Indian scientists to lead nationwide protest against nuke plants

The opposition against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant may lead to an-all India uprising for a total moratorium on nuclear energy, said a former Atomic Energy Commission scientist.

“We will soon launch an all-India agitation demanding a total ban on nuclear power plants,” Dr MP Parameswaran, who holds India’s first PhD in nuclear engineering told DNA. Many top scientists in the country have expressed their desire to join this nation-wide agitation.

“Nuclear power plants are dangerous and should be shut down. There is a total veil of secrecy over their functioning. Our agitation is to force the government to enact a legislation banning nuclear plants,” said Dr Parameswaran, a former scientist/nuclear engineer with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.

He pointed out that an agitation by the top scientists of the US forced the country’s government to do away with the construction of any nuclear power plants. “Since 1977, USA has not built any new nuclear power plants.Many old plants were converted to coal- powered thermal stations. The three-year long agitation launched in 1974 saw all Nobel Prize winning scientists of the USA coming out against nuclear power plants,” he said.

Dr Parameswaran is of the view that no reactors are safe. He believes that the expenditure incurred in the construction of nuclear reactors are being manipulated to cheat the common man.

"The money they spent on managing nuclear waste is kept as a secret. While the whole world is switching over to renewable energy, India is going backwards in the name of generating power,” he said.

He added that there is total violation of safety norms by the Indian nuclear establishment.

“Do they have the capability of evacuating all residents staying in the 30 km radius of the reactor? Why are they silent about the pollution caused to the marine wealth of the country by the coolant water from reactors discharged to the sea,” asked Dr Parameswaran.

He said the claims of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd that by 2030 nuclear power would contribute to 8 per cent of the country’s total power was far from realization. “Dr Homi Bhabha’s vision was to generate 1,40,000 MW nuclear power by 2000 AD. We are yet to cross the 4500 MW,” he said.

He pointed out that it took ten years to build a reactor. “The decommissioning of a reactor is as costly as setting upa new reactor. And we are yet to master the technology to decommission a reactor. That’s why we keep on extending the life period of some of the reactors which have outlived their utilities,” said Dr Parameswaran.

Dr Yamuna of Thiruvananthapuram , a senior nuclear scientist who has worked in Fukushima Reactor in Japan, said discharge of coolant water into the sea would destroy the entire marine wealth of the region. “Please note that even big corporate groups are shying awayfrom building nuclear power plants. It will not be easy for India to set up a dozen or so nuclear power plants within a decade,” she said.

On the other hand, Prof V Sivasubramanian, plant biotechnologist and director, Vivekananda Institute of Algal Technology, warned against the discharge of coolant water from the atomic power stations to the sea. “This will destroy the entire marine ecosystem andaquatic wealth like fish. The coolant water will be more than five degree Celsius than that of sea water and this is dangerous,” he said.

Dr TT Ajith Kumar, breeder, ornamental fish and a faculty of the Centre for Advanced Studies in Marine Biiology, Annamalai University said coolant water discharge from the KNPP would damage irreversibly the entire marine wealth as well as the flora and fauna in the Bay of Bengal.