Make public safety reports of Koodankulam nuclear project, rules India CIC

New Delhi, May 2 (PTI) The reports relating to safety, site evaluation and environmental impact assessment of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu should be made public, India's Central Information Commission has held. The Commission also directed the Nuclear Power Corporation of India to publish safety analysis reports, site evaluation reports and environmental impact assessment reports prepared by the Department, before setting up any nuclear plant, within 30 days of receiving them as part of mandatory disclosure clause of the country's Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. The transparency panel, however, allowed the Corporation to delete portions which could be exempted from disclosure under the provisions of the RTI Act but only after recording reasons and exemption clauses and publish the reports after severing the parts claimed to be exempt. "There should be a declaration on the website about the parts that have been severed, and the reasons for claiming exemptions as per the provisions of the RTI Act," Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi has held. Hearing the plea of activist S P Udayakumar, who sought the copies of Safety Analysis Report, Site Evaluation Report and Environment Impact Assessment report, for reactor I and II of the plant, Gandhi said the disclosure of the reports would provide a comprehensive perspective to the citizens about holistic understanding of the Koodankulam Project including environment, health and safety concerns. "It would enable citizens to voice their opinions with the information made available in the said report. Such opinions will be based on the credible information provided by an agency appointed by the government. This would facilitate an informed discussion between citizens based on a report prepared with their/public money," he said. The Nuclear Power Corporation had objected to the disclosure citing exemption clauses of the RTI Act which allow it to withold information related to security, strategic and scientific interests of the State or if it compromises commercial confidence. Gandhi said officials could not explain how disclosure would come under these exemption provisions. Udayakumar argued that such a disclosure would serve larger public interest and cited examples of USA, UK and Canada where the reports of the same nature were classified as public documents in order to ensure public debate. Agreeing with the view, Gandhi said "where world wide, site evaluation and safety analysis reports of nuclear power plants and installations are being put in public domain to elicit public views, India can have no reason to treat its citizens differently." "If the Government has reasons to ignore the reports, these should logically be put before people. Otherwise, citizens would believe that the Government's decisions are arbitrary or corrupt. Such a trust deficit would never be in the interest of the nation," he said. Gandhi said any nuclear installation or site must be designed in a way to account for any unforeseen accidents and natural hazards. "This is the basic purpose of a safety evaluation and citizens have a right to know what safety assessment has been of the KKNP Project I & II," Gandhi said while ordering disclosure of the reports. PTI