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Japan trying to sell nuclear technology to India

India, Japan PMs to meet today, N-trade tops agenda Times of India, Sachin Parashar, TNN | Dec 27, 2011, NEW DELHI: Despite the Japanese Parliament, Diet, clearing Japan’s civil nuclear cooperation with four other countries allowing it to resume its supply of nuclear reactors, India remains uncertain about the resumption of its own negotiations for such cooperation with Tokyo.

Ahead of Japanese PM Yoshihiko Noda’s visit to India on Tuesday for the 6th annual India-Japan summit, officials said the issue would be taken up in Noda’s meeting with his counterpart Manmohan Singh, but added that it was not possible to say what the outcome would be…..http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-Japan-PMs-to-meet-today-N-trade-tops-agenda/articleshow/11261201.cms

December 27, 2011 Posted by | India, Japan, politics international | Leave a comment

India’s Nuclear Liability law now discriminates against women and the poor

India’s low liability cap was seen as a capitulation by the government to the interests of US nuclear suppliers,

the law is also controversial over discriminatory compensation to be awarded to the poor or female victims of any nuclear disaster. As currently written, it allows the government’s claims committee to withhold compensation payments from women, the disabled, the illiterate, the low-caste and the ”fiscal backword” and give their money instead to relatives, quarantine it in bank accounts, or to pay it out in instalments.

Fear over India’s nuclear embrace, Narromine News  BEN DOHERTY With SOM PATIDAR 23 Dec, 2011“…….While farmers and villagers protested against the creation of nuclear parks, which they argue will displace them and rob their livelihoods, India’s political class are angered by the government’s decision to limit the liability of nuclear plant operators and suppliers to just 15 billion rupees ($A270 million). Continue reading →

December 26, 2011 Posted by | India, Legal | Leave a comment

Amid safety risks, India’s ambitious nuclear plan gets a sham safety regulator

Fear over India’s nuclear embrace, Narromine News  BEN DOHERTY With SOM PATIDAR 23 Dec, 2011 “…..The Indian government is seeking to dismantle the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, proposing to abandon the long-standing independent regulator in favour of a new body directly controlled by the central government.

Critics have condemned the move, arguing the new regulator will be captive to government and unable to properly pursue safety concerns. Although the law is expected to pass the national Parliament without significant alteration, a former head of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Dr A Gopalakrishnan, has labelled the proposed replacement body
as a sham. Continue reading →

December 26, 2011 Posted by | India, safety | Leave a comment

India weakens nuclear safety, and nuclear liability law

The bill aims at a formal ‘regulatory capture’ of the nuclear sector so that a few top people in the executive branch, in collusion with some of the senior atomic scientists, bureaucrats and politicians, can help the Indian and foreign corporate sectors in importing foreign power reactors into India on their terms, irrespective of their
relative safety or cost merits.”

 Safety fears for new uranium customer SMH, Ben Doherty, Som Patidar, Som Patidar December 23, 2011 NEW DELHI: India, Australia’s newest uranium export destination, is to dismantle its nuclear regulator, replacing the expert panel with a government-controlled body critics say will be a ”sham” and ”no regulator at all”. Legislation before the Indian parliament would replace the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, which has monitored the use, transfer and disposal of nuclear material in India for 28 years, with the Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority.

The NSRA will be answerable to a clutch of government ministers who can direct the regulator, even sack its members, giving rise to allegations that the new body will be captive to government. The controversial move comes as Australian officials prepare to begin negotiations with India about the sale of uranium to its civilian nuclear program.
This month the Labor Party overturned a long-standing ban on selling uranium to India because it refused to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. India remains steadfastly outside the treaty  Continue reading →

December 23, 2011 Posted by | India, safety | 2 Comments

India: 10,000 peaceful anti nuclear protestors march, and promise further action

Anti-nuclear protestors take out rally, stage peaceful demo Radhapuram (TN) Dec 18 (PTI) About 10,000 anti-nuclear protestors today took out a procession from a temple at nearby Koodankulam to this town and staged a peaceful demonstration, condemning Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement that the Nuclear Power project would be operationalised in a couple of weeks and resolved to picket the plant if work resumed.

