PART I
2. THE WHOLE SHEBANG IS BEING RIGGED
Generally the Prime Minister open his mouth rarely and speaks even less. And whenever he or for that matter, any of his ministers speak, this is how most of us react
And our reactions were more or less similar, when our Prime Minister went back to the 1980’s vintage, ‘Foreign Hand’ theory when he railed against the Kudankulam protest.
This time however, for a change, he made sense.
The story actually begins in 1974. The year in which Indira Gandhi decided, that India needed some nuke bombs.
Let us say the US was as benevolent towards India after that nuclear test, as US today is towards Iran.
In line with the US policy of benevolence, India was slapped with a trade embargo, which among other things, prevented us from getting something called, Uranium. And without the Uranium, the entire nuclear infrastructure in the country at that time, went into panic mode. The reactors were scaled down and the power generation was cut, because we did not have sufficient fuel.
Because India refused to sign the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, no Uranium rich, decadent western country, was willing to sell Uranium to us. According to them, If India ever gets Uranium, she will peddle it to the first crackpot dictator who wants to build a bomb.
Pictured: Crackpot Dictator
India was effectively placed in a quarantine, and denied access to anything that was remotely related to ‘Nuclear’
The status-quo continued till 2008, when George W Bush arrived in India.
Amidst all the despicable things George.H.W.Bush has inflicted on this world, he has to get credit for one thing.
He was the only guy who got Manmohan Singh to talk. In fact ‘Dubya’ Bush is singularly responsible for Manmohan, speaking up for something, that does not have the word ‘Gandhi’ in it.
Google image search result for 'Manmohan Singh Speaking' before 2008
If you are wondering If I am making that up, here is a clue, do the words INDO-US NUCLEAR DEAL mean anything to you?
Well, for Manmohan Singh, it meant a lot. Hell, it meant so much that, MMS flipped the normal protocol of ‘Madam Tell, Me Follow’, upside down. And he allowed a India, a brief glimpse of a part of his anatomy, that is called the spine. For the first and the last time as a P.M, he opposed a major coalition partner, stood his ground and got something done.
MMS single-handedly ended, for good, India’s three decade long nuclear isolation.
But, there are no free lunches in the capitalist world.
When the US guys told us they will take care of that NPT thingy and get us all the Uranium we need, as a quid pro pro, they demanded a major slice in the Indian nuclear power pizza. In fact they wanted the whole pizza. You see, the whole point of this generous nuclear deal, was to ensure the US derives the maximum economic benefit out of our inevitable nuclear boom.
And a major hurdle in the quest for that pizza.
Kudankulam
You see, the reactors used to generate electricity in Kudankulam, the aforementioned VVER-1000 reactors, are a direct competitor to General Electric’s Advanced Boiling Water Reactor. And if the VVER-1000 is successful, India might opt for more of these reactors to satiate her power demands, which are projected to go North.
And if that happens, the US would become the guy, who did everything possible to impress a girl, only to see a direct competitor walking away with the credit and the girl on the first date.
Just think about it, the other Nuclear project announced after the deal was signed, was Jaitapur. And it was a French one. And guess what is happening there,
In short, USA has every reason, to pray for the failure of Kudankulam. Because, if it is successful, they have the most to lose.
After the PM’s accusation in that Science Magazine interview, the Home Ministry, moved quickly to freeze the accounts of four NGO’s, Tuticorin Diocese Association (TDA), Tuticorin Multipurpose Social Service Society (TMSSS), People’s Education for Action and Liberation and Good Vision trust.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, they were misdirecting the funds meant for social work, to fund a political protest. Which is explicitly stated as wrong,
The ministry of home affairs, has an amazing web-page. They list all the transactions made by the NGO’s who receive more than one crore a year.
Here is the 2010-2011 account statement of the Tuticorin Multipurpose Social Service Society (TMSSS).
If you notice, the maximum money, has been spent, in activities, mysteriously classified as ‘Others’. No explanation has been given on what those activites constitute. Now, this particluar NGO has received more than Rs 42 crores in foreign donations, over the last five years.
But, they don’t even have a website of their own. A website where they can publish detailed accounts of what they are doing with all the money. Introduce some modicum of transparency. Now, why is that?
Similiarly, the other NGO, the Tuticorin Diocese Association, received 22 crores in the same period. And they too, do not have a website, or a statement.
So, this mysterious money trail leads to a dead end. But that is not the only problem. On 6th of February, the Home ministry stated, that these very NGO’s received 54 crores from sources abroad.
Now, with a very minimum knowledge of economics, I think Rs 54 crores is quite a lot of money. And, according to the Home Ministry, they do not have the accounts to show for it. And no person from these two NGO’s has come out and given a convincing reply to the Home Ministry’s accusation.
In fact two NGO’s in question, are headed by the same guy, one Bishop Yvon Ambroise. And, since the day the report was published in the Hindu, this person has gone underground. I mean, if you are so honest about your financials, why this mysterious silence?
Similiarly, the home ministry also alleges that, DR Udayakumar, received Rs 1.5 crores of cash, in his account,to fund this agitation. In typical, Udayakumar style, he countered it aggressively, even invoking capital punishment in his defence. And, his NGO, the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) released its own account statement, to prove its innocence. This what they said
- Total fund collection: Rs 25, 17,991. Collected Rs 200 from every household in Idinthakarai with additional help coming from Fishermen, beedi workers etc etc, who contributed 10 percent of their earnings.
- Total expenditure: Rs 17,64,233. Spent on hiring transport, diesel genset, marquees, and supply of water to the people who congregate at the protest fast venue.
As usual, no specifics have been given. Also, they do not have a website where they can publish a detailed report. And, our media as is the norm, didn’t bother to verify this statement.
Turns out, the village of Idinthakarai has a total population of 3996. Assuming 3 members per household, total households in that village: 1332.
Going by Udayakumar’s assertion and assuming every household contributed, the total amount collected comes to: Rs 2, 66, 400.
Where did you get the rest of the money, i.e Rs 22, 51 ,591, from Dr Udaya Kumar? Are you telling us that the fishermen and beedi workers from Kudankulam contributed this amount??
Or is the Prime Minister right, when he says, Foreign money is at play?
Paying protestors to campaign against a venture by your competitor, is an old tactic in India. Every industrialist, worth his or her salt, has done it at some point of time in his/her life.
But in this case, I am unduly worried, because this protest has taken a direction, a direction that does not augur well for the security of our country
1. THE WHOLE PROTEST IS BEING RELIGIOUSLY MOTIVATED
Remember the Bishop Ambroise in the previous para. Well, he is on record, with his opposition to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power plant. Now this person is not some layman voicing his views on this subject. He is a bishop, a very senior guy in the hierarchy of the church.
Why is a representative of the church, that too a Bishop, actively taking part in the protest?
There is not even the usual excuse that he is acting out of his own free will. The Roman Catholic Church is an organization that is proud of its command chain. No church member, I believe, can act independently without the sanction of someone from above. And when guy leading this protest is a senior functionary in the church, it can mean only one thing
The Anti-Kudankulam protest, has the blessing, from the highest levels of the Church hierarchy.
Now, the church, preferred to stay silent for the entire duration of the first and the second world wars. Hell, this is an organization which did not speak up, when Nazis were carrying out the world’s most brutal elimination program. Even when they knew about it.
So, why, is it taking a pro-active interest in a nittie-gritties of a Nuclear Power Plant, somewhere down in South India?
The involvement of the church cannot be dismissed lightly. In rural Tamil Nadu, for most of the villagers, the voice of reason happens to be the local Parish priest. And all the Parish priests, in and around Kudankulam are heavily against the establishment of the power plant. And they are making no bones about their stand on this issue. And they don’t even have a choice. The person on top of them in the hierarchy, has made his stand very clear.
When a priest, in his Sunday mass and service, exhorts the villagers to join the protest, what is it that they are going to do?
As a result, most of the people in and around Kudankulam are joining the protests, not because they believe in the cause. They are turning up, because their priest asked them to. And they are admitting it openly.
This means, what was supposed to be a peaceful public protest, has, as the Indian Express put it brilliantly, been hijacked by the local diocese and the church. And that is not a good sign.
