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Nuclear project in Jaitapur opposed by Shiv Sena Party

Jaitapur plant debate goes ballistic Daily Bashkar.com 30 Nov 11 Mumbai: Declaring his party’s solidarity with the people of Konkan, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said if they do not want the atomic power project in Jaitapur, then his party will not let it happen….. Continue reading →

November 30, 2011 Posted by | India, politics | 1 Comment

Indian nuclear officials met with jeers and boos

Villagers boo officials at talks on Jaitapur safety, Business Standard, BS Reporter / Mumbai November 30, 2011, Supported by the Opposition Shiv Sena, residents of a few villages of southwestern Maharashtra today stepped up their strong opposition to the proposed 9,900-Mw plant in their area of Jaitapur.

As former Atomic Energy Commission chief Anil Kakodkar shared the dais with its current chairman Srikumar Banerjee for the first time in the locality, protesters jeered officials of the Department of Atomic Energy, Atomic Energy Commission, Nuclear Power Corporation and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. Continue reading →

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

India’s poor nuclear safety record

Koodankulam struggle: Western nations are learning from their mistakes, India is not  The Weekend Leader,   By Nityanand Jayaraman & Sundar Rajan, 30 Nov Chennai  “………The claim that Indian nuclear plants are safe is contrary to the facts. Safety breaches in India’s nuclear establishments seldom come to light because of the shroud of secrecy surrounding the institutions. But what little we know gives serious cause for concern.
Just take the case of Kalpakkam. The following violations have come to light, including some that were acknowledged more than six months after the incident.
• 1987: A refuelling accident ruptured the reactor core
• 1991: Workers were exposed to radioactive heavy water
• 1999: 42 workers were exposed to radiation
• 2002: 100 kg of radioactive sodium was released into the environment
• 2003: 6 workers were exposed to high levels of radiation
Other very serious incidents have happened in other reactors. In November 2009, more than 55 workers at the Kaiga nuclear plant, Karnataka, were exposed to excessive levels of radiation when they drank water laced with radioactive tritium…. http://www.theweekendleader.com/Causes/833/Nuking-myths.html

November 30, 2011 Posted by | India, safety | Leave a comment

Renewables, energy efficiency better options for India than nuclear power

Koodankulam struggle: Western nations are learning from their mistakes, India is not  The Weekend Leader,   By Nityanand Jayaraman & Sundar Rajan, 30 Nov Chennai  “…….Nuclear power is not the only option for generating electricity. There are a number of conventional and non-conventional sources of energy that can be explored for generating electricity.

It is a fact that in more than 60 years of post-independence industrialisation and modernisation, the contribution of nuclear energy to the total electricity generation is less than 3%.
Renewable energy sources already contribute more than 10% of India’s electricity and large hydro projects deliver about 22%. Large dams, though, have exacted a devastating toll on the environment and lives of adivasi communities. Continue reading →

November 30, 2011 Posted by | India, renewable | Leave a comment

Jaitapur nuclear plant delayed in haggles over Nuclear Liability Law, and Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty

Jaitapur nuclear plant work may not start before 2014 France, says Bernard Bigot, remains committed to fulfil all its obligations LiveMint.com 28 Nov 11Makarand Gadgil Mumbai: French Atomic Energy Commission chairman Bernard Bigot said on Monday that work on the Jaitapur nuclear power project in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra was unlikely to start before 2014 due to regulatory hurdles
He referred to the delay in concluding the commercial contract between Areva and the government-owned Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd (NPCIL) Continue reading →

November 29, 2011 Posted by | France, India, politics international | Leave a comment

India’s confused nuclear weapons policy

Nuclear weapons have limited, not augmented, India’s strategic options, BY:RAMESH THAKUR , THE AUSTRALIAN . November 29, 2011 “….India’s nuclear weapons policy remains confused. ……..Under prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s formative influence, India’s nuclear policy used to be that of a disarmament champion informed by a strategic vision. By contrast, its policy as a nuclear-armed state since 1998 has been ad hoc and episodic.

……Before 1998, India refused to let interests come in the way of principles. Since 1998, India has defined national security so narrowly that values are not allowed to “infect” interests. ……..Recent decades have involved a flexing of muscle devoid of value-promoting notions of good governance.

India is the proud possessor of nuclear weapons, but projects little sophisticated sense of how to use them for deterrence, defence or compellence guided by strategic doctrines. Pakistan has concluded that India’s non-response to serial terrorist provocations is the product of nuclear stalemate in the subcontinent, meaning that, far from augmenting, nuclear weapons have further limited India’s strategic options.

In the meantime, the poverty of India’s moral leadership is reflected in the near-total lack of nuclear disarmament leadership. India needs to bestir itself to make the transition to a norm entrepreneur once again.

