nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Minister Manmohan Singh urged to cancel Jaitapur nuclear project

Call to scrap Jaitapur project http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3824821.ece AARTI DHAR, 26 Aug 12,  National Committee in Solidarity with Jaitapur Struggle writes to PM The National Committee in Solidarity with Jaitapur Struggle — a group of like minded political people opposed to setting up nuclear power projects in the country — has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to cancel the proposed nuclear plant at Jaitapur. Continue reading →

August 27, 2012 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

The Koodankulam nuclear plant a national issue in India

Koodankulam agitation is national issue  http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/2012/08/24/koodankulam-agitation-is-national-issue/ India Punchline By M K Bhadrakumar – August 24, 2012 While the attention of the political class is trained on the ‘Coalgate’ scam, it has been left to a Western news agency to highlight  that the Comptroller and Auditor General issued yet another report Wednesday criticising the functioning of India’s Atomic Energy Regulatory Board [AERB] for being an appendage of the government without a mind of its own or a mandate or independent authority and, dismally enough, lacking in a radiation safety policy as such.

 It’s a ’scathing’ criticism. Maybe ’shocking’ is the more appropriate word. The CAG report comes at a time when India’s nuclear debate is maturing, finally. The civil society has brought up to national attention the question whether India really needs to depend on nuclear energy .
The agitation that mushroomed in faraway Koodankulam has reached the Indian capital and the involvement of high-profile activists such as Aruna Roy all but ensures that this issue is not going to go away. The government won’t have the option now to resuscitate the old allegation that the Koodankulam agitators are ‘foreign agents’. The national mood is becoming increasingly receptive to the cause of the agitators. Lest it is forgotten, Roy is a member of the National Advisory Council and an experienced social activist who is able to gauge the national mood.
She spoke strongly  against “dangerous illusions like pursuing nuclear power. People are resisting these ‘nuclear power’ projects which stand to threaten their lives and livelihoods.” The ‘radiation’ from Fukushima has indeed reached India.
In immediate terms, all eyes are on the Madras High Court which will state its decision next week. The PIL is on Koodankulam plant specifically, but larger issues are involved and it promises to be a landmark judgment . The HC has already pulled up the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board for its shoddy work in clearing the Koodankulam power plant.
The curious part is the deafening silence of our political class. That is, with the solitary exception of one stalwart from Kerala  — V. S. Achuthanandan.

August 25, 2012 Posted by | India, politics | Leave a comment

Aruna Roy, India’s powerful voice against nuclear energy

Stop new nuclear projects, Aruna Roy urges Sonia Gandhi  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Stop-new-nuclear-projects-Aruna-Roy-urges-Sonia-Gandhi/articleshow/15649860.cms  TNN | Aug 25, 2012,  NEW DELHI: National Advisory Councilmember Aruna Roy has asked the chairpersonSonia Gandhi to stop the installation and commission of new nuclear projects, including the one at Kudankulam.

Adding her voice to protestors at the Tamil Nadu site, Roy in a letter addressed to Sonia said, “The prime minister’s recent remarks about the liability issue related to reactors 3 and 4 at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant has brought out the lack of clarity regarding the liability issue related to reactors 1 and 2, which are to be commissioned soon.”

Roy said she had visited the site and met the people, “All of them expressed anguish and dismay at the government’s insistence on going ahead with the plant, turning a deaf ear to their legitimate concerns of safety and survival.”

She noted that “many of them had police cases against them for expressing dissent. This included charges as serious as sedition, and waging war against the state”.  Continue reading →

August 25, 2012 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear | 1 Comment

Tremendous growth in renewable energy in India

Renewable Energy As Solution And Responsibility, Huffington Post, Mohamed NasheedFormer President of the Republic of Maldives, 24 Aug 12
India’s power sector has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons lately. Last month, technical problems in India’s over-stretched electricity grid plunged half the country, some 600 million people, into darkness for up to two days, in the worst power outage in history.

Behind the stormy news reports, however, shines a brighter energy story. India’s renewable energy sector, and its solar sector in particular, is experiencing tremendous growth. Far from being a decrepit laggard in renewable energy India is fast becoming a leading light, with technology that has the potential toreduce carbon emissions on a global scale.   Renewable energy already accounts for some 12% of India’s total installed power capacity …. Continue reading →

August 25, 2012 Posted by | India, renewable | Leave a comment

VIDEO Aruna Roy speaks out for India’s thousands of anti nuclear people

 “Place for dissent is shrinking in our country which is evident here (in Kudankulam) where non-violent protests being seen as intolerable by the Indian government.”

