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Nuclear missile envy played out between India and Pakistan

Anything you can do... Pakistan follows India with its own missile test Launch is latest proof of escalation of arms in Asia as new report stresses the threat to rest of the world ANDREW BUNCOMBE    The Independent,  26 APRIL 2012  A week after India successfully tested a long-range missile, Pakistan yesterday said it had also fired an upgraded nuclear-capable device in a reminder of the ongoing arms race that has gripped Asia. Officials in Pakistan said they had completed a positive trial of the Shaheen-1A, an intermediate range missile that is capable of reaching targets across India. Continue reading →

April 28, 2012 Posted by | India, Pakistan, weapons and war | Leave a comment

35 Indian villages get solar street lighting

Solar street lights to illuminate 35 villages, Times of India, Kapil Dixit, TNN | Apr 27, 2012, ALLAHABAD: Finally, the wait is over. Solar streetlights are being installed in 54colonies of 35 villages spread over 13 blocks of the district.
With Center and state government authorities’ sanctioned adequate funds to install as many as 256 solar street lights, the UP New & Renewable Energy Development Authorities has done a remarkable job to illuminate villages with solar run streetlights in identified colonies.

The installation of solar streetlights have been taken up at Chaka, Dhanupur, Handia, Kaurihar, Koroan, Kotwa, Manda, Meja, Phulpur, Pratappur, Ram Nagar, Saidabad and Shankargarh blocks. The UPNEDA officials have taken up the project to install solar run street lights after identifying a total of 54 colonies/localities which lack proper lighting arrangements for years, and this was the first time, when such measures were being taken up to illuminate these colonies….. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/allahabad/Solar-street-lights-to-illuminate-35-villages/articleshow/12888592.cms

April 27, 2012 Posted by | decentralised, India | Leave a comment

India’s glowing renewable energy future

Sun shines over renewable energy Business Line, N. RAMAKRISHNAN 22 April 12,  Wind energy continues to be the single largest component of the RE portfolio, accounting for nearly 70 per cent of all Green power. The Indian renewable energy industry has never had it so good. Wind power installations in 2011-12 were the highest in a single financial year, at 3,163 MW, taking the total installed capacity to 17,320 MW.

The Centre has announced an ambitious national solar mission under which 20,000 MW of solar power capacity will be added in the next decade. The first phase of the solar mission envisages 1,000 MW of capacity, both solar thermal and solar photovoltaic. The installed renewable energy capacity in the country at the end of March 2012 stood at 24,500 MW, about 12 per cent of the total installed power capacity of 2,00,287 MW…..
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/article3342620.ece

April 23, 2012 Posted by | India, renewable | Leave a comment

India’s Gujarit solar park- even bigger than China’s Golmud Solar Park.

Asia’s largest solar field switched on in India, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS April 19, 2012,   By KATY DAIGLE Bloomberg,  BUSINESSWEEK NEW DELHI The west Indian state of Gujarat is flipping the switch on Asia’s largest solar power field as part of its 600 megawatt solar energy addition to India’s power grid.

The Gujarat Solar Park, spread across a desolate 3,000-acre (1,200-hectare) swath of desert, can supply 214 megawatts of electricity, making it larger than China’s 200-megawatt Golmud Solar Park. Continue reading →

April 21, 2012 Posted by | India, renewable | 1 Comment

India wants to be seen as ‘non proliferation’ state, but won’t sign the Nuclear non Proliferation Treaty

India pitches for membership of global non-proliferation regimes Indrani Bagchi, Times of India | Apr 19, 2012, NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday made the most persuasive case for India’s “full membership” of the global non-proliferation regimes. In a major policy statement, foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai told a gathering of nuclear experts that “the logical conclusion of partnership with India is its full
membership of the four multilateral regimes.”..

.. India’s membership is not an easy decision. First, there is an NPT adherence that is seen
as crucial criteria. India has not signed the NPT and is not likely to do so, as a non-nuclear weapons state. So India’s membership into these groups would have to take this refusal into account….

