We have no answers for imagination: Nuclear scientist

Kalpakkam (TN), Nov 22: Terming the doubts raised by anti-Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project agitators as "not based on scientific facts," a top Department of Atomic Energy official on Tuesday said there are no answers for "imagination".

Talking to reporters here, S C Chetal, director of Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, said, "We have no answers for imagination. We can answer for queries that are based on scientific facts.

Any aspect on the safety of a nuclear plant will be answered, if they are based on scientific facts." Referring to a doubt over the possibility of 100-m-high tsunami waves hitting the KNPP plant, as raised by the protesters, Chetal said, "If such a tsunami hits the plant, we all will be finished. Forget the plant, the whole of Tamil Nadu will be wiped out."

The anti-KNPP activists are demanding scrapping of the Indo-Russian joint venture in Tirunelveli district, citing safety concerns in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. Assuring safety of all nuclear plants in India, Chetal claimed the procedure to get a nuclear reactor licensed in India was much tighter compared to international ones. Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited's project director Prabhat Kumar said there were "some misconceptions" about nuclear reactors among the public that needed to be cleared.

"We might not have done our job initially (creating awareness among the public). But we are ready to clear any questions based on scientific facts," he said, adding construction process of the 500 MW Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor here will be completed by mid-2012.

PTI