Ms Roy said she was very distressed about the action being taken on the non-violent protests against the establishment of a nuclear plant in Kudankulam.

VIDEO Social activist Aruna Roy slams nuclear energy http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/social-activist-aruna-roy-slams-nuclear-energy-258453   by Pallava Bagla, Edited by Shamik Ghosh August 23, 2012 New Delhi: Nuclear energy is bad for development and India should not adopt it – this was the key outcome of a people’s hearing on nuclear energy projects in India held on August 22-23 where concerns of the local communities regarding safety, viability and impacts of these projects on the lives and livelihoods of the surrounding
population and their environment were discussed.

Jury members included social activist Aruna Roy, member of the National Advisory Committee, former Navy chief Admiral L Ramdas, and KS Subrahmaniam, who heard testimonies of people part of the grassroots movements at sites where nuclear plants were coming up like in Kudankulam (Tamil Nadu), Jaitapur (Maharashta), Chutka (Madhya
Pradesh), Gorakhpur (Haryana), Banswada (Rajasthan), and Rawatbhata (Rajasthan), where strong agitations against upcoming and existing nuclear facilities are underway. Continue reading →

August 24, 2012 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear, Resources -audiovicual | Leave a comment

Weakness of India’s nuclear safety agency

India’s nuclear safety report warns of Fukushima-like disaster NDTV, Edited by Sabyasachi Dasgupta  August 23, 2012 New Delhi: The national auditor’s report on India’s nuclear safety has raised concerns over a weak regulatory body. In its report on the
Atomic Energy Regulatory Board’s (AERB) performance audit, the Comptroller and Auditor General has warned a Fukushima or Chernobyl-like disaster if the nuclear safety issue is not addressed by the government. Continue reading →

August 24, 2012 Posted by | India, safety | Leave a comment

India’s nuclear power projects grinding to a halt

NTPC puts nuclear power projects on hold, Hindu Business Line, RAHULWADKEMUMBAI,Mumbai,  AUG. 22: NTPC has put its plans to set up nuclear power projects, jointly with Nuclear Power Corporation of India, on the backburner. The company has also begun to relocate employees assigned for the projects due to uncertainty in the nuclear power arena.

Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) is facing severe delays in setting up plants and NTPC is actually considering exiting the joint venture, said a senior NTPC official, requesting anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue.

Another NTPC official, who also did not wish to be named, said around 40 engineers from NPCIL’s Mumbai office, who were being trained to build nuclear plants, have been pulled out and relocated to NTPC’s other thermal power plants. In all, 74 engineers were stationed across the country.

The official said the rest would be withdrawn in phases. Engineers, who were relocated out of Mumbai, were being trained in plant designing, while those stationed at other plant sites were involved in the commissioning of the under-construction plants. Nuclear projects country-wide have been facing massive opposition. While considerations revolve around the safety of the people living near the plant, NPCIL has also been facing a delay in acquisition of land, all of which have
adversely impacted the project.

In the last two years, the engineers had voiced their concerns about their career and lack of professional growth in the joint venture with the senior-most personnel of NTPC. Prolonged disruption of work at the Kudankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu, following protests from anti-nuclear campaigners, had also affected the morale of the engineers. Taking all these factors into consideration they are being withdrawn, the official added….. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article3808172.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home

August 23, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, India, politics | Leave a comment

Decentralised solar energy for a billion Indian villagers

Solar energy offers a ray of hope http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/article3806664.ece RAVI P BENJAMIN TERI is engaged in setting up solar charging stations in rural and Agency areas

With a view to easing the power situation, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), a global NGO, is engaged in setting up Solar Charging Stations in the rural and Agency areas in collaboration with the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

As part of the MNRE mandate to popularise the tapping of solar power, TERI has been introducing solar appliances, including home lighting systems, individual lanterns, and task lights, etc, in the villages which are experiencing long hours of power-cut. TERI State coordinator V. Murthy told The Hindu that nearly 100 SCSs were being set up in rural areas in the State. Solar lights and other appliances were being supplied to every home so that villages can overcome total darkness at the time of power interruption.

The objective of SCSs is mainly to recharge batteries which can be used for four to six hours every day. TERI is engaged in supply of solar lights as well as in opening charging stations manned by a single person. The stations can charge up to 50 lights at a time. Every village will have a local entrepreneur who will supply and maintain the solar lamps.

