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Sea erosion is a very real threat facing the Madban plateau, the site chosen for the Jaitapur nuclear plant. If the plant is constructed there, it will have an unstable rock foundation and would be vulnerable to tsunami waves, said Dr M.K. Prabhu, Former Director of Maharashtra Geology and Mining Directorate.
Dr Prabhu, who is now a Geological Consultant, told Business Line on Saturday at the sidelines of a People's Tribunal constituted for inquiring into to the safety of nuclear power plants. The tribunal has been constituted by Lokshasan Andolan, an activist group. It was the last day of a three-day hearing, which saw more than 40 speakers put forth their view against nuclear power industry and the various plants, which are being planned by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) across the country.
At Madban, NPCIL is planning to set up a 10,000 MW nuclear plant with six reactors from Areva company of France. The plant will cost over Rs 1.5 lakh crore, over 15 years.
Movement of waves
The constant movement of waves has deeply eroded the plateau. This process of sea erosion, or under-cutting, has led to the formation of caves in the plateau, “The sea water is not only a mechanical force but also a chemical force as it the salinity, which dissolves the rocks. This process has been happening at the plateau for many years, making it unstable,” Dr Prabhu said.
A tsunami is an obvious danger, as the plant site faces the Arabian Sea, which is on the Indian tectonic plate and has a lot of seismic activity, “We should also not forget that all the seas and oceans are interconnected to each other and a major seismic movement is one area can affect the other,” he said.
He said if NPCIL is planning to reduce the height of the Madban plateau from 25 meters to about 7 meters, so that it does not have to spend more energy for pumping in seawater, then it would make the plant site more vulnerable to high tides and tsunami.
The process of sea erosion is constant and reducing the height of the plateau will only speed up the process.
Nuclear power plants require large amount of sea water for their cooling systems, which is usually drawn from the sea or a large water body.
Without the cooling systems the plant cannot operate.
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