CHENNAI: With pressure mounting on the Union government to decide the fate of the Koodankulam nuclear power plant, civil rights groups are now trying to bracket the units at Kalpakkam along with it.At a protest here, People’s Coalition Against Nuclear Power Plants, a pressure group, expressed solidarity with the stir against the Koodankulam plant and demanded a systematic phasing out or closure of Kalpakkam atomic power plant.“Recently, we witnessed a relatively successful anti-nuclear protest near Koodankulam. To express solidarity with protests in Koodankulam and to open a debate on safety at Kalpakkam atomic power station, we have staged a demonstration,” said Devaneyan, a spokesman of the outfit.Interestingly, cracks were also surfacing in the anti-nuclear movement as civil rights groups alleged that the all-party delegation to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the Koodankulam plant was not adequately represented. “They have not taken many people who were part of the protest. Instead they took members from BJP and Samuthuva Makkal Katchi, whose participation in the anti-nuclear movement in Koodankulam is under question,” said Arul Doss, a coordinator of National Alliance of People’s Movement.“They ignored Manitha Inaytha Makkal Katchi, which was instrumental in passing the resolution, and MDMK which spearheaded the protest in 1988. This is not an all-party delegation,” said Devaneyan.Dr V Pugazhendi, an activist belonging to the Doctors for Safer Environment (DOSE), another civil rights group, alleged that the Madras Atomic Power Station reactors lack passive cooling system and do not belong to the Generation 3 reactors.
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