October 16, 2012

Nuclear India Too Dangerous to Travel To?


Picture http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/south/anti-kudankulam-nuclear-power-plant-protests-turn-violent-992

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-15/gillard-to-promote-uranium-sales-in-visit-to-power-starved-india.html

"Julia Gillard (funny)  will use her first visit to India as Australia’s prime minister to begin uranium-sale talks, looking to open up a new market after appetite for nuclear fuel waned in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima disaster."
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However http://newamericamedia.org/2011/03/india-is-not-japan-nuclear-reactors-in-grave-danger.php

"Japan’s much touted, highly advanced disaster preparedness couldn’t stop the radiation leaks. India, [is worse than Japan. India is] “disorganized and unprepared for the handling of any kind of [nuclear reactor or U rod or Pu storage disaster, of] even much less severity” says Dr. A. Gopalakrishnan, former chair of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), in an op-ed in the newspaper DNA. India has been lucky its systems haven’t had to face something like what happened in Fukushima. Environmental activist Praful Bidwai points out in the Hindustan Times that India also has boiling water reactors in its nuclear plant at Tarapur – “designed by General Electric, the same as Fukushima’s, only smaller and one-generation older, probably with weaker safety systems.”
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Just when things could only get better: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-09-27/coimbatore/34126028_1_kudankulam-nuclear-power-plant-bhopal-gas-tragedy-satinath-sarangi

"A disaster at Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant will be more destructive than the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984, said Satinath Sarangi, one of the leaders of the movement seeking justice for victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy. He was speaking to TOI after interacting with students at the Park Group of Institutions on Wednesday.

Sarangi claimed that power plants in India including those in Tarapur in Maharashtra and Rawatbhata in Rajasthan were among the worst in the world with respect to safety measures. Researchers from other countries visit these plants to study how not to run them, he said. He added that in the case of the proposed Kudankulam power plant, the nuclear establishment was still to reveal safety measures.

MY COMMENT

Given India's lack of concern about extreme social inequalities (its called the caste system), concern about terrorism, risk of being blown to bits by Pak nukes and industrial (including nuclear) risks + Is India too damn dangerous to travel to?
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Pete

3 comments:

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Pete said...

Thanks snigdha

Does your email from India indicate India's abiding "I'll sell you something" preoccupations?

Perhaps there are articulate Indians out there willing to respond to Wesstern criticism of India's lapses in nuclear safety!

Pete

sam said...

You actually make it appear so easy with your performance but I find this affair to be actually something which I think I would never comprehend. It seems too complex and extremely broad for me.