Not for a country, that calls itself secular.
The only thing that has irked me more than this shameless religious takeover of the movement, is our mainstream media’s turning a Nelson’s eye towards it. If it did not, then why aren’t there more damning articles, like this one, on the role of the Church in the Kudankulam agitation?
Why this thing is not the ‘BURNING QUESTION’ on TIMES NOW? WHY IS IT NOT ON ‘FACE THE NATION’?
And finally, where is this guy?
Figure it out yourself
I mean, when people from the RSS, a Hindu group with no connection to the inner sanctum of Hindu religion, went and participated in a public movement, this dude wasted no time in painting the entire movement with a saffron brush. According to him, ‘Communal forces’ were attempting to use the ‘Platform’ of a ‘Public Movement’ to ‘threaten the social fabric of the country’. Or some nonsense like that.
But here, people who are high up in the Church hierarchy, representing the church, are actively aiding and abetting this unreasonable protest,
So, why the eff is this guy quiet? Why the hell is everybody quiet?
Unfortunately, I do not have answers to these questions.
On a side note: I am not too sure of this thing’s relevance to the article but thought you should know. While looking up Bishop Yvon Ambroise, I stumbled onto this. There is even a nice letter, written to the Vatican, complaining about atrocities, illegalities, arrogance and ignorance of the bishop. Do read it.
The Kaipullai's Vetti Thoughts : The outer playground of my inner devil 
Thank you. Rare to see writing with humour and reason.
Keep at it.
And again you have given shape to something which our ‘Oh so fair” media wont talk about…
After what happened in Fukushima, it does not need rocket science or a degree in nuclear science to know the dangers of nuclear energy. Uday Kumar has been an activist in the anti-nuclear arena for a long time and I am sure that he has garnered enough and more knowledge on the subject despite his degrees being restricted to English Literature and Political Science, as suggested by you. For that matter, someone could question your ability to comment and sound convincing on the different subjects that you write on. By your logic, most of the MInisters and the bureaucrats advising them, would not be the right people to take decisions on the most important matters pertaining to the country!
I do not think that you are being fair to Dr. Uday Kumar or the fisher-folk/local people who will be affected by the Koodankulam power plant. Displacement and structural violence in the name of progress cannot be justified. If Tamilnadu is facing a power crisis, there are many other forms of energy that can be considered like solar. wind and thermal power. Isn’t it better to try the less violent options before going in for the most violent form? This time around, you sound just like the corporate media who are all singing hosannahs to the Koodankulam project. Wonder what all of you would do, if you happened to be living in that area? Or, if the government decided that they would raze your houses because they wanted to put up power stations there!
Also, your poking fun at Mahatma Gandhi’s method of protesting is disappointing. He did it boldly as does Mr, Uday Kumar. Much tougher to do that than comment under a pseudonym, what say (:-)?
Erm, Melanie… Did you read the post? Its “The Kaipullai’s Vetti Thoughts”
And so far “Dr. Uday Kumar’s” thoughts don’t come EVEN CLOSE to “Kaipullai’s Vetti’s” Logical reasoning.
You have something to fiddle with go sit in the sun with the farmers/fisherfolk. And see how they actually suffer. A 10000MW Power is generated from 6 reactors. and emits less than 50millirems of radiation a year. That is lesser than what you get just from standing in the sun, which is about 350-500 millirems. If you did not understand, then go figure.
Regards
A man of Science.
Nat a man of Politics.
I hope the below never happens.
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Some day when you are in an ambulance suffering from a severe physical condition & fighting for your life – and there are 20,000 paid & co-erced idiots preventing the vehicle from reaching the hospital – you’ll know why many Indians detest gandhi & his stupidities.
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Thanks!
MN
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After what happened in Fukushima, it does not need rocket science or a degree in nuclear science to know the dangers of nuclear energy.
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http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/14/fukushiima_analysis/ is a report articulating what exactly took place there in the first 3 days. The article was written during the crisis and did not draw upon the media hype that followed. Please read through. Also , if the IAEA is to be believed , the Kudankulam powerplant will be much much safer.
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Uday Kumar has been an activist in the anti-nuclear arena for a long time and I am sure that he has garnered enough and more knowledge on the subject despite his degrees being restricted to English Literature and Political Science, as suggested by you.
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The difference between Dr Udaya Kumar and KS is as follows. He cites that underrated requisite they call evidence.
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For that matter, someone could question your ability to comment and sound convincing on the different subjects that you write on.
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He merely copies the opinion of respected experts and cites professional reports. A few wiki articles don’t hurt unless they’re blatantly wrong and lie in the centre of the argument. Let that “someone” come here and comment …
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By your logic, most of the MInisters and the bureaucrats advising them, would not be the right people to take decisions on the most important matters pertaining to the country!
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Bureaucrats hire experts to make decisions that don’t lie in their area of expertise. What are you trying to prove ?
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I do not think that you are being fair to Dr. Uday Kumar or the fisher-folk/local people who will be affected by the Koodankulam power plant. Displacement and structural violence in the name of progress cannot be justified.
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Displacement ?? Please cite reports.
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If Tamilnadu is facing a power crisis, there are many other forms of energy that can be considered like solar. wind and thermal power. Isn’t it better to try the less violent options before going in for the most violent form?
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Solar is enormously expensive and doesn’t scale with current techniques. Wind is intermittent and doesn’t scale with current techniques. These are at best complements to the main power-grid right now. Thermal power suffers a gap between supply and demand of coal at the moment. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/power-crisis-60-000mw-plans-run-on-empty/923045/ .
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Wonder what all of you would do, if you happened to be living in that area? Or, if the government decided that they would raze your houses because they wanted to put up power stations there!
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Stop the FUD. No one is displacing anyone. If they are , cite your sources.
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Also, your poking fun at Mahatma Gandhi’s method of protesting is disappointing.
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The blogger has writer’s licence. And he wasn’t making fun of anything or anyone.
Where is the rationale to protest in a stae that has 6 crores population, needing electricity badly for day to day living? Also is the so called interest of 2000 people more than that of the State and country?
20000 people died because of the Tsunami in Japan
As of today all of 0 people have died because of Fukushima.
Must be one of those missionaries sent to convert ppl en masse !!
Melanie must be one of those missionaries sent to convert ppl en masse !!
Dear Melanie,
While I appreciate your concern and argument of acquired knowledge on part of Dr. Uday Kumar, you have not tried counter-balancing any of the arguments put-forth here on this blog.
At best, your arguments are motivated (and perhaps genuine) rhetoric and serve no purpose. I’d suggest that if you are honestly concerned, find counter-arguments to the points here. For example, a specialist’s comment on how the reactor is unsafe / how corruption marred the construction quality of the plant building / safety of the plant with a geological or seismic simulation of a tsunami or earthquake / anything that the blogger here has missed.
Emotions are well appreciated but some decisions have to be based on hard facts and data.
It all look dicey and confusing that after so many years when the plant is about to be operational the locals vehemently protest and make a hue and cry.
If anyone have safety issue let there be a safety experts from independent gencies and rate the critical control points. These NGO”s need proper accounting so that we all know what is the source and expenditure of these funds.
Hahahahaha!!!!! OMG Can’ts stop!!
Brilliant work man!
Cheers
Rodnix
Nice post. One issue in part 1. reg. the table of deaths caused by nuclear disasters. The number of deaths appears to total at 50 , not 47 (which is the number of deaths at Chernobyl alone).
Reg. part 2 though, there is serious concern when the catholic diocese interferes , which is direct evidence of Vatican involvement due to the strict hierarchy of the latter , that you mentioned. You haven’t touched upon why this has happened.
I understand that local political / religious groups can be bribed and manipulated by big industrialists. I can also understand how moneyed interests (e.g. Ford , Rockefeller foundations, various think-tanks like the US Chamber of Commerce) can lobby politicians , fund NGOs and bend them to their will.
But this seems to suggest that the world’s biggest religious body has a direct nexus with US right-wing (decidedly protestant) political interests , corporate interests and has a direct influence on the local populace. Which is a very big deal. I have read authors who suggest the same thing (“Breaking India” by Rajiv Malhotra).
