Srisuwan Janya, a famend political activist, called upon the inhabitants of Nakhon Nayok to vehemently oppose the construction of a 20-megawatt nuclear reactor strategically positioned on the Nakhon Nayok River bank. This name to motion comes ahead of the project’s third public listening to, slated for today.
Tracing back to the project’s inception in 1990, Srisuwan narrated how the government initially proposed a 10-megawatt nuclear reactor in the Ongkharak district of Nakhon Nayok. However, as a outcome of corruption allegations and powerful opposition from the locals, the venture was stalled in 2010.
Fast ahead to 2017, efforts had been revived to breathe life again into the nuclear reactor project, just for it to enter a state of uncertainty once extra. The project’s proponents have since organised a quantity of public hearings in a bid to resuscitate the initiative. Today’s assembly marks the third and ultimate listening to.
According to Srisuwan, the primary hindrance to the project’s progress has been the residents’ worry of potential radioactive contamination of their water sources. These embody the Bang Pakong River within the neighbouring Chachoengsao, and the Rangsit Canal in Pathum Thani, which hyperlinks to the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok.
Srisuwan criticised the project’s feasibility research, performed in 1990, for its outdated data. He pointed out that the study now contradicts the design principles set out by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The majority of the proposed website within the Nakhon Nayok blueprint lies on land intended for agriculture or residential use.
In Studies show to these concerns, Srisuwan alleged potential foul play, suggesting some residents could have been financially incentivised to help the nuclear reactor challenge. He drew parallels to the case of water recently discharged from the broken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which he claims has considerably tarnished Japan’s popularity globally.
Srisuwan also accused the Thai authorities of failing to supply the public with full disclosure relating to what will be the country’s largest nuclear reactor. With these allegations in thoughts, he urged the residents of Nakhon Nayok to indicate up in massive numbers at today’s public hearing, reported Bangkok Post..