Koodankulam plant can be stopped if not found safe: SC

The Supreme Court today made it

clear that it can stop commissioning of the Koodankulam nuclear

power plant if it finds that the mandatory safety requirements

for it have not been put in place. A bench of justices K S Radhakrishanan and Deepak Misra

said the safety of plant and the people living in its vicinity

is its prime concern and issued notices to the Centre and

Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board on a plea challenging the

environmental clearance given to the controversial project."We will not hesitate to stop the plant if we find that

the mandatory safety requirements have not been taken care of

at the site," said the bench while posting the case for

further hearing on October 4.The court earlier had refused to stay loading of the fuel

in the plant but had agreed to examine the risk associated

with the project.The court was hearing an appeal by social activist G

Sundarrajan against the Madras High Court's decision refusing

to impose any restraint against the plant.The petitioner contended that after last year's nuclear

disaster in Fukushima in Japan, the Atomic Energy Regulation

Board (AERB) had recommended 17 safety measures for the plant

which have not been put in place.It said till now only six safety measures have been

adopted and the government will take two years to implement

the rest of the recommendations.