nuclear-news

In response to an RTI query filed by activist Chetan Kothari, asking for details of both major and minor accidents that have occurred at India’s nuclear plants, the nuclear corporation said that there haven’t been any such accidents at India’s nuclear power stations.

Scientists, film-makers and campaigners against the use of nuclear power have rubbished NPCIL’s claim and accused the corporation of lying in its response. Greenpeace India lists 20 accidents at India’s nuclear power plants over the last two decades.

Some of the accidents have been reported in the media, including the tritium poisoning episode at Kaiga Generating Station, Karnataka, in 2009, which exposed about 50 employees to increased levels of radiation. “The Nuclear Power Corporation is lying, and to do so in response to an RTI query is a serious misdemeanor,” says scientist Dr Vivek Monteiro, who formerly worked with Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

Film-maker Anand Patwardhan, whose internationally acclaimed documentary War and Peace carefully details the use of nuclear technology in India, Pakistan, Japan and the US, says that all governments lie to their people on the nuclear front, starting with America, which “flew its own pilots into atomic clouds in order to test radiation levels”.

“Countries like Britain and France test their nuclear power on colonies like the Pacific Islands. India does it to its adivasis,” says Patwardhan. He points to the Jaduguda uranium mines in Jharkhand which have seen a number of deaths due to cancer. “Typically, cancer is not even recorded as cancer but as TB or other ailments. So people who suffer from cancer at Jaduguda are declared TB patients,” he added……

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