Nuclear Energy and Risk Assessment by Indian Courts: Analysis of Judicial Intervention in the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project

Journal of Risk Research, 2014; DOI: 10.1080/13669877.2014.913665

Posted: 17 May 2014

See all articles by M. P. Ram Mohan

M. P. Ram Mohan

Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

Akshay Shandilya

Hidayatullah National Law University

Date Written: May 16, 2014

Abstract

Judicial intervention on nuclear energy safety discourse in India is very recent. The debate on the Civil Nuclear Liability for Damage Act 2010 in the Parliament and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan provoked public apprehension about nuclear safety in India. The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) in South India became the flash point. The localized agitation against the project consequently gained momentum and was taken up aggressively by civil society groups citing safety compromise on various technical parameters. Though the government constituted expert committees to assuage any misgivings, the matter, however, was challenged before the Madras High Court and as appeal before the Supreme Court of India. The former assured safety and legality of the project and the latter endorsed this view, with supplemental directions, determining the superiority of expert committees who unequivocally concluded that the project was safe. The Courts similarly converged on the issue that the project was of national importance. On the access to project information, though the Central Information Commission ordered to make public the KNPP site and safety evaluation reports, however, Nuclear Power Corporation appealed to the Delhi High Court arguing the information was proprietary and obtained a stay order.

Keywords: nuclear energy and law, Supreme Court of India, Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, nuclear risk perception and assessment, public discourse and nuclear energy, Department of Atomic Energy, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited

Suggested Citation

M. P., Ram Mohan and Shandilya, Akshay, Nuclear Energy and Risk Assessment by Indian Courts: Analysis of Judicial Intervention in the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (May 16, 2014). Journal of Risk Research, 2014; DOI: 10.1080/13669877.2014.913665, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2437833

Ram Mohan M. P. (Contact Author)

Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad ( email )

Vastrapur
Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380015
India

Akshay Shandilya

Hidayatullah National Law University ( email )

Post Uperwara
Tehsil Abhanpur
New Raipur, Chattisgarh 493661
India
+918817460353 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://hnlu.ac.in

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