But then , why would the Vatican be against the plant ?
Apologies, “Right wing political interests” was a mere extrapolation on my part. But I still don’t understand why the Vatican is collaborating with the others in this protest. The Church already has a very strong presence in South India and they won’t feel the need to draw unwanted attention to themselves. To say monetary interests is silly as the Vatican have no shortage of monetary funds already.
The whole point is that the US is doing all this shit via the ‘Vatican’.
While it is obvious that the Vatican is poking its nose into the matter , it seems a bit far-fetched that such a powerful and strictly hierarchical religious body is being commanded by a bunch of US lobbyists to stir up chaos in Kudankulam . There is no evidence to suggest such a thing. More to the point , the most powerful politico-religious lobbies and think-tanks in the US are protestant , not catholic .
More digging to be done on that end (though probably moot at this point).
Very simple – X-tian missionaries target the poorer sections of the society to harvest souls – so, just as the Congis had a vested interest in keeping the larger population poor and uneducated, the X-tian proselytizers also have a vested interest in keeping the population poor and un-enlightened. If the power plant were to come up and the region should prosper economically, then it endangers their target group for harvesting souls. This is just ONE of the reasons. There are other reasons, but this one should suffice to give you a broad idea
“So, why the eff is this guy quiet? Why the hell is everybody quiet?”
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I assume that’s a rhetorical question. Ours is a *sick-ular* society. Only one religion is religion & hence anything done by members claiming allegiance to that religion becomes communal. All other religions can organize & it’s completely not communal. In fact, only one religion is under public administration & is so spineless, shameless that it can not even run it’s own houses of worship. Public administration treats this religion & it’s followers as concubines available for it’s erotic & fetish pleasure. All other religions can own & operate their own houses of worship – at the *tax-payers* expense sometimes too.
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A very good example is the kind of subsidy provided to visit some desert in Saudi Arabia.
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My question: Russian churches; The power of religion (in Russia) is far more higher than the impact, influence of religion on “decadent” western nations (using your adjective of Western nations, from this very series). In fact many European societies are far less religious than orthodox Russian families. Why would a Christian clergy back one cousin (US) against the other (Russia)?
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One more question: Why do you think Russian agents, proxies can not influence the same church – since the Indian nuke power market is a big one – and this project is so very pivotal to it. With the PIGS – Portugal-Italy-Greece-Spain debt situation & the US stupid-er-I-mean-monetary policy of printing dollars out of thin air (race to the bottom) – Russia is actually in a better position to leverage power & influence even via the church-organization.
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And you have not looked at the Chinese angle of the equation. How does the project impact the Chinese & would it benefit China if Tamil Nadu (with multiple ports) were to compete for naval-commerce in the region in a better way. Will Tamil Nadu share any excess power with neighboring Kerala – and if that will impact the naval-commerce at Cochin port?
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Money is the name of the game.
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MN
Russian orthodox church is different from catholic church. No self respecting Catholic will even consider the Russian orthodox church to be of christian denomination.
Melanie,
Where did Uday Kumar and the bishop get the funding then?
Well written as usual, what is the connection between the church and an US not wanting a reactor in India , having I missed something.
Awesome article …..
You are right about knowing the dangers of nuclear energy like the dangers of driving a car or using the internet and many other things. Do we stop using them because we know that there are dangers around them? No… All that we do is take the necessary precautions to mitigate such dangers and use them responsibly. The same should hold good here. Also, another pertinent point… I am under the impression that the plant is already built and ready to be operational. Where would the displacements happen now? Displacement, if any, would have happened about 24-25 years back when the plant started to be operational.
What you don’t seem to answer is all the valid questions raised against the protesters about the fudging of facts and no explanation on the receipt of funds? And the most important question of them all, where were to 20000 people 24 years back when the plant work started? If there were high number of protesters back then, we would not have spent so much on building the plant. Given that you spoke about solar, wind & thermal power, you could probably also come out with a plan for producing power in those arenas as well.
He is not poking fun at Gandhi’s method of protesting but highlighting the abuse the method is suffering in the hands of today’s Indians… I completely agree with him… Let us look at the nuisance such ‘meaningless’ protests create for all around…
Nice one mate. Good thing that MMS and JJ finally showed some backbone and went ahead.
1. ) If this protest is funded by US and that too after 2008 Nuclear Deal, who funded the meeting against the Kudankulam plant in 1989 when 10,0000 people gathered and police had to resort to firing?
2.) The distance you’ve calculated for Nagercoil to Kudankulam is through road(via Google maps) Does radiation travel through a twisty road or does it travel through air? (Actually by air nagercoil is just 30kms and Trivandrum just 45 kms from kudankulam)
3). You argue S.P. udayakumar is not a Science Doctorate and not worthy of leading a group against an engineering/science installation? If so none of the leaders of this country including Gandhi are worthy of leading anyone except Science doctorates?
4.) You and Mr. Marayanaswami talk about an NGO called Tuticorin Diocese, but Kudankulam is in Tirunelveli Dt (where the churches come under Tirunelveli Diocese), and more closer to Nagercoil than to Tuticorin? And you think organising a protest under a pandal requires 56 crores? then each marriage conducted in TN under a Shaminana too will require crores to be conducted. Are tamilians that rich?
5.) Blaming Christian leaders as instigators is again not correct, as many of the civil society members who have written to GOI against kudankulam are Hindus, including S.P. Udayakumar. This is as cheap as calling the AnnaHazare movement as a proxy war by RSS. Is Shiv Sena also a proxy of the Pope beacuse they are protesting against the Jaitaphur plant?
If you’re going to rebut the author, the least you can do is provide sources for your claims, given the amount of research he has done to support his.
1) So where was this protest held in 1989 that involved police firing and yet seems to be utterly forgotten? How come there’s no mention in the mainstream media (or why don’t you provide a link if there’s one)?
2) What do you say to the nuclear plant bang in the middle of Bombay, a heavily populated metropolitan area? How come no one’s protesting about that, if radiation is such a concern?
3) Irrelevant. In scientific matters, it is scientific opinion that takes precedence. Last I checked, scientists were not advising politicians how to govern.
And finally, let’s please hear your well thought out, scientifically researched, energy efficient, green and cost effective solution to pull India out of an energy crisis, while remembering that sunshine is obscured by clouds, and wind doesn’t blow all the time.
If there is no risk exists why evacuation drill for 5 km neighboring people to be done? Govt. is simply over-riding the difficulties by substantiating with Nayakan film dialogue ‘ If by killing one, we could save a village -it is not wrong’, can we honestly extend till ‘if one nation can be destroyed to save the earth!’ and further…..
You’re blathering.
So you must be terrified of working in an office, because they have fire drills so that means that oh my god, there is a risk of fire and the very next time you go inside you could be broiled to a crisp.
Every bloody thing in life has a risk associated with it. You could fall flat and crack your skull getting out of bed in the morning, b e run over by a bus or electrocute yourself in the kitchen.
@Rex
Can we choose to ignore Bhopal and Warren Andersen. This incident happened in our own country. Has the site been cleaned after the disaster. Disastrous after effects of the gas tragedy at the erstwhile pesticide factory of Union Carbide, from where the toxic methyl isocyanate leaked 25 years ago, has been contaminating the soil and underground water in Bhopal. Do we have dedicated workforce like the Japanese who were willing to sacrifice their lives and try to repair the damage at Fukushima (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_50) . If that was the case the Bhopal site would have been cleaned long back.
It is not as simple as that. Going by the Nuclear liability bill , the government should have assessed a Nuclear Installation and passed a notification to increase the liability. It cannot raise the liability after an incident has happened. The current cap in liability as per the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill is 1500 crore rupees. This works out to 15000 per head if distributed across a 1 million population as claimed by protestors.
How practical is estimating losses, assigning costs to the life & irreparable loss to environment?. Whether the neighboring communities were informed of this risk? Whether any human will accept? Here comes the Nuclear liability! Evacuating 5 km around involves how much risk hidden in it? This Govt. & Nuke industry is not revealing & addressing and improve upon; at any case nuke science to be allowed to find measures to reduce the risk for application into massive scale (not to treat neighboring communities equivalent to guinea pigs for the development of technology.)
