Global anti nuclear movement opposes nuclear in all countries, not just India
The anti-nuclear movement today is a pointer to the huge crisis that India and the world is facing.
the same movement is also opposing American reactors coming up in Gujarat, French EPRs coming up in Jaitapur and indigenous reactors being constructed in places like Chutka and Fatehabad.
How ‘Foreign’ Is The Anti-Nuclear Movement In India?, Counter Currents, By P K Sundaram http://www.countercurrents.org/sundaram290212.htm 29 February, 2012 Dianuke.org The Indian Prime-Minister has started an open tirade against the movement opposing the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant. In his recent interview, he alleged that it is “foreign-hand” and NGOs with American funding that are blocking India’s progress, not only in nuclear energy but also in GMOs.
It is one occasion where we can agree with our Prime Minister. It is important to understand today that the anti-nuclear movement in the country is a voice from beyond the existing system. Entirely foreign to the Manmohan Singh’s imagination of India.
The ‘illiterate’ fisherfolk in Koodankulam today earn at least thrice more than what they would earn in the employment guarantee scheme if they become part of the Manmohan-land governed by primitive market policies. Through opposing the reactor, a sustainably-living community is basically refusing to be part of the neo-liberal India. It is not only foreign to our PM’s imagination, it is essentially opposite to what his economics stands for.
The local administration in Jaitapur, in its attempt to ‘reach out’ and ‘educate’ people after their massive protests, went to the Madban village with vehicles loaded with armed men. Nobody from the village came out to welcome them except an old women who asked: if you have come to talk, whom are you afraid of? Why all this battalion? This moral landscape of dignity of the Jaitapur women definitely has no space in the India that Manmohan Singh, Ahluwalia, Chidambaram and other ex-employees of the World Bank and IMF want to impose on us.
The compensation amount for land in Haryana, for the nuclear power plants in Gorakhpur (Fatehabad district), has been raised dramatically over last 2 years. This month, it was raised to 34 hundred thousands rupees per acre of land. This is an unthinkable amount in India for farmers. One of the main reasons to plan a reactor in Haryana, criminally overlooking other requisites of setting-up reactors, was the assumption that farmers there are more likely to agree on better compensation. But the farmers of Gorakhpur and surrounding villages have refused to accept this amount, at the cost of their health, safety and livelihoods, particularly after Fukushima. This is beyond the neo-liberal mindset of our ruling class, where nothing is more than just a commodity. Continue reading
India deports German tourist solely because of his anti nuclear opinions
German tourist’s deportation from Koodankulam: Dr. R S Mohan Lal’s Statement http://www.dianuke.org/german-tourists-deportation-from-koodankulam-dr-r-s-mohan-lals-statement/ Statement of Dr.R.S.Lal Mohan, Nagercoil regarding the News item about the German tourist Mr.Rainer.
Mr.Rainer is a tourist spending his own money. He was staying in a very low budget hotel spending Rs.200/- per day as tariff. He could not afford to pay costly accommodation. He is a very frugal man living a simple life. After working as a computer technologist he saved the money for being a tourist. He used to spend his retired life in India. Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia and Loas as life is cheap in these countries. Even he has lost weight because of Indian food which causes dysentery. He has only 2 or 3 pairs of dress. Computer is his only companion. He loves travel. He calls me sometimes to inform me about the dolphins. He is a Nature lover talks to me about nature and tree planting. He has a high degree of social consciousness and refined behavior
It is absolutely wrong to think he funded any NGOs and supported the Anti-Koodankulam agitation. He has no money to so. Any if the Govt. has proof that he supported the agitation by paying Rs.500 crores, he should have been detained in India instead of deporting him. Now he has no way to deny the charges.
It is wrong on the part of police to treat him shabbly. India is inviting tourists and many people come to Kanyakumari District as tourist. The treatment of Mr.Rainer will carry wrong impression on the tourist from Germany.
As for as I know that Mr.Rainer never gave any donation to any NGO. It is totally false that he funded the Koodankulam agitation. The Nuclear prolobby want to mislead the people that the foreigners life Rainer support the anti koodankulam agitation.
Thank You, (Dr.R.S.Lal Mohan) Conservation of Nature Trust, 43c, Water Tank Road, Nagercoil-1, 28.2.2012, Nagercoil
Rare earths company Lynas wants the profits, but nobody wants the radioactive wastes
Malaysia – How to dispose of the waste? MY Sin Chew Daily,, 2012-03-01 By LIM SUE GOAN, Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE, Four government departments have earlier recommended that Lynas should ship back waste material produced by the refinery plant to Australia. They have a certain representativeness as four departments account for 16% of the total 25 departments.