Does India seek nuclear abolition? Does it wish to join the NPT-licit powers in converting the NPT from a de jure nuclear prohibition into a de facto non-proliferation regime? Or would it be happiest with the early collapse of the NPT regime and relaxed at proliferation?

Without these answers, India’s nuclear policy will remain ad hoc, reactive and hostage to events and forces outside its control.. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/nuclear-weapons-have-limited-not-augmented-indias-strategic-options/story-e6frg6ux-1226208508350

November 29, 2011 Posted by | India, weapons and war | Leave a comment

People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy details faults in Kudankulam report

Activists dub report on Kudankulam as flawed, THE HINDU 27 Nov 11  Rebuttal by People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy soon The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) on Sunday slammed the report of the Government-appointed expert committee on Kudankulam as being extremely flawed, premised on obsolete demographic data and opaque on the risks from sub-volcanic activity near the site or health impact on the local population.

The PMANE also released a letter to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa seeking her intervention in scrapping the project.

In the letter to the Chief Minister–copies of which were circulated to media – PMANE leaders flayed the Expert Group for ignoring valid questions on liability and declining to give specific or scientific information on nuclear waste or the fresh water needs of the KKNPP. The Expert Group had not talked to any section of the public nor tried to allay the fears and concerns of the people.

“Campaign of canards” The letter also took exception to the Central government’s “campaign of canards” about the anti-nuke activists receiving foreign funds, support and guidance to drive a wedge in the movement and sought to reassure the Chief Minister that there was not an iota of truth in these charges. Continue reading →

November 28, 2011 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear, politics | 1 Comment

Millions of fishermen and farmers would be affected by India’s nuclear power plans

Both areas support millions of subsistence fishing and farming families who, faced with the forced acquisition of their land and loss of livelihoods, pose a formidable opposition to a government sensitive to the loss of a core constituency.

Dr (Anil) Kakodkar projected that India would be generating 650,000MW of nuclear power by 2050. That’s 650 1000MW nuclear reactors,” he says. “You would almost need to evict the entire fishermen population of India.”……..

Heat rises beyond the smog in India  AMANDA HODGE, SOUTH ASIA CORRESPONDENT : The Australian November 26, 2011 “….. In India, where its nuclear capability has traditionally stirred great national pride, Fukushima gave meaning and pictures to environmentalists’ warnings. “People are realising that if something like this can happen in Japan, where everything runs on time, it can definitely happen here,” Greenpeace India nuclear spokeswoman Karuna Raina says.

India’s anti-nuclear fervour is centred on two huge atomic energy projects: one built and ready to go in Koodankulam in southern Tamil Nadu, the other mooted for Jaitapur on the fertile coast of Maharashtra. Continue reading →

November 28, 2011 Posted by | India, politics | Leave a comment

Background to India’s Koodankulam anti nuclear campaign

Heat rises beyond the smog in India  AMANDA HODGE, SOUTH ASIA CORRESPONDENT : The Australian November 26, 2011 “ “…..The nucleus of the campaign to stop Koodankulam can be found near India’s southern-most tip in the Tamil Nadu fishing village of Idinthakarai, and the man driving it is SP Udayakumar. The articulate idealist with a doctorate in political science says that opposition to the project dates back to the late 1980s, when it was conceived as a symbol of the India-Soviet relationship. Continue reading →

November 28, 2011 Posted by | history, India | Leave a comment

India’s nuclear ambitions, and Australia’s uranium cash cow, now at risk

In the shadow of increasingly fierce grassroots opposition, India’s nuclear ambitions – and Australia’s future uranium cash cow – are looking decidedly less promising.

India’s nuclear ambitions come up against people power, BY:AMANDA HODGE, IDINTHAKARAI, TAMIL NADU  :The Australian . November 26, 2011 1  India’s Koodankulam nuclear power project is like the proverbial cockroach in an atomic storm. It has survived the fall of the Soviet Union, the assassination of an Indian prime minister and the Boxing Day tsunami, when waves surged over the site where it now stands.

The first of six reactors to be built on the shore of India’s southernmost tip in Tamil Nadu was to have been switched on next month, 23 years after Mikhail Gorbachev and the slain Rajiv Gandhi signed off on the friendship project.

Instead it has hit another obstacle – an emerging national anti-nuclear campaign that has gained serious momentum since Japan’s Fukushima meltdown in March. Continue reading →

November 27, 2011 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Anti nuclear movement winning hearts and minds in India

Anti-nuke lobby seems to be winning the battle in India:Expert IBN Live ,Nov 25,2011 Bangalore, Nov 25 (PTI) A key member of the Indian nuclear establishment today cautioned that if protestors of Koodankulam project in Tamil Nadu succeed in their objective, the country’s entire nuclear programme could be in jeopardy. “..if they (protestors in Koodankulam) are able to succeed, then they can succeed in shutting down the entire nuclear programme …..Member of the Atomic Energy Commission M R Srinivasan told PTI. His warning came even as the protest by locals against the Koodankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district entered the 100th day yesterday. Srinivasan, a former Secretary to the Department of Atomic Energy, said the “anti-nuclear movement” in the country has become “very strong with lot of support from elsewhere”.