Hence, Nuke technology itself is underdeveloped for the utility of Human at present. Nuke Plant is still a Nuke Bomb contained within 2 meter thick concrete walls & operated with extreme care along with mitigation measures! Risking the people involved in operation (convinced with their remuneration -which is also a social pressure [including the Govt.] ) & neighboring communities.
For your kind info I have quoted the compensation provided in Bhopal disaster case
“One-time ex-gratia payment of Rs 1,500 to families with monthly income Rs 500 or less was decided.”
Quite a princely sum
Please watch the clip ‘Buddha weeps in Jadugoda’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAb9UjzdixQ to see the kind of Nuclear safeguards in our country.With this kind of simple negligence by Govt. How Nuke will be a clean alternative?
Do you know that the same VVER-1000 reactors installed in Kudankulam have failed in Bulgaria (http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2006/05/06SOFIA716.html#). European Union is concerned about the safety of these reactors and is not ready to admit Bulgaria into the Union.
“On March 1 a short circuit caused one of the cooling
pumps at Kozloduy’s Unit 5 reactor to fail. As part of the
plant’s emergency protection system, power in the reactor was
immediately decreased to 67 percent with the aid of the
system’s control rods. Soon after the reactor was powered
down, the plant’s managers discovered that a number of the
control rods had failed to drop into the proper position to
slow or stop the nuclear reaction. Further investigation
revealed that 22 of the 61 rods were failing to engage. The
plant managers eventually decided to completely shut down the
reactor to further analyze the problem.”
“It was only after a German
newspaper article speculated that Bulgaria had had a
near-Chernobyl accident that Bulgarian officials were
compelled to explain what had occurred. The GOB’s behavior
undoubtedly reflects its anxiety over EU accession and angst
over having to shut down Kozloduy Units 1 through 4 as part
of its membership bid. It also underscores the work still to
be done on creating a culture of greater official
transparency.”
I hope you are aware that control rod failure would lead to an unmanaged nuclear fission chain reaction. Now please don’t tell me that the Indian safety standards need not match the EU ones.
The protestors are also claiming that the secret Intergovernmental agreement signed between GoI and Russian Government in 2008 effectively absolves Russia in case of any failures at KNPP . The government is refusing to come clean on this. So in case of any failure , we have to just rely on the princely sums of compensation provided by Indian state (funded by taxpayers money)
“Every bloody thing in life has a risk associated with it.”. – Yes perfectly fine. It is illogical to compare the risk of me getting hit by a meteorite or getting run down by a bus to the risks from a Nuclear power plant. In the case of former , it is only me and my near and dear are affected. Whereas the latter has a wider impact on the environment and society at large
The questions about Nuclear Waste management are not yet answered by the government. Assuming that the reactor is going to be operated for years and years without any incident whatsoever, what is going to happen to the Nuclear Waste. How is the spent fuel going to be stored. How long will it be stored at Kudankulam. Where will it be reprocessed. Half life time of the spent fuel is around 50000 years.
Tsunami Risk – A 1982 study reported in a noted journal documents the presence of two slumps — the East Comorin and Colombo — in the vicinity of the site. A ‘slump’ is a massive agglomeration of loosely-bound sediment on the sea bed that may suffer large submarine landslides, causing mega-tsunamis. (http://www.springerlink.com/content/m602j3k746342lnl/)
However the 15 member expert group constituted by GoI says that the nearest tsunamigenic fault [where tsunamis originate] is 1500 kms away.
The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) had placed several conditions for fresh water requirements of the Kudankulam Power Nuclear Plant (KKNPP) but many of these conditions have not been met raising questions over the plant’s safety in case of a disaster.
As per AERB guidelines, there should be an alternative source of water all the time and storage of 60,000 cubic metres of water in the island should be built before KKNPP starts functioning. None of those conditions has been met. Fresh water is the primary coolant for nuclear reactors. Reactors cannot operate without it.
The expert committee report states that the water will come from desalination plants. The dependence on a single source — desalination plant — would be fatal in case of any natural calamity like a tsunami. This was the exact case with Fukishima in Japan.Moreover, desalination plants run on electricity which could be disrupted.
Lastly , Naoto Kan, who was the Japanese premier a year ago when the plants melted down and blew up, has transformed himself from a nuclear stalwart into an anti-nuclear activist. “I would like to tell the world that we should aim for a society that can function without nuclear energy,” he told the Wall Street Journal in late January, prior to giving a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
This paragraph yours basically seems to imply that because we should shun all technology because we’re not able to clean up after one incident.
Every one who keeps chanting Fukushima forgets about, or rather ignores, the facts-
A 40 year old obsolete design that was due to be scrapped but left to continue due to criminal negligence by the officials involved.
An outdated active cooling system that failed when the power failed, leading to meltdown. Modern plants use passive cooling systems that don’t rely on external power.
A goddamn earthquake AND tsunami combined, which isn’t something that would affect every corner of the world.
WHAT. UTTER. ROT.
Good lord, you lose all credibility when you equate a nuclear plant with a nuclear bomb when even a high school physics text book will teach you that the isotopes used are completely different. U-235 is highly unstable and preferred for making nuclear fission bombs and is not found freely in nature, i.e. it has to be enriched. U-238 occurs in nature and is a stable isotope, and is what is used for nuclear power.
So what is the magic behind the fact that France gets 80% of its power output from nuclear power, and has been doing so for the last half century?
How many French people do you see dying of radiation sickness? France has the highest number of nuclear plants in the world, and they are at the forefront of research in the technology. Their electricity tariffs are the lowest in Europe, and they have surplus to sell!
Standard response – “We are not France, we’re a bunch of incompetent farts, so we should all stick to using candles at night while masturbating to Times of India articles about us becoming the next superpower by 2050 or whenever”.
“This paragraph yours basically seems to imply that because we should shun all technology because we’re not able to clean up after one incident.”
Bhopal is an example of all that could go wrong in this country.I think people like you are unwilling to adopt an energy efficient lifestyle and want others to suffer at your expense.
“Every one who keeps chanting Fukushima forgets about, or rather ignores, the facts-
A 40 year old obsolete design that was due to be scrapped but left to continue due to criminal negligence by the officials involved.
An outdated active cooling system that failed when the power failed, leading to meltdown. Modern plants use passive cooling systems that don’t rely on external power.
A goddamn earthquake AND tsunami combined, which isn’t something that would affect every corner of the world.”
For your kind information ,The boiling water reactors at Tarapur 1 and 2 units are similar to the reactors involved in the Fukushima I nuclear accidents.The reactors’ age and old design have raised safety concerns and the two reactors have already been in operation for 16 years more than their design lives. I am not saying the above. I am quoting former director of AERB Gopalakrishnan. “Tarapur 1 and 2 reactors are much older than the reactors involved in the Fukushima nuclear accident and argued that they should be immediately decommissioned.”
The Tarapur reactors are still operational and there are no plans to decommission them in the near future. What do you think this is … Criminal Negligence or not
“WHAT. UTTER. ROT.
Good lord, you lose all credibility when you equate a nuclear plant with a nuclear bomb when even a high school physics text book will teach you that the isotopes used are completely different. U-235 is highly unstable and preferred for making nuclear fission bombs and is not found freely in nature, i.e. it has to be enriched. U-238 occurs in nature and is a stable isotope, and is what is used for nuclear power”
You don’t seem to know elementary Nuclear physics and are trying the masquerade as an expert. What do you think happens inside a Nuclear reactor. It is controlled Nuclear fission. U-238 is not fissile material. No nuclear power can be produced from U-238 as it cannot be split. U-238 is a fertile isotope of Uranium (ie) it can absorb Neutrons and then become Plutonium-239 (which is fissile). The neutrons needed for the above has to come from Nuclear fission of U-235. So the fuel used in the reactors is a mix of U-235 and U-238 and the spent fuel contains Plutonium-239.The ulterior motive of installing such reactors is to produce Plutonium for Nuclear bombs.
“So what is the magic behind the fact that France gets 80% of its power output from nuclear power, and has been doing so for the last half century?