It was reported that the Malaysian Cabinet has accepted the recommendation and required Lynas to ship back all waste material back to Western Australia. It is indeed a positive development, but is it feasible or just a wishful thinking?
Western Australian Minister for Mines and Petroleum Norman Moore told the Parliament in April last year that the Australian Government would not accept responsibility for any waste produced by Lynas. Even if the recommendation works, there is still a distance from the anti-Lynas group’s demand of revoking the temporary operating licence.
The Cabinet must have a clear decision on the issue, whether to revoke the licence or keep the refinery plant. If they decide to revoke the licence, they have to study how to deal with the aftermath problems, including explaining to the international community that Malaysia does not deliberately violate the agreement. The country might also have to compensate a huge sum of money, particularly when the rare-earth plant’s construction is almost complete.
If they decide to keep the plant, they should then ponder over how to ensure that the waste material will not threaten the people’s health. The chemical toxicity of thorium is estimated to be little and the risk is mostly from its radioactivity. The most stable isotope of thorium is 232Th, with a half-life of 14.05 billion years. Can Lynas’ permanent waste disposal facilities withstand the test of time and natural disasters?
In politics, the BN must also get prepared for attacks, particularly from political leaders of eastern Peninsula.
Since the anti-Lynas movement is in full swing in the civil society, BN leaders must think twice before making a speech. If they make a slip of the tongue, including calling it a local community issue and threatening to sell cendol at the rallies, it would only heighten the public’s ill-feeling. As Himpunan Hijau 2.0 chairman Wong Tuck said, the then process of approving the investment of Lynas lacked transparency and who actually allows the plant to be built in Kuantan? Why was the environment-threatening projects approved within a week?
……. we wonder how severe is the assessment procedure in Malaysia. It is understood that the Pahang Environment Department had given its approval only three weeks after Lynas submitted its environmental impact assessment report, while the radiation impact assessment procedure was completely opaque.
Should the rare-earth refinery plant be kept after the exposure of so many management weaknesses in the approval process? http://www.mysinchew.com/node/70809
Inside Japan’s Nuclear Meltdown – PBS documentary
THE MEDIA DID NOT HYPE FUKUSHIMA…. New Yorker, by Evan Osnos, March 1, 2012 “….. the new PBS “Frontline” documentary, “Inside Japan’s Nuclear Meltdown,” … . “We were lucky,” Iwakuma says. “Just lucky.”…. one of the clearest—and most troubling—lessons to be drawn from the Fukushima story: plain old luck, along with a colossal dose of heroism and quick-thinking, prevented the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns from wounding Japan even more thoroughly than they did. That is the lesson that comes through in several new projects appearing in preparation for the first anniversary of the tsunami and nuclear disaster.
The “Frontline” documentary by the filmmaker Dan Edge does an admirable job of recreating the mood of the crucial first days by locating workers who were involved, despite continued efforts by the power company to prevent them from talking… http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/evanosnos/2012/03/the-media-did-not-hype-fukushima.html
India’s Prime Minister, influenced by the vested interests of the nuclear lobby
the Prime Minister is kept in jails of darkness on nuclear safety by the vested interests in the atomic energy agency, the contractors, politicians and the officials
The Prime Minister may have realised by now that the Fukushima accident has already cost the Japanese tax payer US$ 16 billion and the liability is likely to increase further in the coming months, whereas the Indian Civil Nuclear Liability law that has been enacted at his behest places a ceiling of only Rs.1,500 crores (equivalent to US$ 300 million) on what India can claim from the foreign reactor suppliers, in the event of a similar accident.
Prime Minister is wriggling in the Dungeon of Darkness of Koodankulam Nuclear Safety Dia Nuke.org, 2 March 12, Prof. T. Shivaji Rao, Director, Center for Environmental Studies, GITAM University, Visakhapatnam, “……..Recently the Prime Minister without attempting to know the true facts about the safety of nuclear power and its negligible contribution for the total electrical power production in India is trying to blame the NGO organizations Continue reading
Michigan not immune from nuclear danger
Reminders of the Risks of Nuclear Power Come From Past/Present, Near/Far, HUFFINGTON POST, Patrick Geans- 03/ 1/2012 As we come up on the one-year anniversary of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster in Japan, reports are still emerging about the way the Japanese government kept critical information from their own public in the wake of one of the worst nuclear catastrophe’s the world has ever seen.
Likewise with three nuclear sites in the state of Michigan, we should also keep in mind other reminders about the potentially grave risks inherent to nuclear facilities closer to home….. Continue reading
Unarmed nuclear missile launch postponed
On anniversary of catastrophic nuclear test, missile launch postponed, by Joshua J. McElwee on Mar. 01, 2012 , NCR Today Action comes after arrest of 15 activists at earlier testA unarmed nuclear missile test launch scheduled for early this morning (Thursday) has been postponed, the Lompoc Record, the local newspaper in Lompoc, Calif., where the missile was set to be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, is reporting.