April 19, 2012 Posted by | India, politics international, weapons and war | 1 Comment

India’s ‘China Killer’ nuclear capable missile takes off

India fires nuclear-capable ICBM Agni-5 Deccan Herald, Bhubaneswar, April 19, 2012,   India on Thursday conducted the maiden test of its indigenously developed nuclear capable Agni V ballistic missile with a strike rangeof over 5,000 km, from the Wheeler Island off Odisha coast.
The three-stage solid propellant missile was test-fired from a mobile launcher from the launch complex-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at about 8.05 a.m., defence sources said……..
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/243162/india-fires-nuclear-capable-icbm.html

April 19, 2012 Posted by | India, weapons and war | Leave a comment

India’s ‘China killer’ nuclear missile

India to test ‘China Killer’ missile, SMH, Ben Doherty, April 18, 2012 INDIA could test fire its most powerful nuclear-capable missile yet as early as today, a 50-tonne, 20-metre rocket that has the potential to reach all of Asia and large parts of Europe.

The Agni V – named for the Hindu god of fire, but given the incendiary appellation ”the China Killer” by the more sensationalist of the local press – has a range of more than 5000 kilometres, and has beenslated for a 1000-second test flight some time between today and Friday…… Continue reading →

April 18, 2012 Posted by | India, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Sri Lanka will raise safety objections to India’s Koodankulam and other nuclear reactors

Sri Lanka concerned over radiation from India’s nuclear plants, Economic Times,  9 APR, 2012,   COLOMBO: Sri Lanka today expressed concern over possible impact of radiation from India’s nuclear power plants located in the southern region, as it prepares to raise the issue with global atomic watchdog IAEA.

The official raising of concern with the International Atomic Energy is to be made in September, the power and energy minister Champika Ranawaka said. “We respect the right of India to have nuclear power stations. But our concerns are on the possible radiation affects they could have on Sri Lanka. We have already written a letter”, Ranawaka said…… Sri Lankan energy officials say at least three nuclear plants are located on the southern coast of Tamil Nadu which is separated from the island by a narrow strip of sea…… Koodankulam nuclear plant in India’s Southern coast is just 250 km from Sri Lanka’s northwest coastal town of Mannar.

Sri Lanka Atomic Energy Authority does not possess adequate facilities to face a threat of nuclear accident. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/sri-lanka-concerned-over-radiation-from-indias-nuclear-plants/articleshow/12594324.cms

April 11, 2012 Posted by | ASIA, India, politics international, safety | Leave a comment

Protest movement against nuclear power grows amongst rural Indians

“We have been holding a sit-in protest outside the Fatehabad mini-secretariat. We now plan to join hands with protesters fighting against the setting up of a nuclear plant in Jaitapur and those protesting in Koodankulam.”

Farmers are incensed that three elderly protesting farmers have already lost their lives in this agitation which has now completed over 580 days.

Protest against Haryana nuke plant intensifies http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/protest-against-haryana-nuke-plant-intensifies-152
April 3, 2012 By Rashme Sehgal  Farmers in Haryana have stepped up their campaign against the setting up of the Gorakhpur Nuclear Power Plant in the Fatehabad district of the state.
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has earmarked over 628 hectares of land to set up a 2,800-MW power plant which will use pressurised heavy water reactors at a cost of `13,000 crores. The villages earmarked for site selection include Gorakhpur, Kumaharia and Kajalhedi. Continue reading →

April 6, 2012 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

France wants to be sure of not being liable for nuclear accidents, in selling nukes to India

According to the new Rules of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Act, the foreign suppliers of nuclear material to Indian nuclear power plants would not be held liable for accidents caused by defective or faulty equipment supplied by them if the accident takes place after a guarantee period specified by them

France waits for India to clarify N-liability framework  IBN LiveNew Delhi, 5 April 12, : In the midst of the run-up to the French presidential elections, France has been in dialogue with India to clarify issues relating to the nuclear liability law, and is waiting for New Delhi to establish the legal framework before signing commercial contracts for setting up atomic reactors. Continue reading →

April 6, 2012 Posted by | France, India, Legal | Leave a comment

India’s nuclear bodies trample on civil liberties and natural justice

the DAE and NPCIL habitually behave as if they were a law unto themselves. …  pre-emptive land acquisition, like imposition of unsafe projects on an unwilling people, violates natural justice. That’s nuclear power for you.