How many French people do you see dying of radiation sickness? France has the highest number of nuclear plants in the world, and they are at the forefront of research in the technology. Their electricity tariffs are the lowest in Europe, and they have surplus to sell!
Standard response – “We are not France, we’re a bunch of incompetent farts, so we should all stick to using candles at night while masturbating to Times of India articles about us becoming the next superpower by 2050 or whenever”. ”
India need not become a Superpower or send a man to the Moon. The least it can do is provide clean drinking water
Hey dude..I know you are against the plant and all..But please argue with scientific principles.
The last time you argued while citing some accident in Bulgaria, where you said if the control rods had failed, a major accident would’ve have happened. NEWS FOR YOU BUDDY, the rod did not fail and an accident did not happen. If that point achieves something, it just increases the standing of the Kudankulam power plant and its safety measures. Your argument is like saying, if the brakes of a car fail, an accident will happen.The brakes are there for a reason, which is to prevent accidents.
This is the pathetic line of reasoning that you take, when you equate a nuclear bomb with a power plant. The control rods are provided in a power plant just for that reason, so that the fission is controlled.
And when you say all nuclear power plants are there to provide plutonium for nuclear bombs, well..all i will say is
GO TAKE A HIKE AND STOP BEING ANOTHER UDAYAKUMAR.
Next time you comment, please back your comment up with valid scientific sources. And use some logic.
So why aren’t you nuclear bleeding hearts kicking up a shitstorm about it then? Where are all the protestors screaming out against Tarapur, and why isn’t anyone citing it as an example for not going ahead with Kudankulam?
Oh really? I’m sure you’ll tell us all about India’s HUMUNGOUS stockpile of Plutonium nukes that we’ve undoubtedly harvested over the years.
You got your ass handed to you when you claimed that a nuclear reactor is the same as a nuclear bomb, and then you obfuscate it by copypasting a summary of fission, and trying to change your original statement.
And finally, what’s your response to France?
Where are the three headed children and Godzilla mutated monsters shambling about the French landscape?
It’s people like you who hold back human progress.
There’s another protest going on, supported fully by the church. See….India is very rich in Thorium (another radioactive substance). Scientists are currently researching how to tap its potential and get some energy from it.
Till then, India is heavily dependent on imported Uranium. In India, the place from where you can get Uranium is Khasi Hills in Meghalaya. There too, church is openly supporting the agitation.
@KS Transparency !! Transparency !! Transparency !! . You only get to hear what you are told.
I had clearly talked about the science behind a Nuclear Reaction. Can you quote me from any of my posts where I got it wrong.
“This is the pathetic line of reasoning that you take, when you equate a nuclear bomb with a power plant. The control rods are provided in a power plant just for that reason, so that the fission is controlled.”
But the wikileaks cable I quoted reveals that 22 of the 61 control rods were failing to engage (http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2006/05/06SOFIA716.html#)
“And when you say all nuclear power plants are there to provide plutonium for nuclear bombs, well..all i will say is
GO TAKE A HIKE AND STOP BEING ANOTHER UDAYAKUMAR.”
All I can say is , Please read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_reprocessing
Also please explain to us , why the Tarapur 1 & 2 reactors are still operational , having already been in operation for 16 years more than their design lives. It is not me or Udayakumar saying that Tarapur reactors should be decommissioned. It is the former director of AERB Gopalakrishnan.
@REX
“Nuke Plant is still a Nuke Bomb contained within 2 meter thick concrete walls & operated with extreme care along with mitigation measures!”
Nuclear Fission is the reaction that takes place both inside a Reactor and a Bomb.In a Reactor control rods are used to control the rate of fission is manageable…
“U-238 occurs in nature and is a stable isotope, and is what is used for nuclear power.”
This one statement proves that you don’t know what you are talking about. U-238 is not fissionable material and can never be used in a reactor on its own. It is a mix of U-235 and U-238 that is used to fuel the reactor. (Mixed Oxide Fuels)
I quoted the example of Tarapur , because you had claimed of criminal negligence in the case of Fukushima (Obsolete reactors etc etc). Tarapur reactors 1 & 2 were commissioned in 1969 (2 Years earlier than the Fukushima reactors). They are 16 years past the design life. It is not me saying that Tarapur reactors should be decommissioned. It is the former Chairman of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board Gopalakrishnan.He sure knows his stuff.
“You got your ass handed to you when you claimed that a nuclear reactor is the same as a nuclear bomb, and then you obfuscate it by copypasting a summary of fission, and trying to change your original statement.”
You are the one who are totally exposed on your ignorance and are trying to cover up by shouting abuses and using dirty language.On the contrary I have been very dignified in my responses.
“Oh really? I’m sure you’ll tell us all about India’s HUMUNGOUS stockpile of Plutonium nukes that we’ve undoubtedly harvested over the years.”
Please try to explain to us why the Civilian Nuclear Energy Plants need to be treated under the Official Secrets Act.
I am quoting Mr A Gopalakrishnan, “When questions are not answered, people get desperate and protest, suspecting that the entire nuclear sector is corrupt. Treating civilian nuclear energy under the Official Secrets Act is unnecessary. The department must realize that people are not village fools. If it continues this way, the sector is in for deep trouble.”
“And finally, what’s your response to France?
Where are the three headed children and Godzilla mutated monsters shambling about the French landscape?”
It took the World more than 60 years to realise the harmful effects of the pesticide Endosulfan and ban it. India was among the last to agree to ban it after protests in Kerala.It speaks volumes about the regard the government of India has for the health of its citizens. We simply don’t know the long term effects of radiation.
If you want to respond to me , please use civilised language
Duh. Because when I say it is used in nuclear plants as fuel, you interpret it as ‘it is the only isotope used as fuel.
Abuses? Dirty language? Citation, please. I have not called you names or anything. If you’re so thin skinned when someone’s giving you a point by point rebuttal instead of ad hominems (which is how most of us Indians respond to online arguments – ‘I don’t agree with you therefore you suck’ is the regular line of reasoning). Pray tell me where I have made any personal remarks against you, unless you consider my calling you out on nuclear reactor = nuclear bomb as an ‘abuse’. If you can’t handle sarcasm, do us all a favor and unplug your router.
Don’t you know? Because if it’s covered under the OSA, then that automatically means they’re using it as a bomb making facility! Seriously, how does being covered under this Act lead to the above conclusion? Not that I’m in favor of security through obscurity.
And you still haven’t responded to either France’s perfectly unblemished half century record of nuclear power, or Hiroshima/Nagasaki, both of which are perfectly fine, normal regular towns today 67 years later, despite being razed to the ground by actual nuclear bombs, despite all the radiation damage suffered by survivors.
Simply stunning. Here’s a country that’s living proof that nuclear power can be handled safely to provide cheap and clean energy for its needs, but everyone only focuses on the disasters – one entirely due to criminal negligence (Chernobyl) and the other(Fukushima) partly due to a combination natural disaster that doesn’t happen everywhere in the world.
I can understand people arguing for greater transparency about safety mechanisms and procedures(especially procedures, given our general slipshod way of handling things), but to rail against nuclear energy entirely is horrifically childish.
Let’s also stop driving cars and flying in planes because of the danger of accidents and crashes, eh?
Point by Point rebuttal, you must be hallucinating. You have not managed to rebut any of my arguments.You are completely silent about the obsolete Tarapur reactors still in operation. If you can point to Hiroshima and Nagasaki , I don’t need to travel far and just point at Bhopal. While Hiroshima and Nagasaki were razed by Nuclear bombs , what happened in Bhopal was an industrial disaster of far lesser magnitude (as compared to Hiroshima and Nagasaki). While the Japanese have done a commendable job in the cleanup operation and rebuilding of the 2 cities , we Indians still sit tight and make token protests about Dow not doing the cleanup.
“Good lord, you lose all credibility when you equate a nuclear plant with a nuclear bomb when even a high school physics text book will teach you that the isotopes used are completely different. U-235 is highly unstable and preferred for making nuclear fission bombs and is not found freely in nature, i.e. it has to be enriched. U-238 occurs in nature and is a stable isotope, and is what is used for nuclear power.”