The Record reports that the Air Force has blamed postponement of the launch, which was to come on the anniversary of the 1954 testing of the largest nuclear device ever detonated by the U.S., on technical problems….
Peace activists have been quick to say that the postponement may have been due to negative reaction regarding the timing of the launch on the anniversary of the 1954 test.
That test, which was known by the code name Castle Bravo and saw the detonation of a thermonuclear hydrogen bomb with a yield of 15 megatons, led to what has been called the largest accidental radioactive fallout of any nuclear test. Although conducted in the Marshall Islands, traces of radiation from the fallout were detected as far away as Australia, India, and Japan. Continue reading
India’s Good Vision denies allegations of funding from overseas for anti-nuclear activities
Fourth ‘anti-nuclear’ NGO says we got no foreign funds in last two years, The 
Indian Express http://www.indianexpress.com/news/fourth-antinuclear-ngo-says-we-got-no…/918982/ Gopu Mohan , Shaju Philip : Kanyakumari, Fri Mar 02 2012 For the last two years, Good Vision — the fourth NGO facing government action for allegedly diverting foreign funds to fuel the protests against the Koodankulam nuclear power plant — has not received any funds from abroad.
From 2008-2010, Good Vision received foreign funds adding up to Rs 1.5 crore through CARE India, UNDP and Oxfam for implementing post-tsunami relief work. But, according to the organisation’s foreign contribution account at Syndicate Bank’s Karungal branch (in Kanyakumari district), the last monetary activity was two years ago.
While the three other NGOs — Rural Uplift Centre (RUC), Tuticorin Diocesan Association (TDA) and Tuticorin Multi-Purpose Social Service Society (TMSSS) — have denied any links to the protests, as reported by The Indian Express on Thursday, the director of Good Vision, Mano Thangaraj, is an active politician and is linked to the agitation. He is the convener of the political wing of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy.
Like in the case of the other three NGOs, Good Vision received a note from the union home ministry seeking details about its foreign funds. Last month, Good Vision was informed that its account had been frozen for violation of the Foreign Contributions Regulations Act (FCRA), but no reason was specified.
Thangaraj alleged the move against Good Vision was motivated by his links with the agitation. “I have been opposing the plant since 1988. My work as an activist has no connection with the work done by Good Vision, which is a purely charitable outfit,’’ he said. “We have not undertaken any work in Koodankulam, Idinthakarai or anywhere in the neighbourhood,’’ he added. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/fourth-antinuclear-ngo-says-we-got-no…/918982/
Sharp denials by India’s non government organisations, as government accuses them
Govt intensifies drive against NGOs, to scrutinize workings of 77 more organizations Times of India, Pradeep Thakur, TNN | Mar 2, 2012, NEW DELHI: The government intensified its drive against NGOs it suspects of being hostile to national interests, with the home ministry zeroing in on 77 organizations whose activities will be scrutinized following a crackdown on four NGOs for allegedly fanning protests against the Kudankulam nuclear plant. …. The government’s tough steps against NGOs allegedly diverting foreign funds to sustain the agitation against the Kudankulam power project have drawn sharp criticism while the organizations deny any involvement in the agitation…..
The government has, however, refused to divulge names of the NGOs that it says are behind the protest at Tamil Nadu. The opposition has demanded a statement from the PM while civil society activists have decried the governments strong arm tactics.
PMANE has denied allegations that it is being funded by American NGOs to organise the protest.. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Govt-intensifies-drive-against-NGOs-to-scrutinize-workings-of-77-more-organizations/articleshow/12105416.cms
India prepares to stop visas for anti nuclear foreigners – 77 non government organisations scrutinised
77 foreign NGOS under watch, face visa woes, Sanjib Kr Baruah & Aloke Tikku, Hindustan Times http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/77-foreign-NGOS-under-watch-face-visa-woes/Article1-819518.aspx New Delhi, March 02, 2012 The government has put 77 foreign NGOs on its global watchlist, making it difficult for their officials to get visas to India. The step comes within days of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh complaining that foreign NGOs were trying to influence Indian policies and projects.
The ministry put together the list based on information from intelligence agencies and the suspicious conduct of representatives of these NGOs in the past. Top government sources said the watchlist had been circulated to all Indian missions and posts with an advice to “monitor” visa requests from the NGOs – a euphemism for putting the applications through greater scrutiny that would lead to delays or rejection.