Pushparayan, Convenor of People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), which is spearheading the stir, said the organisation would intensify its agitation from January 1 if their demand for removing the fuel rods loaded into the reactor were not removed by that date.

Police said the procession and the demonstration passed off peacefully and that adequate security had been deployed to ensure no untoward incidents took place. Earlier in the day, PMANE condemned Singh’s ‘anti-people’ and ‘autocratic’ statement on KNPP, saying it betrayed the fact that the state government’s resolution to
halt work was never honoured earnestly or implemented effectively.
http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/antinuclear-protestors-take-out-rally-stage-peaceful-demo/935954.html

VIDEO Huge protest planned in Kudankulam over PM’s statement by ndtv on Dec 18, 2011 With the Prime Minister announcing that the Kudankulam plant will be operationalised in a couple of weeks, at Ground Zero, villagers have called for a huge protest rally today, from Kudankulam to nearby Radhapuram in Tamil Nadu. “If the Nuclear Power Corporation of India or the Department of Atomic Energy tries to restart the work at the Kudankulam nuclear plant, we will lay a siege with thousands of people and their families immediately at the site, and number two in order to protest against PM’s statement made in Russia we are going to hold a rally from Kudankulam to Radhapuram,” said SP Udhayakumar, Convenor, People’s Movement against Nuclear Energy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPPlEavM3VE

December 19, 2011 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear, Resources -audiovicual | 3 Comments

Small scale Wind- Solar hybrid system powering a whole village

Nepal’s Dhaubadi turns Asia’s first ‘renewable energy village’, Times of India Dec 17, 2011, |KATHMANDU: Dhaubadi, in remote Nepal has become Asia’s first ‘renewable energy village’ with the installation of mini wind-solar hybrid power system with the financial and technical support from ADB.

The two sets of 5 kw wind turbines complimented by 2 kwp of solar PV panels can generate 43.6 kwh per day electricity which can light 46 households of the village, according the Asian Development Bank country office in Nepal. The installation of this ultra-modern facility will allow women to cook and clean, and children to study or play after dark, ADB says in a press release issued at a function today.

The villagers are now able to see television, charge their cell phone sets, operate computers and read at night with the help of the wind-solar power system. Erecting greenhouses to absorb solar energy and manage water uses for high-value cash crop and vegetable production is also being planned which will augment income generation activities in the village community.

Energy fuels economic growth and poverty reduction. Reliable and efficient energy services underpin the expansion of economic and employment opportunities, the continuing progress in social development, and the sustained improvement in standard of living, observed S Hafeez Rahman, ADB’s director general for South Asia Development.

The Wind-Solar hybrid system was installed under ADB’s regional technical assistance (RETA) for Effective Development of Distributed Small Wind Power System in Asian Rural Areas of with the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre of the Ministry of Environment is the implementing agency in Nepal. The USD 3.8 million RETA will contribute to ADB’s Energy for All initiative by increasing access to energy in remote rural areas.

In view of the Nepal’s chronic energy shortage and its abundant wind and solar resources, as well as the government’s strong commitment towards a low-carbon economy, ADB has selected Nepal as the first pilot country for its small wind power initiative.

The lessons learnt from Nepal on the deployment of small wind power system in rural areas will be very useful in scaling up the systems in Nepal and replicating in other ADB member countries, said Kangbin Zheng, ADB’s senior investment specialist. Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-12-17/developmental-issues/30528393_1_s-hafeez-rahman-solar-energy-small-wind-power

December 19, 2011 Posted by | decentralised, India | Leave a comment

India’s Prime Minister working for foreign nuclear companies, not for the people?

We wonder whether the PM is working for us (Indians) or for foreign companies,”

Udayakumar, Co-ordinator of the People’s Movement of Nuclear Energy, spearheading the protests, said the PM’s remarks indicated that work was going on “secretly” at the site. “This is against Tamil Nadu assembly resolution demanding a halt to the work at the plant till the people’s fears are allayed,” he said.