Initially you claimed that U-235 is used as fuel in Bombs and U-238 is used in Nuclear Reactors.Now you are trying to say that I am misinterpreting your statement.With your half baked knowledge , you are the one trying to brush away genuine concerns of the protestors.
“Abuses? Dirty language? Citation, please.”
“You got your ass handed to you when you claimed that a nuclear reactor is the same as a nuclear bomb.”
I certainly would not use such dirty language in an internet portal ,when trying to rebut someone.
“I don’t agree with you therefore you suck’ is the regular line of reasoning”
Dont try to generalize here. I, for instance and many others in this forum have been decent enough thus far and have been very restrained in our language
“I can understand people arguing for greater transparency about safety mechanisms and procedures(especially procedures, given our general slipshod way of handling things)”
I am happy that you are atleast willing to concede this.
A typical nuclear power plant in a year generates 20 metric tons of used nuclear fuel.High Level Nuclear Waste and Spent Fuel Rods are the biggest problem in storing and disposing of Nuclear Waste.The Fuel Rod Assemblies have to be stored for perhaps as long as 1 million years or more as their radioactive nature decreases. The copper and steel containers will be put underground and built to last as long as 100,000 years.
While Japan and Europe reprocess the fuel in the hope that they will be used again that remains a dream with thousands of tons of High Level Waste piling up.USA does not reprocess and also has more than 60,000 tons of nuclear waste waiting for a final home.Till then most of the spent nuclear fuel is being stored in spent fuel pools and dry casks making them vulnerable just like another Fukushima
France produces 1179 tonnes of nuclear waste per year, and reprocesses 852 tonnes. Still, fuel is only reprocessed once and then it, too, needs to be stored. France is expecting that engineers will eventually succeed in building a new type of nuclear reactor called a fast reactor that will use the waste it can’t reprocess as fuel.In France Used fuel is stored at reactor sites in spent fuel pools or dry casks.After which it send to La Hague . The recovered uranium and plutonium is then returned to the owners and the separated wastes are vitrified, sealed into stainless steel canisters, and either stored or returned.
Till date none of the countries producing power from Nuclear reactors have a comprehensive Nuclear Waste Management policy.
Again..Please cite sources. Enough of you talking in thin air. Also, do tell me, when has the nuclear waste, about which you fret so much, caused any disaster?
@KS, you cannot win an argument with a moron. Enough said. I’m sick of this whole thread, I’ve posted enough on the subject but Mister Prasanna is way too smart for the rest of us.
@Prasanna, get back to the dark ages with a candle. You whose command of English is so pathetic that you consider the term ‘have your ass handed to you’ as foul language!
Well written. I really wish you go on to become an anti-virus salesman, and not allow yourself to become a Kambli!
@KS
“Again..Please cite sources. Enough of you talking in thin air. Also, do tell me, when has the nuclear waste, about which you fret so much, caused any disaster?”
Source # 1 – http://fissilematerials.org/library/rr10.pdf
Source #2 – Nuclear Fuel Recycling: More Trouble Than It’s Worth by Frank von Hippel, Princeton University Co-chair, International Panel on Fissile Material (IPFM) – http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=rethinking-nuclear-fuel-recycling & http://armscontrolcenter.org/policy/nuclearweapons/articles/nuclear_fuel_recycling/
Source #3 – http://www.greenworldinvestor.com/2011/04/13/nuclear-waste-storage-a-complete-mess-with-lack-of-policy-temporary-nuclear-sites-in-usajapan-and-france-waiting-for-a-permanent-nuclear-facility/
I quote from the above article
“The US has 65,192 tonnes of the waste but the nation has no place to permanently store the material, which stays dangerous for tens of thousands of years.Currently, there are no permanent disposal facilities in the United States for high-level nuclear waste; therefore commercial high-level waste (spent fuel) is in temporary storage, mainly at nuclear power plants.A permanent facility was planned in the Yucca Mountains in Nevada by the Congress in 1987.This project that has long been the subject environmental and political opposition and with the Obama administration cutting funding this project appears to be in limbo after $9 billion was spent.”
Source # 4 – http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/guest/article_0bd69b4a-a3d2-11de-bfd5-001cc4c03286.html
Dangers of storing Radioactive Nuclear Waste
“Reprocessing is enormously dangerous. The amount of radioactivity in the liquid waste stored at France’s plant is more than 100 times that released by the Chernobyl accident. That is why France’s government set up antiaircraft missile batteries around its reprocessing plant after the 9/11 attacks.”
@REX,
You keep hurling abuses. (The latest one abuses me as a moron). I certainly will not be able to match the lofty standards set by you for such language.
@KS
If you don’t want to publish the sources I have given , please indicate that you are not accepting any more comments on this topic. You have published REX’s comment that abuses me , but not published any of my replies to your comment about citing sources regarding Nuclear Waste
I haven’t moderated any comment made by you.. Whatever you have typed it is there for everyone to see..and everyone has seen that you have not provided any concrete source for your arguments.
As mentioned by one reader, the disposal of nuclear waste is a well established process. And the waste alone is not responsible for any damage. So if you want to say otherwise.. Please prove it
@KS,
For some weird reason , wordpress does not seem to publish the comment which I made regarding the sources. I have tried it 3-4 times.I’ll try to edit the contents and repost
Sources
http://armscontrolcenter.org/policy/nuclearweapons/articles/nuclear_fuel_recycling/
Click to access rr10.pdf
http://www.greenworldinvestor.com/2011/04/13/nuclear-waste-storage-a-complete-mess-with-lack-of-policy-temporary-nuclear-sites-in-usajapan-and-france-waiting-for-a-permanent-nuclear-facility/
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/guest/article_0bd69b4a-a3d2-11de-bfd5-001cc4c03286.html
@KS
Source 1 – Managing Spent Fuel from Nuclear Power Reactors – Experience and Lessons from Around the World co-authored by Prof Frank von Hippel, Princeton University Co-chair, International Panel on Fissile Material (IPFM) – http://fissilematerials.org/library/rr10.pdf
Source 2 – Nuclear Fuel Recycling: More Trouble Than It’s Worth http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=rethinking-nuclear-fuel-recycling & http://armscontrolcenter.org/policy/nuclearweapons/articles/nuclear_fuel_recycling/
Source 3 – Nuclear Waste Storage – A Complete Mess with Lack of Policy ,Temporary Nuclear Sites in USA,Japan and France waiting for a permanent Nuclear Facility – http://www.greenworldinvestor.com/2011/04/13/nuclear-waste-storage-a-complete-mess-with-lack-of-policy-temporary-nuclear-sites-in-usajapan-and-france-waiting-for-a-permanent-nuclear-facility/
Source 4 – Dangers of storing Radioactive Nuclear Waste
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/guest/article_0bd69b4a-a3d2-11de-bfd5-001cc4c03286.html
@KS
Google for the following articles
Managing Spent Fuel from Nuclear Power Reactors – Experience and Lessons from Around the World
Nuclear Fuel Recycling: More Trouble Than It’s Worth
Nuclear Waste Storage – A Complete Mess with Lack of Policy ,Temporary Nuclear Sites in USA,Japan and France waiting for a permanent Nuclear Facility
Dangers of storing Radioactive Nuclear Waste
“”KS April 7, 2012 @ 9:39 AM
Again..Please cite sources. Enough of you talking in thin air. Also, do tell me, when has the nuclear waste, about which you fret so much, caused any disaster?””
Note sent by Dr. Meticulous Scientist of Union Carbide corporation to useless NGO protestor in Bhopal. Date: circa 1982
Please cite sources. do tell me, when has the Methyl isocyanate stored in nice tanks, about which you fret so much, caused any disaster? Remember the tanks are in the middle of a populated area of Bhopal. Is this not enough proof of how safe they are ?
Note sent by Fukushima Safety Engineer to useless Japanese anti-nuclear activist. Date: Circa 2009
Please cite sources. do tell me, when has the Hydrogen tank of one nuclear reactor leaked gas into the tank of the nearby reactor and made that to explode ? Please cite sources saying that bigg earthquake and bigg tsunami can cause technical problems in reactors ? Remember that 2004 tsunami could not harm Kalpakkam reactors in India. Dont you know our Japanese reactors are world class ?
