Jaitapur is a small port situated in Rajapur Tehsil of

Ratnagiri Ratnagiri (IAST:Ratnāgirī ; �ət̪n̪aːɡiɾiː is a port city on the Arabian Sea coast in Ratnagiri District in southwestern Maharashtra, India. The district is part of Konkan division of Maharashtra. The city is known for the Hapus or ...

district,

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

State,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Jaitapur lies on the

Arabian sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

coast

History

Jaitapur was one of the important ports in ancient and early

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

times.

Geography

Jaitapur is located at . It has an average elevation of 80 metres. Jaitapur is on the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

coast in

Ratnagiri district Ratnagiri district (Marathi pronunciation: �ət̪n̪aːɡiɾiː is a district in the state of Maharashtra, India. The administrative headquarter of the district is located in the town of Ratnagiri. The district is 11.34% urban. The district ...

in the southwestern part of

Nuclear Power Project

Jaitapur came into limelight due to the proposed

Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project is a proposed nuclear power plant in India. If built, it would be the largest nuclear power generating station in the world by net generation capacity, at 9,900 MW. As of 2025, each unit's power has been i ...

Nuclear Power Corporation of India The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is an Indian public sector undertaking based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is wholly owned by the Government of India and is responsible for the generation of electricity from nuclear power. N ...

. The Nuclear Power Plant was approved during

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...

's trip to India in December 2010 thus giving French multinational

Areva Areva S.A. was a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power, active between 2001 and 2018. It was headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through t ...

the contract to construct 6 reactors, each of 1650 MW capacity totaling to 9,900 MW. The actual plant site is situated at Madban, a village besides Jaitapur. However, the project has been named after Jaitapur, as it is the port for the project. If commissioned, the 9,900 MW Jaitapur Nuclear Power Station will be the largest in the world, overtaking the current largest 8,200 MW

Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant The is a large, modern (housing the world's first advanced boiling water reactor or ABWR) nuclear power plant on a site.TEPCO Official Press Release (Japanese)First in Japan – Use of the Full Area for Power Plant Buildings, Reinforced Concr ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Opposition of the power plant

Jaitapur is considered to be prone to seismic activity. According to a leading Daily it falls under the Zone 3 category. Data collected by the

Geological Survey of India The Geological Survey of India (GSI) is a scientific agency of India. It was founded in 1851, as a Government of India organization under the Ministry of Mines, one of the oldest of such organisations in the world and the second oldest survey ...

has suggested that there have been over 92 quakes in 20 years, the biggest of them being 6.2 on the Richter scale. Keeping this in view and the recent

Fukushima I nuclear accidents The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan, which began on 11 March 2011. The cause of the accident was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which ...

, massive protests are being organized by the locals and the tribes in this area who do not trust the Indian Government of providing them with adequate safeguards and preserving the Biodiversity of the region. On 18 April 2011, one person was killed and at least seven others were injured on Monday when police opened fire on a mob protesting the proposed 9,900 MW Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project. A youth was killed when police attempted to control the protesters who were on a rampage, attacking the Nate police station, a few kilometers from Jaitapur. On 19 April 2011, in an act of pursuing economic development via nuclear energy colliding with politics,

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena (1966–2022) (; ; SS) was a right-wing Marathi regionalist Hindutva-based political party in India founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, who was later succeeded by Uddhav Thackeray. The party is split into two parties: the Uddha ...

, a prominent political Party in

, declared a bandh (strike) in

, about two hours away from Jaitapur. In the ensuing strike, a hospital was attacked and buses were set on fire. There was no word from the party high command regarding this destruction of public Property.

Greenpeace India Greenpeace India is the Indian branch of the global environmental group Greenpeace, a non-profit NGO, with a presence in 55 countries across Europe, the America, Asia. Greenpeace India has legally registered society in four locations with Bengalu ...

has been vehemently supporting the people of Jaitapur against the construction of the Nuclear Power Plant.{{citation , url = http://www.greenpeace.org/india/en/What-We-Do/Nuclear-Unsafe/show-your-support-for-the-people-of-jaitapur/ , publisher = Greenpeace India , title = Support the people of Jaitapur | Greenpeace India

References

Ports and harbours of Maharashtra Ratnagiri district