To operate Kudankulam Project The Madras High Court on Tuesday said the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) had not applied its mind while passing the consent order on July 23 to operate the controversial Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP.) Justice P. Jyothimani, who constituted a Division Bench along with Justice P. Devadass, made the oral remark during the resumed hearing on public interest litigation petitions filed by G. Sundararajan of Vadapalani here. The petitioner said the TNPCB had passed the consent order prescribing the tolerance limit of trade effluent to be 45 degree Celsius. The order had been passed in ignorance of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for units 1 and 2 and additional units 3 to 6 of the power plant. The EIA had said the temperature of the effluent could never exceed 37 degree Celsius. If the first and second units were allowed to be commissioned based on the consent order, “there would be a grave danger to marine environment,” the petitioner said. The board had given the consent order under Section 25 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act and Section 21 of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act. When the matter came up before the Bench, the Advocate-General, A. Navaneethakrishnan, filed the counter to the petition. Mr. Justice Jyothimani referred to the counter which said as per a special condition in the consent order, “the discharge shall not contain constituents in excess of the tolerance limits as laid down under column no. 4, including the tolerance limit for temperature as 45 degrees Celsius at the point of discharge. (These tolerance limits for discharge of trade effluent into marine coastal areas have been prescribed as per the board’s proceedings on February 21, 1984.) “There is obviously some mistake,” the Judge said adding that the tolerance limit for temperature of the trade effluent could not exceed seven degrees above the ambient temperature. It was a nuclear power plant. That showed that the board had not applied its mind at all. “You must apply your mind based on the industry.” The petitioner’s counsel, M. Radhakrishnan said the board should pass a fresh order. Mr. Navaneethakrishnan said a fresh consent order would be passed. Krishna Srinivasan, counsel for the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), said a test run would be conducted. Only after a review by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and its satisfaction, the plant would be operated fully. He said he would file an affidavit of undertaking that the effluent temperature would not exceed seven degrees above the ambient temperature. In its counter, the AERB said the recommendations made by its expert committee were considered during the review of the application for Initial Fuel Loading (IFL) and First Approach to Criticality of unit-1. The review indicated that unit-1 had adequate safety measures against external events, particularly Tsunami, and had provisions to withstand Station Black-Out condition. In order to further improve safety, as an abundant measure, some additional safety enhancements proposed by NPCIL were reviewed in depth and accepted for implementation in a phased manner. Thus, the safety review and resolution of these issues were completed before granting clearance for IFL. The matter has been posted for further hearing on August 23. “The Board had passed the order prescribing the tolerance limit of trade effluent to be 45 degree Celsius: petitioner”