Note sent by Vadivelu (GOI)
Date: circa 2012
For me, taking Risks is as simple as Eating Rusks.
I love the way Technofascists repeat themselves.
Note sent by Sriram:
Yes, we have to return to candles and eating food grown within 100 kilometeres of your home. You cant keep poisoning rivers, air, land, night sky etc and manufacture lots of plastic junk and declare progress has been achieved.
Dude, you have taken such a serious topic and made into an educational, interesting and HILARIOUS blog. Many many kudos to you. Keep up the good work.
With all due respect, You are not a specialist either to be commenting on biological effects of radiation. There might be no causality in Fukushima, a few decades will show an increase in leukaemia and congenital deformities. Nuclear power might be the best source of energy as engineers see it, but the biological effects of one time exposure can bother generations. However safe this plant is, don’t you think it is natural to worry. Radiation is not something liquid to be contained within a bubble of material. It spreads through air.
We are the country that pioneered organic farming and are now struck with excessive use of fertilizers. This is a mere analogy to imply our lust for technology, chemicals,nuclear power etc without understanding their ill effects. I have nothing for udayakumar or the diocese. I would like to point out that your article is biased. You are looking at kudankulam as the ultimate answer to power issues in TN. I forsee increased number of bald children undergoing chemo or more impotent men in a few decades. – A concerned biologist.
Great writing style by the way.
Shwetha…radiation “liquid to be contained within a bubble of material. It spreads through air”…………it spreads through air only if radiation is allowed to escape. Many metals, such as Lead are capable of absorbing radiation.
And nuclear energy is produced when in a radioactive substance – mass is converted to energy. The resultant product is NOT radioactive.
And may i bring to your attention…the “safe” coal/diesel based electricity plants have killed more people due to air pollution, destroy crops due to acid rain. This is far more hazardous than a nuclear power station.
Unless there is an accident, nuclear energy is safe and environmentally clean and no doubt much more efficient than burning coal/diesel
Unless there is an accident, nuclear energy is safe and environmentally.
I like it I say !
I am going to keep a few deadly snakes at home in a nice secure glass box with holes just for snakes to breathe. I think I will keep one Krait, two Cobras and three Vipers.
Unless there is an accident, keeping snakes as pets is safe.
Yes if you need it you have to keep it.
Which is why he is quoting experts and studies on the subject. Where is the corresponding research by Udaykumar and co. to show nuclear power as the horror that he claims it is?
Ooh, wishful thinking. You’d really love for the people around Fukushima to suffer to prove a point wouldn’t you?
Yeah, tell me again how Hiroshima and Nagasaki, whose survivors were exposed to far higher radiation than many of us get in our lifetimes, are totally abandoned deadly radioactive ghost towns today.
Sure. Anything that lays bare the facts is ‘biased’ if you can’t come up with a concrete rebuttal.
As I said to Prasanna above, feel free to propose your own well researched, scientifically proven alternative that doesn’t pollute as much as fossil fuels do, that isn’t as intermittent as solar/wind power and is not geographically specific as a hydro electric dam (with its own ecological devastation in terms of flooding the reservoir area)
> As I said to Prasanna above, feel free to propose your own well researched, scientifically proven alternative that doesn’t pollute as much as fossil fuels do, that isn’t as intermittent as solar/wind power and is not geographically specific as a hydro electric dam (with its own ecological devastation in terms of flooding the reservoir area)
—
For industrial use, use gasifiers. Basically, industries can buy their own energy from a local gasifier installation. Cars, more than 100 years ago were run using this technology before diesel came about. A controlled burning of bio-mass provides wood-gas that is substituent for diesel.
Gasifiers. Anyone can easily set up 100kw to 2mw size gasifiers. Imagine Tamil Nadu gets 200Mw effectively from the KKNPP project – for next 2 years. This can be achieved with 100 installations of gasifiers at energy intensive industry locations.
Now that the diesel cost is going up, we are seeing a lot of gasifier installations coming up. Note that gasifiers are also self compensating for the bio-mass used – it encourages the complementary activity of bio-mass producing activity. This is often a very local production. Technology is also simple. Enormous opportunity for distributed, sustainable energy feeders.
Not all electricity need to be put on the grid. As we see solar being amazing useful and widely deployed for water heating for residences, for it enabled local people to produce, market and distributed. And this complements the grid. So can industries be encouraged to manage their own electricity needs.
Thanks for the info about gasifiers, though it doesn’t solve the fossil fuel combustion problem. As noted by Kaipullai, the total cumulative death toll due to nuclear power plant accidents is far below that caused by burning of coal/oil in similar plants, not to mention the side effects of respiratory diseases.
Also, look at how many people are dying of radiation..NOT! in France, around 80% of whose power comes from nuclear energy, and after which they’re running a power surplus that is sold to neighboring Germany.
Dear Krishna
once again I could not conceal my “awe” for your research work. Fantastic. It is not only the US or Vatican or any one. The government which was there before could not even think any thing other than 2-G could not do any thing. The electricity problems were there in Tamil Nadu not in your college days but also during our college days that is 1981 where Invertors were not even conceptualized.The need of electricity is very very huge and we must tell this to the common public by creating awareness drive through out the state. Thank you very much for provoking our thoughts.
A thought provoking blog indeed.! But, I am at loss to understand why the Govt. is not educating the public properly. The entire government machinery should stand out against the false agitation and publish the benefits of the project, so that even the common man will fight for the project. There should be a big propaganda for the early commissioning of the plant.
WELL WRITTEN! EXCELLENT!
PLEASE READ THIS TOO….IT WILL AUGMENT YOUR ARTICLE………IT HAD APPEARED IN THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS NEWSPAPER
Forces halting our n-surge
http://www.gurumurthy.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=173:forces-halting-our-n-surge&catid=40:politics&Itemid=98
sir, please reply on what do u think of this
Ambedkar tried and gave up. Then suggested that dalits become Buddists.
The general tendency among the Hindus has been to be enraged
about the church with money buying the poor. Historically, a lot
of dalits have converted. Then many states in the north-east of India
have converted to the extent that some of them are 99% Christians.
All that (even a decently) educated “Hindu” can scream is how
they are moving in and taking over. But this Hindu cannot find
ways to communicate or commiserate with a dalit, a tribal or
the large bodies of people such as the fisherfolks. Typically
when the elite among the Hindu worry about this, we get Hindutva.
Hindutva is an attempt to say that if you are an Indian you are a Hindu.
However, the elite then get too busy with their antics with a
Christian or a Muslim lifestyle or an outlook that “destroys Indian sentiments”.
I wonder, if there can even be some semblance of relating to the dalits,
the waring tribals of the northeast or the needs of fishworkers
as the needs of their own community, their own families. Is there
any way we can think of how after Independence, and especially
after the war with the Chinese regarding Arunachal Pradesh, the
people of that whole area has been considered as an outcast by the state
of India with respect to development and infrastructure funds. How
the state has converted the area into a police state where everybody
is suspect! Where do people go for comfort, for acceptance, for
education, for progress. And we say, the church is well funded
for it manages to provide these to the desperate (not despicable)
people who are invisible in the Indian democracy. Now lets look
at the fishworkers. States want their beaches. Corporates want their
beaches. And the nation for development of the nation. Ofcourse,
what is the economics of a fishworker for a country. What is the
economics of an agricultural person from rural India, when compared
to the GDP and the energy needs of the urban and industrial needs?
Is economics that of usurpation of the livelihoods of the
despicable, not that of a negotiation with the the desperate?
Now help me figure this into your analysis. Is the church from
pre-independence and ever since has not been well funded
to care for the desperate. How can Hindutva help here by
negotiating with the people as first class citizens, not by calling
them uncivilised morons who need to be taught a lesson – by
asking them to carry nightsoil for the rest of their sahasra
re-incarnations of their sinning souls! no?