Kudankulam: protestors want uranium from site gone by year end DNA, Dec 17, 2011,  Anti-Kudankulam nuclear power plant protestors today criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s announcement that the project would be operationalised in a few weeks and set December 31 as the deadline for the Centre to remove the uranium kept in the plant or else face “intensified agitation”. Continue reading →

December 19, 2011 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Kudankulam Anti nuclear protestors strengthen their resolve

Day after PM’s message, protesters stick to guns , Hindustan Times, Chennai, December 19, 2011 A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu could not remain idle and would be commissioned in a couple of weeks, people agitating against the project and the Centre appeared headed for a showdown. The protesters have set December 31 as the deadline for the removal of fuel assemblies (used to build the core of a reactor) from the plant complex, Continue reading →

December 19, 2011 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Australia wrong to sell uranium to India, says former conservative Prime Minister

A reason India wants access to nuclear trade including uranium is precisely to further its nuclear proliferation. Senior Indian military leaders have publicly said so…..

India reserves the right to classify future reactors as civilian or military. It was not required in return to commit to significant positive measures – indeed, it has made no nuclear disarmament commitments, it has not ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

Why Gillard’s uranium-to-India policy is dangerously wrong, SMH Malcolm Fraser, December 12, 2011 Canberra’s abject submission to US pressure is shameful. ON SELLING uranium to India, Julia Gillard is wrong, dead wrong. Ramming the policy change through a deeply divided ALP national conference last weekend was not smart politics, but a failure of leadership.

The unequivocal longer-term consequences of this policy backflip are aggravating India’s nuclear arms race with Pakistan and eroding the already failing brakes on proliferation of nuclear weapons. A nuclear war between India and Pakistan is not some theoretical possibility, but a real and growing danger. …. Continue reading →

December 12, 2011 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, India, politics international, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Workers inside Kudankulam Nuclear project to leave by Dec 15

Siege of Kudankulam Nuclear plant called off IBN Live 11 Dec 11, Chennai: The day-long siege at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) in Tirunelveli district on Saturday by around 1,500 villagers has been called off on the assurance that the workers and others inside the project campus would be vacated by Dec 15, said an activist. Continue reading →

December 12, 2011 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

ONGOING PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE IN KOODANKULAM Nuclear Power Plant

Friends of Koodankulam Anti-Nuclear Movement with P.U.C.L. (Delhi) F-24/72, Ground Floor, Sector-3, Rohini, Delhi 110085.  5th December, 2011

                                                                

STATEMENT ON ONGOING PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE   IN KOODANKULAM IN TAMILNADU AGAINST PROPOSEDNUCLEAR PLANT IN ORDER   TO SAVE THEIR LIVELIHOOD, LIVES AND ENVIRONMENT.

        We, members of Human Rights, Pro-Democratic activists and movements,  have formed a group at Delhi under the name of “FRIENDS OF KOODANKULAM ANTI-NUCLEAR MOVEMENT”   in order to support the anti-nuclear movement of Koodankulam people in Tamilnadu to save their lives, their livelihood and priceless environment.

  •  The people of 32 villages surrounding Koodankulam under the name of People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) are protesting the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) and started their agitation on August 16, 2011 and have been sitting on relay fasting since September 11, 2011.
  •  This struggle is a collective of the communities of the districts of Thirunelveli, Kanyakumari and Tuticorin; this is supported by the people of Tamilnadu. The various peoples’ movements of Tamilnadu have been showing their solidarity by different agitations and demonstrations. Continue reading →

December 8, 2011 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear | 1 Comment

Disastrous effects of uranium mining on health of Jharkhand’s people

the financial benefits are meaningless when weighed against what his group says is an alarming rise in stillbirths, birth defects, and adults and children diagnosed with cancer, kidney disease, and tuberculosis.