“It seems they (anti-nuclear lobby) are winning the battle”, he said. Srinivasan said “anti-nuclear people are working in an orchestrated way” in Koodankulam. “They are all joining up together…anti-nuclear people in the United States, Australia, Finland, Germany”. “It’s orchestrated completely. Why should school children sit (in protest) morning to evening? Do they understand the issues involved?. They have been told by their parents, they have been told by some religious leaders. So, it (the protest) goes on”. http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/antinuke-lobby-seems-to-be-winning-the-battle-in-indiaexpert/914642.html

November 27, 2011 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Nuclear power for India – neither safe nor necessary

NUCLEAR EMERGENCY IN JAPAN: LESSONS FOR INDIA,  Aid Netherlands, Shankar Sharma November 25, 2011 “…..While it is clear as to why Japan has put so much importance for the safety and reliability of its nuclear power plants (it is relying on its nuclear power industry for about 30% of its total electricity supply), can we assume similar checks and balances in India where the installed capacity of nuclear power is only about 2.8%?

In this background and with the potential for nuclear catastrophe our society has to seek answer to a credible question: whether the planned addition of more than 60,000 MW of nuclear power by 2031-32 (as per Integrated Energy Policy, IEP) is in the interest of our society?. It is also the high time that the proposed Jaitapur nuclear power park in Maharastra, and similar nuclear power parks in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarath are put to such a critical and objective analysis. A document by DAE (A Strategy for the Growth of Electricity in India: http://www.dae.gov.in/publ/doc10/index.htm) indicates the aspiration of the department to increase the nuclear power capacity to 274,560 MW by 2052. It is very unlikely that the huge risks involved in such a large number of nuclear reactors in the form of vast nuclear power parks can be acceptable to a densely populated and poor country like ours.

The other question that needs to be answered honestly is that in the backdrop of all the associated high risks, are nuclear power plants essential to our society? Can we not manage the legitimate demand for electricity from so many other benign options? …..http://www.nl-aid.org/continent/south-asia/nuclear-emergency-in-japan-lessons-for-india/

November 27, 2011 Posted by | India, safety | Leave a comment

India’s Nuclear Corporation tries to make nuclear energy into “fun”

Nuclear corporation turns to catchy jingles to push Kudankalam project, DNA, Nov 25, 2011, Chennai | Agency: IANS Catchy jingles aired on two FM radio stations instead of dull and drab facts – this is the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd’s new effort to convince the locals around the Kudankalam project that the atomic power plant is not bad after all.

“In an attempt to reach out to people, we have decided to air two one minute jingles on Suryan FM and Hello FM radio stations in Tirunelveli and Tuticorin districts as a part of public awareness programme,” said a senior NPCIL official preferring anonymity.

The NPCIL have approved two foot tapping jingles of one minute each with messages that nuclear power is reliable as against other energy sources like thermal/wind/hydro and about the importance of atomic power for nation building.

“The idea is to catch the people’s mind space which was earlier lost to the anti-nuclear activists,” NPCIL officials said. A new, energized print and visual media blitz is what NPCIL officials are planning to counter the anti-nuke propaganda based on “lies, untruths and unscientific claims”…..

Officials now reluctantly admit that they had perhaps committed an error by not taking the anti-Kudankalam Nuclear Power Plant propaganda seriously….http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_nuclear-corporation-turns-to-catchy-jingles-to-push-kudankalam-project_1617428

November 27, 2011 Posted by | India, marketing of nuclear | Leave a comment

Kudankulam anti nuclear protestors- are their lives in danger?

Kudankulam N-plant: Protesters allege threat to lives, NDTV – ‎Nov 24, 2011‎ Kudankulam: Days after talks between government representatives and villagers protesting against the setting up of a nuclear power plant at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu failed, protesters are alleging a threat to their lives. … http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/kudankulam-n-plant-protesters-allege-threat-to-lives-152712

November 27, 2011 Posted by | civil liberties, India | Leave a comment

100 days of anti nuclear protest stall India’s nuclear program

The protest, which began on August 16 at Idinthakarai near Kudankulam, has been a success as it has managed to get the state government pass a resolution in the Cabinet in favour of the local community.

Anti-nuclear protest enters 100th day at Kudankulam, Economic Times 25 NOV, 2011,  JOE A SCARIA ,ET BUREAU CHENNAI: The anti-nuclear protest that has stalled the commissioning of the multi-crore nuclear plant at Kudankulam entered the 100th day on Thursday. The protestors from Tamil Nadu’s southern-most districts, Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin, held an inter-religious prayer meeting at the plant site. The plant staff, including the engineersfrom Russia, continued to stay at home. Continue reading →

November 27, 2011 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

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