Maybe we can start by also looking at how non-Christians
are also quivering with desperation regarding the harm-possibilities
of nuclear reactors, especially in a country as ours where
understanding a health hazard is unthinkable by people
who can happily live by hazardous waste, hospitals thrive
next to open sewage, cities with many millions that go
without cleaning the most nauseating neighbourhoods. Where
people happily make do with quick fixes, ignore missing
bolts or use open wires with plugs. Where a community
goes over board to get one of their unqualified persons
employed, where in the name of national security we
are not allowed do an RTI on this employment at a nuclear
reactor or where one is too happy to be employed to
squeal on a colleague who is not respecting safety.
Anyway, I claim that there are more non-christians against the
KKNPP than christians.
Its all about accidents. When it happens, it too late.
Its not about if the technology can deliver (or not even about
you being *desperate* for electricity), but about what
the technology can deliver and how it can in the context it is situated.
15000 crores is likely to be just the tip of the ice-berg.
About your point 4. It takes a lot of money to transport and feed protesters. I have also read in the Hindu (Don’t remember the article) that the NGOs are paying protesters to participate. We all know this is very common at political rallies.
First of all… love your articles!
As for your point asking why is the media not talking about Churches’ involvement… I only wish you dig a little more.. but the easy answer to that is that it’s mostly christian organisations that run the big media houses in first place… hence the obvious apathy.
Please do highlight a little more on the above said (personal agenda here of knowing the truth without doing the hard work of digging for it)
:))
Cheers!
bharat
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dude, simply put, u are actually a stooge of the rss and nothing else,not very difficult to see,, and about abdul kalam being the last word on nuclear energy., ROFL..READ THIS , MY DEAR INTELLECTUAL TERROR KAIPULLAI
http://www.facebook.com/notes/vivekanand-selvaraj/the-guinea-pigs-of-a-kafkaesque-world-some-questions-on-former-president-honabdu/10150377595624361
I am literally ROTFL.. both at your accusation and the link that you have written..:D 😀
You know in the post I said Udayakumar’s writing was the worst piece of prose I have ever seen. Well I stand corrected now.
@VIVEKANAND SELVARAJ,
While I agree with you on the inssues that you have raised, I beg to differ on the role played by the church organisations in organising the protests.I feel that this is giving the establishment a convenient excuse which it has used right from the days of Indira Gandhi (Foreign Hand).You cannot call someone a stooge of the RSS just because he is pointing out the role played by the church. It is just that the RSS is saying it in the open. The Congress government has taken a pretty similar position as well. It just explains the insensitive attitude of the major government and opposition parties.
The GoI can not stand conversions – and it has even figuratively fought with a foreign government to prevent conversions. Don’t believe me.
.
Here – see this link,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bnei_Menashe#Controversy_in_India
.
Just below that section, you’ll find the following statements,
“November 2005: the Israeli government halts all conversions of the Bnei Menashe in India, citing strained relations between the two countries after Indian officials express concern about the conversions; they indicate that mass conversions are considered illegal in India. ”
.
That’s correct – let me highlight the fantastic verse one more time ” mass conversions are considered illegal in India.” – and yet, the non-Christian Mizo tribes who have for many centuries remained Pagans (as per Christian ideological jargon) are now almost completely christian. And yet, mass conversions are “illegal” in India.
.
The aforementioned point was for the idea that somehow anything against christian crooks [and by this term “christian crooks* I refer to those nefarious criminal elements that hijack & abuse the Christian religion – not the regular sunday-school going bible-loving day-to-day *real* christians] becomes RSS agenda.
.
MN
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2005/pr38/en/index.html
you’ve got a good talent in writing and entertain the people. But the fact of the matter is you did not know the complete picture. I think you may get some offer for directing some movies after reading this.
Already people have responded disagreeing on the points you shared. I’m also disagreeing with you.
If you are not too sure why are you quoting that in your article?
The link you’ve shared about the Bishop and the Father is completely false.
“you do google and quote whatever link you get to support your false conclusion”
Let’s say someone writes bad about you.
if i’m writing a blog about you i won’t quote bad about you just because someone is written bad about you.
Most of the points are well explained, and thought through.
But I had one concern regarding point-2. Even though the flow of funds from foreign competitors may be proved, one question that we should probably look at before using the same as a red flag would be “Did the money flow in, and then the protests start, or did the protests start, and seeing the same as an opportunity, the foreign competitors started fueling it?”
Primarily, what I am trying to state here is that flow of funds from competitors may be out of ensuring that they have an upper hand over a Russian counterpart, but did they initiate these protests or were these protests already there before the funding actually flew in ?
Fantastic article….Nice research and written with good humour. Hats ot to you buddy.
This is turning out to be my new favourite blog. Kudos.
I wonder how you would feel about a nuclear plant in your backyard. Hmmm.
Digvijay Singh.. Lol that was a good one man.. 🙂
I loved the article till I got to the section (below)….
“Now, the church, preferred to stay silent for the entire duration of the first and the second world wars. Hell, this is an organization which did not speak up, when Nazis were carrying out the world’s most brutal elimination program. Even when they knew about it.”
This is not true at all….
“The Pope secretly worked to save as many Jewish lives as possible from the Nazis, whose extermination campaign began its most intense phase only after the War had started. It is here that the anti-Catholics try to make their hay: Pius XII is charged either with cowardly silence or with outright support of the Nazi extermination of millions of Jews.
Much of the impetus to smear the Vatican regarding World War II came, appropriately enough, from a work of fiction—a stage play called The Deputy, written after the War by a little-known German Protestant playwright named Rolf Hochhuth.”
……
The desire to keep a low profile was expressed by the people Pius XII helped. A Jewish couple from Berlin who had been held in concentration camps but escaped to Spain with the help of Pius XII, stated: “None of us wanted the Pope to take an open stand. We were all fugitives, and fugitives do not wish to be pointed at. The Gestapo would have become more excited and would have intensified its inquisitions. If the Pope had protested, Rome would have become the center of attention. It was better that the Pope said nothing. We all shared this opinion at the time, and this is still our conviction today.”[11]
For detailed article go here..
http://www.catholic.com/documents/how-pius-xii-protected-jews#.UHKa6E1FyQw
Joe
http://www.thusshoes.com
please do continue writing…. or post us the link to your new articles or posts if posted elsewhere…
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Excellent piece of writing, carry on 🙂
For all the assholes going on about Fukushima, here’s a piece about how the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation has drawn on 80 scientists from 18 countries to produce a draft report that concludes: “Radiation exposure following the nuclear accident at Fukushima-Daiichi did not cause any immediate health effects. It is unlikely to be able to attribute any health effects in the future among the general public and the vast majority of workers.
Funny thing throughout the debate was, for each and every statement made by prasanna, the other guys in debate asked for citation and proof. he managed to give sufficient materials too. rex and the rest were not bothered to give any supporting evidences other than the so called blah blahs. when i went thru all the comments and article as a whole, questions raised by prasanna still exist. hope scientists can answer them. silence Frm the author in the due course of debate was disturbing.
As a common man, two incidents are in front of me the bhopal tragedy and the endosulphan tragedy. the writer should check out the pictures of the ill fated kids in kasargod. since i live in india and not in france i would like to sit in candle light than to watch my daughter or grand daughters carrying deformed kids in ac rooms…
Scientists can guarantee that “we” r safe. wot about the future generations? they have to answer. i don’t think about anything else. always the poor are supposed to suffer for the luxury of the rich.
It was truly a delight to read this post! Great info with humor. Kudos!
1
-1′
Wow, this paragraph is good, my younger sister is analyzing such things, therefore I am
going tto let know her.
well researched article
Hahaha. Kaipullai like everyone else talks with no basis. Several of your ‘citations’ don’t check out. As for Church being quiet throughout WWII is a laugh, go through your own citation before publishing random crap.
Well done. Your logic has been proven impeccable. You should be working for an intelligence agency. RAW! are you watching?
http://www.sunday-guardian.com/news/obama-quietly-reverses-hillarys-get-modi-policy#.U4lBkLc4vyo.twitter
Very descriptive post, I enjoyed that a lot.
Will there be a part 2?
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What’s up colleagues, how is all, and what you wish for to say
about this piece of writing, in my view its really awesome in support of me.
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