Friends,
Silver Jubilees call for celebrations. Today (26th April, 2011)
let us celebrate (?) the Silver Jubilee of Chernobyl
It is said that public memory is short and short indeed it is ! How many of us remember that today mankind has completed 25 years of disaster at Chernobyl power plant in Russia which claimed thousands of lives immediately and pushed lakhs of lives including the unborn ones at that time into endless misery. Do we consciously remember that more than one lakh sq. km. of land has been permanently rendered uninhabitable. Calculate the cost of this land in terms of land cost in Mumbai or Singapore or New York or Shanghai. Calculate the income and economic prosperity this land could have generated. Any way we have almost forgotten Chernobyl.
But nature has its own strange way of reminding us, if we have not learnt our lessons. It reminded us in the form of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima in Japan. Nothing short of a holocaust has struck mankind once again. Are we prepared to learn or re-learn the lesson? It does not seem so. We, particularly in India, are determined with a vengeance not to learn what nature want us to learn. Not satisfied with sitting on the volcanoes of disaster in the form of 6 existing nuclear power plants in the country we are planning 13 more, and thus adding twice the risk probability than what we already have. And what will this frenzy lead us to in terms of increasing our power availability ? Only 10% of what we are going to need? At what potential cost (not the monetary cost of setting up of nuclear power plants, but the cost in case of a disaster).
As if the Government is very much concerned about this nuclear damage, it has enacted the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, 2010. It is nothing short of a farce. Can there by a monetary compensation for a life lost or generations doomed to misery? Even if some damage is paid, who pays the damage? – the Government. And from where the Government gets the money to pay the compensation or damage – from the taxes paid by you and me. Hence, is there any real compensation? The drama of compensation in connection with the Bhopal gas leak tragedy is before our eyes for the past 25 years. This very government has helped the culprits flee from India and the compensation proceedings have added insult to the injury for lakhs of victims. The nuclear liability is another version of the same farce.
More than the need of the common man, electricity has become a tool of exploitation used by industry to fatten their purse. Electricity itself is a dangerous element and all the means of its generation are manifold dangerous. The crowning danger is atomic energy. We need to abandon it and look for other sources of energy. There is a talk of solar and wind energy. However, India has another unique source of energy and that is energy from its cattle. More about this energy in some future dispatch.
In the meantime, have a look at the attached slides. If they stir your conscience, be a part of people’s campaign against nuclear power projects.
4. Radioactive Waste
• Generated at each stage - Mining, Enrichment, Power Generation
– Waste from Enrichment has been used in Depleted Uranium (DU)
bombs used in Iraq
• Even 21st century science has NO ANSWER for Nuclear Waste
Disposal
– Waste contaminates (beyond scope for inhabitation) a huge area in its
vicinity for 1000’s of years
What about the
Is it Safe?
Environment &
People?
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5. Radiation Contaminates Always
• Even if there is NO NUCLEAR ACCIDENT
– Around a Uranium Mine
– Around an Enrichment Facility
– Around a Nuclear Plant
– Around Nuclear Waste
An area of 30-35 km radius gets
contaminated by nuclear radiation regularly!
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6. Radiation Spares Nothing
• Impacts Vegetation - Agriculture
– Trees near Jaduguda Uranium Mines have DEFORMED SEEDS
– Agricultural produce is bound to carry unacceptable amounts of
radioactive content
• Impacts Animals
– Radioactive Boars on the rise in Germany (thanks to Chernobyl)
• Impacts Human Beings
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7. Nuclear Accidents Are Worse!
• Chernobyl : An area of 1,00,000 sq km is UNINHABITABLE for
20,000 years. FOREVER.
Date: 26 April 1986
Plant Capacity: 900 MW
8. Nuclear ‘Meltdown’ in the USA
• Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania: Happened in 1979 due to the
meltdown of fuel rods
• Health effects mostly unstudied or kept clandestine
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9. Impact of Nuclear Radiation
on Humans
• Cancer in the next 2 to 60 years
• Deformed babies - FOREVER!
The pictures that follow may be disturbing
Jump to Existing Nuclear Plants in India only if you are extremely week-hearted
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10. 40 Years Old Uranium Mines
in Jaduguda, Jharkhand
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26. Impact of Nuclear Accidents in India
Can you imagine the massive loss of
Human
Lives, Forests, Agriculture, Animals, Econ
omic Activities?
For 1000’s of years!
Existing Plants
Proposed Plants
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27. OK, If Not Nuclear Then What?
Feeding Electricity to the Super Power
in making…
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28. Improving Existing Energy Efficiency
• India can save 30-40% of its electricity deficit by simple
Conservation techniques
– Improving the efficiency of existing power plants (we are way behind
international standards at the moment)
– Decentralizing electricity generation to reduce long distance
transmission losses
The cost of implementing these Efficiency Improvement
Measures is MUCH LESS THAN that of setting up New Plants
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29. Conserving Electricity
• We can save 30% increased demand of electricity by 2013 by
using energy efficient electrical infrastructure at home
– Fans, Incandescent Bulbs, Tube Lights
– Refrigerators, ACs, Air Coolers
– Electric Water Heaters
– Computers, TVs, DVD Players, Set-Top-Boxes (active mode)
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30. Use Renewable Sources
• They are Cheap
Spend the millions & billions on
• They are Unlimited research of Renewable Energy
rather than on Nuclear
• They don’t Kill
• They are ‘un-researched’
America is the world’s largest
producer of Wind Power
Solar Energy has the potential to
feed Earth 1000 times
Solar Water Heaters in Bangalore save
900 MW of peak load. Already!
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33. The Potential of Renewable Sources
• Latest studies indicate that Wind Energy & Solar Energy hold
the keys to sustained development!
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34. The Politics of Nuclear Power in India
Ever heard of a lucrative
Wind or Solar Scientist post?
35. Why is Nuclear Power Promoted in India?
• Current energy policies are designed to benefit foreign MNCs
General Electrics Westinghouse Areva
Newspapers admit that THEY ARE HERE FOR A $40 BN BUSINESS
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36. Why is Nuclear Power Promoted in India?
• Profit for MNCs who will provide reactor designs
• Commission for Indian Politicians, Intellectuals, Scientists
Investment at the
9,900 WM Jaitapur ` 10,00,00,00,00,00,000
Nuclear Plant One Lakh Crores only!
All Nuclear Plants in India offer
lucrative prospects
for these Patriots!
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37. Why is Renewable Energy Unknown?
• Very less or No Scope for Investment (read profit)
• Giants MNCs in the Nuclear Power sector are too strong to let
the Renewable Energy sector grow
– And hence, almost No Solar or Wind Scientists
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39. And Our Government’s Gift for US
• The Nuclear Civil Liabilities Bill by our government says that:
Any foreign company WILL NOT be held
liable for any nuclear accidents on Indian
soil, whatsoever
They WILL NOT pay any Compensation
We CAN NOT sue them in Indian or
Foreign courts
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41. The ‘West’ is Disowning Nuclear Power
• Most Americans are against Nuclear Power
– Major concerns:
• Continuous radiation emitted in normal functioning of Nuclear Plants
• Nuclear Waste disposal
• Threats of nuclear accidents
• Australia has never built a Nuclear Power Plant!
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42. Wondering What You Can Do About This?
• Understand the politics of promoting Nuclear Power in India
• Spread awareness about this massive public betrayal
Jago Re !