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| Fig. 1: Jaitapur, India, is the site of a controversial planned nuclear power generation facility. (Source: Wikimedia Commons) |
The Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP) is a proposed nuclear power generation facility in Jaitapur, a small port on coast of the Arabian Sea in Maharashtra, India (Fig. 1). If constructed, the 9,900 MW plant would be the largest in the world, surpassing the 8,200 MW Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. [1]
The JNPP is the first of several enormous nuclear projects lined up as part of India's ambitious plan to take a massive step forward in nuclear power production, going from 4,120 MW in 2010 (the year of the JNPP's proposal) to 63,000 MW by 2032. [2] The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) will be American conglomerate General Electric (GE) will design the conventional island for the plant and supply key components, as well as provide operational support services and training programs to meet the requirements of the NPCIL, which will own and operate the plant upon completion. Électricité de France (EDF), a French power utility firm, will take responsibility for engineering integration across the entire project including the nuclear island, conventional island, and auxiliary systems. EDF will also provide the necessary input data. [1]
The project has been met with uproar from locals and environmentalists. The controversy has centered on safety and sustainability.
At the time of the project's announcement in 2010, Jaitapur had experienced 92 quakes in the preceding two decades. The largest of these quakes was recorded at 6.2 on the Richter scale. In the spring of 2011, the earthquake damage and nuclear containment emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi reactors in Japan furthered concerns at Jaitapur, where a comparable environmental disaster would devastate the local ecology and fishing- dependent economy. [2]
Even without accidents, the facility's planned day-to-day functions concern locals and environmentalists. The facility's cooling apparatuses are expected to intake 52 billion liters of seawater every day and output the same volume back into the sea, five degrees Celsius warmer. Environmentalists believe this would drive costal marine life into deeper water, forcing fishermen to venture further for their catch. There are also worries that the radioactive waste generated by the plant could escape into the local soil and affect the local mango, cashew, rice, and jackfruit plantations. [1]
Proponents of the JNPP, most significantly the Indian government, maintain that sufficient safety measures will be in place to prevent environmental damage. Moreover, the government considers the project critical to India's economic development. Jairam Ramesh, India's Environment Minister, scorns the idea that the country can achieve a high growth rate and sustain the energy needs of its 1.2 billion people with only solar, wind, biogas, and other non-nuclear alternatives to fossil fuels. [3] In an effort to quell local activism, NPCIL has promised to spend 1.5 to 2 percent of the net profit from the JNPP in Jaitapur only, with locals to decide on the nature of these development projects. [4]
Opponents of the project are unappeased, but the JNPP is moving forward regardless. After several years of resistance from local landowning farmers, the Maharashtra government announced that the land acquisition process had been completed and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former French President Francois Hollande resolved to hasten progress toward project completion. [5]
© Jenny Vo-Phamhi. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] A. Chopra, "A Perspective on the Nuclear Uproar in India," Forbes India, 28 Mar 11.
[2] D. Siddiqui, "Protests Against Jaitapur Nuclear Plant Turn Violent," Reuters, 19 Apr 11.
[3] V. Deshpande, "It's Paradoxical That Environmentalists Are Against Nuclear Energy: Jairam Ramesh," The Hindu, 8 Nov 16.
[4] S. Jog, "Q+A: S K Jain, CMD, Nuclear Power Corporation," Business Standard, 20 Jan 2013,
[5] T. Wilkes, "EDF Eyes Faster India Nuclear Deal as Other Projects Stall," Reuters, 31 Aug 17.
