IISc Bangalore

34 Lakshmi Saripalli RRi trust position Astrophysicist RRI Bangalore

35 Vijay Chandru Chairman and CEO Management/Comp sci. & autom Strand Bangalore

36 Sumati Surya Assoc. Professor Physics RRI Bangalore

37 Sachindeo Vaidya Assoc. Professor Physics IISc Bangalore

38 Procheta Mallik none Physics none Bangalore

39 Sushama Yermal Instructor Biologist IISc Bangalore

40 Palash B. Pal Professor Astrophysics Saha Inst. Kolkata41 M.S. Bobji Assoc. Professor Mechanical Engg IISc Bangalore

42 Gopal Krishna NASI platinum Jub. Sen. ScientistAstrophysics TIFR (retired)/IUCAA Pune

43 Harish Bhatt Professor Astrophysics IIA Bangalore

44 Arati Chokshi none Astrophysics none Bangalore

45 Vinod John Asst. Professor Computer Science IISc Bangalore

46 Dileep Jatkar Professor Physics HCRI Allahabad

47 Anshuman Maharana Reader Physics HCRI Allahabad

48 Naresh Dadhich Professor (retd) Physics IUCAA Pune

49 Vikram Vyas Professor Physics Shiv Nadir Univ UP

50 Krsihnendu Sengupta Professor Physics IACS Kolkata

51 Suvrat Raju Reader Physics ICTS-TIFR Bangalore52 Abhishek Dhar Professor Physics ICTS-TIFR Bangalore

53 R.I. Kaveri post-doc Ecological sciences IISc Bangalore

54 Ashok Pati Professor Astrophysics IIA Bangalore

55 Joseph Samuel Professor Physics RRI Bangalore

56 Carol Upadhyaya Professor Social sciences NIAS Bangalore

57 Madan Rao Professor Physics RRI Bangalore

58 Prajwal Shastri Assoc. Professor Astrophysics IIA Bangalore

59 Anjula Gurtoo Assoc. Professor Management/Comp sci. & autom IISc Bangalore

60 Sudhir Vombatkere Major General (retd) Civil engg none Mysore

Affiliations: IISc=Indian Instit te of Science, RRI=Raman Research Institute; TIFR=Tata Institute of Fundamental Research;IITB = Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay; IIA = Indian Insti

tute of Astrophysics; IISER = Indi n Institute of Science Education and esearch;

NIAS=National Institute of Advanced Studies; IUCAA=Inter-Uni ersity Centre for Astronomy & As rophysics;

IITM = Indian Institute of Tec nology, Madras, HCRI = Harish-Chandra Research Institute;

CMMACS=Centre for Mathe atical Modelling And Computer Simulation; ICTS=International Ce tre for Theoretical Sciences;