KOODANKULAM, India--If residents in a southern Indian community didn't know anything about nuclear power--even with a plant being built in their backyard--the disaster at Fukushima came as a rude wake-up call.
KOODANKULAM, India--If residents in a southern Indian community didn't know anything about nuclear power--even with a plant being built in their backyard--the disaster at Fukushima came as a rude wake-up call.
The plant, in an area damaged by a massive tsunami in 2004, similar to the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, has been unable to start commercial operations as opposition has mounted after the disaster.
"When we (moved in here) about five years ago, we didn't know what nuclear power is," said a resident of Tsunami Nagar, a seaside community of 450 homes for those displaced by the tsunami. "Only after (watching the news from) Fukushima, we realized how dangerous it is."
The Koodankulam nuclear power plant looms large only two kilometers from the community in Koodankulam in the state of Tamil Nadu, close to Cape Comorin at the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent.
In August, some residents went on a hunger strike, calling for its suspension. About 40,000 people blocked the plant's entrance for three days the following month.
Protesters have since barred buses that carried plant workers to and from their dormitory some 16 kilometers away. Only about 100 maintenance crew members are able to enter the plant although 3,000 people used to work here.
"All of a sudden, (residents) have started saying, 'No, we don't need a nuclear power plant,' " M. Kasinath Balaji, site director of the Koodankulam plant, said. "I am really surprised and shocked."
The No. 1 reactor, with an output of 1 gigawatt, was scheduled to begin commercial operations in December. The No. 2 reactor is still under construction.
Construction for the plant began in 2001 with assistance from Russia. The plant, located 7.5 meters above sea level, escaped damage from the 2.2-meter-high tsunami created by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004, which killed more than 220,000, mainly in Indonesia.
The project had faced opposition from the start, but protests intensified after the Fukushima No. 1 plant was damaged by the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
When steam was released during the plant's trial run in July, residents of Tsunami Nagar said their homes shook and they could not sleep.
A group of protesters in Koodankulam has sent an open letter to the United States, Russia and France, telling them not to sell nuclear power plants to India.
S. P. Udayakumar, a former university professor who leads the group, criticized Japan as well.
"While Japanese citizens are suffering from the accident, how can you talk about the nuclear power business, selling the same technology to others?" asked Udayakumar, who visited Fukushima Prefecture this summer at the invitation of an anti-nuclear nongovernmental organization. "It is inhumane."
Opposition has also grown in Jaitapur, in the eastern state of Maharashtra, where six reactors are planned with assistance from France. One resident died in a clash with police in April.
The state government has been cracking down on protesters in line with the central government's energy policy.
The Indian government plans to raise its nuclear power generation capability 13-fold to 63 gigawatts by 2032. It means that India needs about 50 more nuclear reactors the size of the Koodankulam plant in addition to 20 reactors in operation.
The United States, Russia and France have been trying to sell nuclear power plants to India after concluding an atomic energy agreement, a precondition for exports.
Japan's negotiations for an atomic energy agreement with India were suspended after the Fukushima accident, but Japanese and Indian foreign ministers agreed to resume negotiations in October.
The Indian government has not reviewed its policy to promote nuclear power generation even after the Fukushima accident. In July, construction for two additional reactors started at a nuclear power plant in the western state of Rajasthan.
"What happened in Fukushima was because of a wrong placement of facilities, not because of nuclear technology," Swapnesh Kumar Malhotra, who heads the public awareness division at the Department of Atomic Energy, said. "(We don't think) Japan's nuclear technology failed."
The Fukushima accident has, however, affected nuclear power policies of some Southeast Asian countries.
In Indonesia, prone to earthquakes, several nuclear power plant projects have been put on hold since the accident.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has shown reservations, indicating that he hopes to give priority to geothermal power and other renewable energy sources instead.
Malaysia announced a policy to start operating nuclear power plants in 2011, but the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak has said it will carefully consider the plans.
Vietnam plans to build 14 reactors by 2030 and decided to award a contract for two of them to Japanese companies.
Scientists and media organizations raised concerns after the Fukushima accident, but Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung plans to proceed with the project, saying the government has paid special consideration to safety standards.
Dung signed a joint statement that specified Japanese participation in the project with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda when he visited Japan in October.
(Asahi Shimbun correspondents in Southeast Asia contributed to this report.)