February
15, 2013
People’s
Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE)
Idinthakarai
627 104
Tirunelveli
District
Tamil
Nadu, India
Phone:
98656 83735; 9842154073
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.asp?id=283928>.
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