Officials refused to name the NGOs, insisting this would have serious diplomatic repercussions. But one of them confirmed that most were from the US and European Union. In 2010, US-based NGOs accounted for one-third of the foreign funds worth Rs 9,000 crore to Indian NGOs.
In an interview to Science magazine, the PM had blamed NGOs funded by US and Scandinavian countries for campaigning against the Kudankulam nuclear project and use of biotechnology.
North Korea agrees to stop nuclear missile tests, allow inspections
N. Korea suspends nuclear testing, Inspections will also be allowed, News telegram, By Steven Lee Myers and Choe Sang-Hun THE NEW YORK TIMES WASHINGTON, 1 Mar 12, — North Korea announced Wednesday that it would suspend nuclear weapons tests and uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors to monitor activities at its main
nuclear complex, a step that raised the possibility of ending a diplomatic impasse that has allowed the country’s nuclear program to continue with no international oversight for years.
Although the Obama administration called the steps “important, if limited,” they nonetheless signaled that the country’s new leader, Kim Jong Un, is at least willing to engage with the United States, which pledged in exchange to ship tons of food aid to the isolated, impoverished nation. … http://www.telegram.com/article/20120301/NEWS/103019834/1116
China, South Korea, Japan, welcome North Korea’s nuclear freeze deal
China backs US-N. Korea nuclear freeze deal, Google News, By Simon Martin (AFP) –1 March 12 SEOUL — China Thursday welcomed North Korea’s agreement to freeze nuclear activities in return for massive US food aid, a deal that raised cautious hopes of eased tensions under Pyongyang’s new young leader.
South Korea and Japan also hailed Pyongyang’s commitment to suspend its uranium enrichment programme along with nuclear and long-range missile tests, and to let UN nuclear inspectors monitor the deal. The announcement follows the death in December of longtime leader Kim Jong-Il and the transition to his untested son Jong-Un.
The deal could boost the son’s prestige in the run-up to a major celebration next month, marking 100 years since the birth of the Kim dynasty’s late founding leader Kim Il-Sung.
The breakthrough followed US-North Korean talks in Beijing last week,
the first under the new regime.
China, the North’s sole major ally and economic prop, welcomed the warmer relations between North Korea and its longtime foe the United States. “China is willing to work with relevant parties to continue to push forward the six-party talks process, and play a constructive role to realise long-term peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and
northeast Asia,” said foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei.
The six-nation nuclear disarmament talks have been stalled for some three years. But the two Koreas, Japan, China, Russia and the United States have been talking for months about ways to revive them…..
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jKKHWf-qQHojxMIQehsl0CPJaV6Q?docId=CNG.2c225bad7647d7052c9c04aa3cf15915.251
Japanese farmer tells how Fukushima nuclear disaster has affected the poor
Anti-Nuclear Japanese Farmer Visits South Africa, abc News, By DONNA BRYSON Associated Press JOHANNESBURG February 29, 2012 A farmer evacuated from her home near a Japanese nuclear power plant visited Soweto Wednesday to talk to impoverished South Africans about how the poor are worst hit by catastrophes like the one triggered by an earthquake in her homeland.
Anti-nuclear activists from Greenpeace, which is trying to spark a grass-roots anti-nuclear movement here, brought Ayako Oga to South Africa. The country has Africa’s only nuclear energy plant and plans to build more.
Oga said she fled her home some 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Fukushima plant on March 11, ….. Poor people who were evacuated to escape leaking radiation have found it hard to get jobs elsewhere in Japan, Oga said. She added the rich are able to afford food that is
guaranteed not to have been contaminated by radiation, and have better
access to information about how to stay safe.
In an interview before addressing about two dozen people in the auditorium of a community college, Oga said she understood that Soweto, a neighborhood to which blacks were restricted under apartheid, was largely poor and beset by lack of jobs and housing and AIDS and other health issues. She said its residents needed to add nuclear energy to their already long list of concerns, because “they will be the ones that will suffer the most when they face a
catastrophic accident.”..
.. Oga spoke of expecting that it would never be safe to return in her lifetime to her home, and of her longing to farm again. Oga said friends and neighbors have scattered. Across
Japan, she said, children are kept inside for fear playing outside will expose them to radiation, and people constantly monitor radiation levels.
“The use of atomic power always goes hand in hand with the threat of nuclear contamination,” she said, appealing to Sowetans to help “prevent this from happening again, anywhere in the world.”
Greenpeace is calling on South Africa to “abandon its nuclear expansion plans in favor of a strong push to energy efficiency and renewable power.” http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/anti-nuclear-japanese-farmer-visits-south-africa-15816486#.T1B4z4ePX_M
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