Nuclear power and natural justice, By Praful Bidwai Apr 04 2012MyDigitalFC.com “…. India’s department of atomic energy (DAE), and its subsidiary, Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL), are blithely proceeding with a massive expansion of nuclear power generation even as they seek special exemptions under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

They have proposed two amendments to the Act, which exempt sensitive information on radiation safety and commercially-sensitive information on technology-holders, and to
insulate the RTI Act from bodies to be created under the Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill to oversee nuclear facilities established for strategic and national defence purposes. Mercifully, central information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi has forcefully rejected these proposals.

Even more pernicious are the nuclear establishment’s moves to bypass or violate safety procedures, Continue reading →

April 5, 2012 Posted by | civil liberties, India | Leave a comment

India bumping up its nuclear weaponry

Govt to induct Russian-origin Akula II class Nerpa into the Navy, Economic Times, 4 April 12,   NEW DELHI: India is all set to join the elite club of nations possessing nuclear-powered submarines with the induction of the Russian-origin ‘Nerpa’ into the Navy on Wednesday…

.. India had signed a deal worth over $ 900 million with Russia in 2004 for leasing the submarine. It was expected to be inducted a couple of years earlier, but after an accident in 2008, in which scores of Russian sailors died during trials, the delivery
schedule was shifted….

India is also working to develop arsenal for Arihant as it has already carried out more than 10 test launches ofthe K-15 missile (also known as Sagarika) in the Bay of Bengal. The
nuclear-capable ballistic missile is said to have a range of over 700
km. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/govt-to-induct-russian-origin-akula-ii-class-nerpa-into-the-navy/articleshow/12526102.cms

April 4, 2012 Posted by | India, weapons and war | Leave a comment

India removing freedom of information about nuclear industry

 the bill provides for penal action against persons who disclose the information regarding nuclear energy establishments.

“This clause will be used as a shield to prevent disclosure of information relating to even allegations of human rights violation and corruption in such bodies,”

Civil society and govt divided over nuclear safety, Chetan Chauhan, Hindustan Times, New Delhi, March 29, 2012 The Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill is becoming a new flashpoint between the government and the civil society.   The bone of contention is two clauses in the bill which aims to restrict application of transparency law — the Right To Information (RTI) — in nuclear energy establishments.  These provisions will prevent the citizens from seeking sensitive information regarding nuclear and radiation safety even though section 8 of the RTI Act provides adequate protection of legitimate needs of information which should not be disclosed. Continue reading →

March 30, 2012 Posted by | civil liberties, India | Leave a comment

Tamil Nadu govt agrees to release prisoners, so anti nuclear activists cease hunger strike

Nuclear activists end fast, but say they will continue their protest TNN | Mar 28, 2012,  anti-nuclear activist S P Udayakumar, who is spearheading the protest against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, and others on Tuesday ended their fast unto death following assurances by the state government.

The protesters said the government had agreed to their demand of dropping cases and releasing the arrested activists. Udayakumar, convenor of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), and 14 others, including seven women, withdrew their fast around 7pm after Tirunelveli district collector R Selvaraj held several rounds of talks with their representatives.

However, Udayakumar said the protest against the nuclear plant would continue. “We have decided to withdraw the fast respecting the request of Tuticorin bishop Yvonne Ambrose and a number of our well-wishers. But our protest will continue. Continue reading →

March 28, 2012 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

India’s Prime Minister disapproves of foreign anti nuclear activists, but welcomes foreign nuclear investors

PM Woos South Korean Investors for Nuclear Energy,  WSJ, By Vibhuti Agarwal , 27 March 12 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh might disapprove of foreign funds supporting anti-nuclear demonstrations in Tamil Nadu but he laid out the welcome mat for foreign – namely, Korean – companies to invest in developing nuclear energy in India……

President Lee also requested the Indian government to “allocate a site for Korean nuclear reactors,” a joint statement  issued by India’s foreign ministry said Monday.

“Recognizing the criticality of non-polluting nuclear energy in the economic development of countries, they [India and South Korea] agreed to discuss specific items of cooperation with the ongoing review of the safety and security aspects of operating nuclear plants,” the statement said. .. http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/03/26/pm-woos-south-korean-investors-for-nuclear-energy/?mod=google_news_blog

March 28, 2012 Posted by | India, politics | Leave a comment

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