Every nine villages will have a technical resource person who will ensure smooth functioning of the SCSs. As many as 11 stations are operating in the district and 46 more are in the process of being set up. Thirty stations are operating in Srikakulam district, four in East Godavari district, and 40 are being established. Nine stations are running in Guntur, 12 in Karimnagar, and two in Adilabad. The local people in every village take care of the entrepreneur’s salary by paying for battery recharge.

Also, the nine villages contribute Rs.300 each to take care of the technician’s salary. Local NGOs engaged in Maa Thota and coffee plantations are working with TERI. TERI, Nabard, Vikasa, Kovel Foundation, and a host of NGOs are engaged
in the solar mission of lighting a billion lives.

August 23, 2012 Posted by | decentralised, India | Leave a comment

Docs get together to say no to nuclear war  Times of India, Payal Gwalani, TNN | Aug 19, 2012,  NAGPUR: If there is a nuclear war in the future, its harms would far outstretch those seen in Japan after the Second World War. It may have the potential to wipe out entire populations of the affected areas with the possibility of affecting the environment and the food supply among many other things, say medical practitioners.

Indian Institute for Peace, Disarmament and Environmental Protection along with radiotherapy unit of Government Medical College and Hospital and International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPN) had together organized an awareness programme about the harms of nuclear warfare for medical students and doctors. A documentary film called ‘A Mother’s Prayer’ that has footage captured immediately after theHiroshima blasts was also screened……  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Docs-get-together-to-say-no-to-nuclear-war/articleshow/15557843.cms

August 20, 2012 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Madras High Court highly critical of India’s Atomic Energy Regulatory Board

Court frowns on ministers over Kudankulam launch date Court says ministers respects only Supreme Court IANS August 16, 2012 Chennai: With the protest against Kudankulam nuclear power plant entering its second year, the Madras High Court hearing two petitions against the project Thursday came down on union ministers, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB). Continue reading →

August 17, 2012 Posted by | India, Legal | Leave a comment

India ramps up the nuclear weapons race

ndia test-fires nuclear capable Agni-II missile, Hindustan Times, Balasore, Odisha, August 09, 2012 Sharpening its missile teeth, India on Thursday successfully test-fired its medium range nuclear capable Agni-II missile with a strike range of 2000km as part of a user trial by the Army from the Wheeler Island off Odisha coast. …..
http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Odisha/India-successfully-test-fires-Agni-II-missile/Article1-910715.aspx

 India to launch nuclear submarine in arms race, The Age, 11 Aug 12.  INDIA will soon launch its first home-built nuclear submarine, capable of firing ballistic missiles, as the country escalates an arms race with China and Pakistan.

INS Arihant, planned to be the first of five of its class, would soon be ready to begin sea trials, said Admiral Nirmal Verma, the Indian navy’s chief of staff. When the vessel is operational, India will be able to launch nuclear missiles from the sea, land and air, joining a handful of countries possessing the ”nuclear triad”. …. http://www.theage.com.au/world/india-to-launch-nuclear-submarine-in-arms-race-20120810-23zxh.html#ixzz23Hk1Y1bg

August 11, 2012 Posted by | India, weapons and war | Leave a comment

People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) demand truth on India-Russia deal

Article 13 of IGA clearly states that Russia will not be held liable for any accident at the Kudankulam nuclear power plants.

Kudankulam activists seek answers on nuclear power project, NDTV, Indo-Asian News Service   August 06, 2012 Chennai: The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) protesting against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) on Monday decided to send a postcard to the Russian ambassador to India demanding a copy of the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) signed between India and Russia paving the way for the mega power project.

In a statement issued on Monday, PMANE said, “Since we have not got a copy or any response from the Indian government, we have decided to ask the Russian embassy for a copy of the 2008 IGA on liability. People from southern Tamil Nadu would be sending a terse postcard to the Russian embassy in New Delhi.”

According to PMANE, Article 13 of IGA clearly states that Russia will not be held liable for any accident at the Kudankulam nuclear power plants. “The Indian government does not want to give a copy of the IGA to Indian citizens, or to the people around Kudankulam. We do not know what is so secret about it? What is the Manmohan Singh government
hiding from its own people,” PMANE said.

