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India: Needed Financial Audit of Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project

by People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy, 18 February 2013

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February 15, 2013

People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE)
Idinthakarai 627 104
Tirunelveli District
Tamil Nadu, India
Phone: 98656 83735; 9842154073
koodankulam@yahoo.com

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India
Pocket 9, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg
New Delhi 110 124
Email: pdis@cag.gov.in

Dear Sir:

Greetings! We write to request you to do a financial audit of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) Units 1 and 2 which are being set up here at Koodankulam in Tamil Nadu with Russian technology and loans.

The approved cost of the KKNPP 1 & 2 project is Rs. 13,171 crores. But the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) claim that they have spent an additional amount of Rs. 4,000 crores on the non-performing project. Nobody knows the exact end cost of the KKNPP or the breakdown of the final amount.

In spite of this huge expenditure, the KKNPP has not produced any electricity so far and in fact, it is rife with leaks, repairs and other serious problems. The Union Minister of State at the PMO, Mr. V. Narayanasami and the top DAE officials have openly and publicly acknowledged these technical problems of the KKNPP.

There are also serious concerns about the quality of the Russian equipment and machinery. Zio-Podolsk, owned by the Russian company Rosatom, is under investigation in Russia for shoddy equipment it produced for several nuclear plants in that country and abroad since 2007. It is suspected that Zio-Podolsk used wrong type of steel (cheaper than the one originally required) to produce equipment for nuclear plants, such as steam generators. This company is said to have supplied several equipment and parts to the KKNPP.

Moreover, the Russian nuclear company "Atomstroyexport" has just released its financial statement for 2011. The company claims that losses in 2011 were twice bigger than the losses of 2010, and that the company is on the brink of bankruptcy. This has seriously affected the Russian nuclear projects at Koodankulam in India and Busher in Iran <http://www.interfax.ru/business/txt...> . We wonder if the Indian government is secretly helping the Russian company with its losses and bankruptcy. It is pertinent to note here that all of the Russian products and projects that the Indian government is collaborating with (such as the upgrading of MiG fighter jets, purchase of aircraft carrier etc.) are all inordinately delayed or fraught with problems with a huge cost to the Indian taxpayers.

There are also serious concerns about the quality of civil constructions in the KKNPP and huge corruption in the allotment of various contracts and subcontracts.We seriously doubt that our people’s hard-earned money is being mismanaged by the Indian nuclear establishment, Russian companies, nuclear industry middlemen, contractors, politicians, bureaucrats, business houses and their benamis in the KKNPP.

Given the culture of secrecy, opacity and impertinence in the Indian nuclear industry, there is a clear need for a thorough and comprehensive financial audit of the KKNPP. We would very much like to request you to do such a financial audit of the KKNPP and let the country know the whole truth please.

Thanking you on behalf of the people of India for your yeoman service including the recent report on the functioning of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), we send you our best personal regards and all peaceful wishes,

Cordially,

S. P. Udayakumar M. Pushparayan M. P. Jesuraj
Coordinator

Fr. F. Jayakumar Peter Milton R.S. Muhilan