Environment friendly? Court extends stay against construction of nuclear plants

Defendants say there was no need under the law to conduct a public hearing before the Sindh EPA’s approval

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) extended till November 12 the stay order it granted earlier against the construction of two nuclear power plants, K-II and K-III.

SHC chief justice Maqbool Baqar, who headed the bench, extended the stay despite requests by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission to allow construction to begin. The commission claimed that the stay order is costing losses worth Rs600 million per day.

The bench was hearing a petition, filed by filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, physicist Dr Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy, physicist Dr Abdul Hameed Nayyar and architect Arif Belgaumi, who had claimed that the construction was not complying with the environmental laws.

On Thursday, the Pakistan Atomic Regulatory Authority and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission filed their reports denying the allegations. They claimed that all the legal formalities have been met with. They said there was no need under the law to conduct a public hearing before the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency’s approval.

They maintained that the reactors being installed are completely safe. Two of such reactors are already operating in China. They further said that the plants are being installed in such a way that they will remain safe from a tsunami or an earthquake. At the next hearing, petitioners’ lawyer Abdul Sattar Pirzada will file replies.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2014.