report showed a far greater incidence of congenital abnormality, sterility, and cancer among people living within 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) of the mines than those living 35 kilometres away. Mothers in villages close to the mine sites were also twice as likely to have a child with congenital deformities, 

India’s uranium mines cast a health shadow,Google News,  By Ammu Kannampilly (AFP), 5 Dec 11,  ”… Environmental groups say the mining company is polluting the groundwater by dumping radioactive waste inside three so-called tailings ponds that hold the sludge produced by the mining process …..  Continue reading →

December 5, 2011 Posted by | health, India, Uranium | Leave a comment

Court hearing on concerns about nuclear safety in India

Nuclear safety: Apex court to hear NGOs’ petitions today THE HINDU BUSINESS LINE, NEW DELHI, DEC. 4: An application has been filed before the Supreme Court with copies of letters and documents sent to the Prime Minister highlighting the concerns on safety and cost-effectiveness of the nuclear plants in India.

The application was filed earlier this week by NGOs Common Cause and Centre for Public Interest Litigation as well as some prominent citizens.

On November 14, acting on the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by these NGOs and citizens, a Bench headed by the Chief Justice, Mr S.H. Kapadia, had asked the petitioners to first write to the Government on the matter.

The apex court had adjourned the matter saying it would consider the petition only after the petitioners show that they had moved the concerned department regarding their grievances.

It will now hear the matter again on December 5.   Advocate Mr Prashant Bhushan, representing the petitioners, had said that they had already written to the Department of Atomic Energy about the concerns on nuclear safety but the Government failed to take any action despite their representations. Continue reading →

December 5, 2011 Posted by | India, Legal | Leave a comment

The “China Killer” – India developing new long range nuclear missile

India to test new missile  dubbed ‘the China killer’, The Age 3 Dec 11, Given the incendiary moniker ”the China killer” by the more sensationalist press, India’s newest nuclear-capable missile will be its most powerful yet, and an unmistakable signal to its neighbours.

Agni V – formally named after the Hindu god of fire and acceptor of sacrifices – is set to be tested within three months. It will be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead 5000 kilometres, meaning it can reach not only Beijing and Shanghai, but all of northern China. India’s existing arsenal can already reach every corner of Pakistan…. Continue reading →

December 3, 2011 Posted by | India, weapons and war | Leave a comment

India’s government just doesn’t ‘get it’ on popular opposition to nuclear power

Koodankulam struggle: Western nations are learning from their mistakes, India is not, The Weekend Leader,   By Nityanand Jayaraman & Sundar Rajan, Chennai, 30 Nov 2011, Since August 2011, Tamil Nadu has witnessed renewed protests against the commissioning of the first of two 1,000 MW power plants as part of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP).

While protests have been ongoing against the project since the proposal was mooted in 1988, the impending commissioning of the reactors in light of the devastating and uncontrollable nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, Japan, has rightly triggered a wave of concern among thinking people in India.

The protest against nuclear power plants is not isolated to Koodankulam. Even as we speak, fisherfolk and farmers in Jaitapur, Maharashtra, and farmers and residents of Gorakhpur, Haryana, are saying a loud “No” to nuclear power plants in their area. Haripur, West Bengal, which was to be a site for Russian reactors, will no longer be on the nuclear map, as the state government bowed to local sentiment and declared West Bengal a nuclear-free state.

Wise people do learn from others’ mistakes. Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium and Japan have all announced that they will move away from the nuclear option, and explore clean and sustainable forms of electricity generation.

But India’s chest-thumping “nucleocracy” wants to play the death game, with peasants and fisherfolk as pawns in the gamble.The staunch and united protests by farmers, traders and fisherfolk in Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari and Thoothukudi have scared the nuclear establishment.

Faced with the real prospect of having to abandon the project, the Congress-led UPA government is doing what it does best — divide and rule; communalise the issue and allege that foreign hands are at play…..  http://www.theweekendleader.com/Causes/833/Nuking-myths.html

November 30, 2011 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

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