The evaluation of the area falling within the 25 km radial zone of the proposed project provides strong justifications in favour of the conservation of the area notwithstanding the fact that the nuclear power is crucial for meeting the growing energy demands in the country.

The problems that confront the acceptability of the proposed site for the location of the nuclear power station are largely due to the conflicts that the choice of the site pose to the conservation of wildlife in India.

The NSTR is the only Tiger Reserve in the state of Andhra Pradesh that has been established with the objective to conserve the rare and endangered species of wildlife in the Deccan Plateau and the Peninsular region of the country.

The denotification of 325 sq. km of the Tiger Reserve area that has been suggested by the project authorities will result in the added threats to the integrity of the protected area. The delineation of the specified area that forms the part of the peripheral zone in the north of the sanctuary, would expose the central core zone to greater threats from biotic pressures.

The wildlife conservationists in the country are already faced with dual challenges of protecting the tigers and other endangered species in the wild on one hand and safeguarding the interests of local people around the wilderness areas on the other. Setting up of new Tiger Reserves and the proposals of bringing additional areas under the protected area network (Rodgers & Panwar 1988) are being considered as important strategies to safeguard India's wildlife. The proposed project if approved will be a flagrant example of callous attitude towards the efforts of conservation and management of wildlife even within the protected areas, leave alone, the issues of wildlife conservation outside the PA's.

The option of exclusion of Ethipothalla from within the bounds of the Tiger Reserve would be a major threat to the success of crocodile release scheme in Andhra Pradesh. The Ethipothalla falls have established significance as a wetland habitat that has restored the population of mugger crocodiles in the wild. Its inclusion within the Tiger Reserve boundary is crucial for maintaining its potential as a restoration site for mugger crocodiles.

The ecological importance of artificially created water bodies like the Nagarjunasagar dam reservoir have been discussed in length in Section 5. Protection of the reservoir as part of the sanctuary is therefore visualised as a very effective means of conserving its wetland values.

All the above facts only reiterate that no merits of the proposed station can counter the argument of conserving the existing values of NSTR.