“If they secretly sign an agreement with Russians and do not want to show it to their own people, who are they being loyal to? Isn’t this a seditious crime,” PMANE questioned……
http://www.ndtv.com/article/south/kudankulam-activists-seek-answers-on-nuclear-power-project-251896

August 8, 2012 Posted by | India, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Kudankulam nuclear power plant – Russians want to avoid liability

India’s Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant – Caveat Emptor Oil Price.com, By John Daly, 07 August 2012 As India’s nationwide power outage last week showed, the country needs new energy resources – fast.
And New Delhi sees nuclear power as a shortcut to alleviating its energy shortages, adding to its six current nuclear power plants (NPPs) containing 20 reactors which generate 4,780 megawatts, an additional seven reactors are expected to generate an additional 5,300 megawatts.

The poster child for this expansion is the $2.5 billion, Kudankulam NPP in Tamil Nadu state, containing six 1,200 megawatt and two 1,000 megawatt reactors.

Despite sustained civil protests during its construction, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) Chairman and Managing Director K.C. Purohit told the media, “Our inspection (of the reactor pressure vessel) is almost complete,” he said from Mumbai. “We will submit our observations and reports to a committee of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and load the fuel based on its decision,” adding that “the day is not far off” for the nuclear fuel rod assemblies to be loaded into the reactor pressure vessel beginning  in mid-August.  But this sunny picture has recently been somewhat clouded by the increasing skepticism of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is now querying the Department of Atomic Energy about liability and who will pay if there is a mishap at the Kudankulam NPP. It doesn’t help nuclear proponents that Prime Minister Singh is also India’s Minister for Atomic Energy.

Needless to say, everyone involved with the Kudankulam NPP has been furiously backpedaling from the issue of liability…..  All of this loose talk about liability has officials at Atomstroieksport, the Russian Federation’s nuclear power equipment and service export monopoly, increasingly worried. Its not like business is booming – in 2011 the company’s net losses doubled from their 2010 rate to $469 million. So, hardly surprisingly, Russian Atomstroieksport officials, who also built Iran’s controversial Bushehr NPP, have their fingers crossed that the Indian government will not saddle them with liability for the Kudankulam NPP, which could cause yet more oceans of red ink to wash across their books……  http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Indias-Kudankulam-Nuclear-Power-Plant-Caveat-Emptor.html

August 8, 2012 Posted by | India, Legal | Leave a comment

Call for Russian accountability in nuclear power reactors sold to India

Bring Russia under N-liability clause: Activists  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Bring-Russia-under-N-liability-clause-Activists/articleshow/15370086.cms  TNN | Aug 6, 2012,  CHENNAI: People’s Movement for Nuclear Energy (PMANE) on Sunday demanded that the Centre scrap the 2008 Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with Russia as it puts the onus on the Indian government and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) for any damage in the event of an accident occurring at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) site in Tamil Nadu.

PMANE convenor S P Udayakumar, in a letter to MPs from TN and other states, stated that the agreement in effect boiled down to the Russian government or their companies having no liability whatsoever for their technology and the equipment used at the site.

He said that under Article 13 of the IGA, the operator of the power plant units at the site would be fully responsible for any damage within and outside the Indian territory caused to any person and property. This simply allows the polluter to go scot free.

He said any blanket waiver to the foreign suppliers would make the Nuclear Liability Act a cruel joke. “Russians claim that the Kudankulam reactors are the best and the safest in the world. If that is so, why should they shy away from offering any liability for their technology and components, but keep insisting that the Indian operator, NPCIL, is responsible for all damages?” he asked.

PMANE’s reaction comes in the wake of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh questioning the department of atomic energy’s decision not to exercise its ‘right to recourse’ in the event of a nuclear accident in the up-coming units 3 and 4.

August 6, 2012 Posted by | India, politics international | Leave a comment

India’s secret escalation of the nuclear arms race

India’s Secret Nuclear Weapons Program, The Market Oracle,  by Marya Mufty, Aug 05, 2012  If there was any arms race in the region, India has won it, at whatever the cost may be. But the claims to have good neighbourly relations, with MFN-status, no-war pact or no-first-use nuclear arsenal are just a dream seemingly never to come true.

In April this year India yanked open the door of the exclusive ICBM (International Ballistic Missile) club with the first test of Agni-V. Now, if DRDO is to be believed, India has quietly gate-crashed into an even more exclusive club of nuclear-tipped submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).

The most ironic part of this achievement on part of India is that New Delhi had been able to successfully keep it as a secret ‘black project’. Continue reading →

August 6, 2012 Posted by | India, weapons and war | Leave a comment

« Previous Entries     Next Entries »