Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has received a letter from scientists from several institutions across the country, who are worried about the sub standard components used at the Kudankalam Nuclear Power Plant near Chennai. The scientists belong to the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Indian Institute for the Cultivation of Science, National Institute of Advanced Studies and Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, among others.
The letter was also addressed to the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. ‘As the chief minister of the states, hosting and neighbouring the nuclear power plant, the two of you have a responsibility to satisfy yourself and the residents of Tamil Nadu and Kerala that the plant has been constructed to the highest safety standards… Any exercise to assure oneself of the quality of components used will have to be done before the plant is commissioned. Once commissioned, the radioactive environment in sections of the plant will make it impossible to access and test some potentially critical components’, said that letter.