PM Manmohan Singh lays foundation stone of country's largest nuclear power plant in Haryana

GORAKHPUR (FATEHABAD): Prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh on Monday laid the foundation stone of country's largest 2,800MW nuclear power plant at Gorakhpur village in Fatehabad district of Haryana.

While laying the foundation stone of the Rs 23,502 crore project, the Prime Minister said that the people of Haryana have set an example by adopting such an advanced method of power generation.

A total of around 1,500 acre land of villages Gorakhpur, Kajalheri and Badopal of district Fatehabad have been acquired for the project and Rs 450 crore have been paid to 847 families of these villages as compensation.

As per the draft of the proposed power plant, construction of the project will be taken up in two stages of 2 X 700MW each. The first stage project will be commissioned in 60 months from the "Zero-Date" of January 2014, and subsequent two units are expected to be four years later.

During the construction stage, maximum of 8000 persons (when construction of stage-I will be nearing completion and construction of stage-II will be started) will be temporarily deployed and up to the final stage of the project about 1700 manpower will be required (covering technical and general administration).

Main plant units of the Rs 23,502 crore project will be established in 608.5 hectare including exclusion zone of one kilometre around the reactor building.

NPCIL has also planned ten feet high fencing all around the project.

Earlier, the work at the project was to be started in the month of August 2013 but protest by some farmer who had refused to part with their land had led the Nuclear power Corporation of India limited (NPCIL) to delay its plans.

Importantly, the farmers of the Gorakhpur, Kajalheri and Badopal villages whose around 1,500 acre of land have been acquired for the nuclear power project had protested for more than two years in which two farmers had also lost their lives.
 
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/PM-Manmohan-Singh-lays-foundation-stone-of-countrys-largest-nuclear-power-plant-in-Haryana/articleshow/28742406.cms

>>> I hope someone has done serious environmental study indicating that locating a huge nuclear plant in highly populated region (especially in the middle of the country e.g. India) will not pose danger if, heavens forbid, there is an accident involving the nuclear reactor.

>>> Too close to Pakistan! In case there is a war, Pakistan is most likely to bomb it. They do not care if the get affected by the radiation also.

Besides, nuclear reactors are also highly prone to accidents, especially when lacking proper maintenance, with dire consequences to public safety, etc.