Nuclear Energy

India: World’s most unsafe, most contaminated reactors
India's nuclear reactors are even more unsafe. Some years ago, a survey in Nuclear
Engineering International listed India's reactors in the lowest bracket in terms of efficiency and
performance. di Helen Caldicott, one of world’s best known anti-nuclear-energy activists, writes that
India’s nuclear plants are amongst the most contaminated in the world, exposing hundreds of
workers to excessive doses of radiation. dii The US-based watchdog group – the Safe Energy
Communication Council (SECC) – has also described the Indian nuclear program, especially its
reactors, to be the “least efficient” and the “most dangerous in the world”. diii Molly Moore's report
in the Washington Post published in 1995 is even more damning: “Four decades after India
launched a full-scale nuclear power program …, it operates some of the world's most accident-
prone and inefficient nuclear facilities. During 1992 and 1993, its most recent two- year monitoring
period, the Indian government reported 271 dangerous or life-threatening incidents, including fires,
radioactive leaks, major systems failures and accidents at nuclear power and research facilities.
Eight workers died in that period.” div
In what may appear to be astonishing, the same opinion was expressed by Dr. A.
Gopalakrishnan, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), the body responsible
for overseeing safety at India's nuclear installations, in an interview to the media while remitting
office in 1996. He stated: “Many of our nuclear installations have aged with time and have serious
problems.” He further added that the current safety status of the nuclear installations under the DAE
“is a matter of great concern”! dv
But then, why didn't Dr. Gopalakrishnan do anything about it when he was in office? The
shocking answer is, he had very little authority to do so! The AERB is a toothless body!!
India's safety watchdog: A lapdog
India's rulers are so unconcerned about nuclear safety, they are so indifferent to the
possibility of a Chernobyl in India, that they have the most ineffective nuclear safety regulator in
the world!
Like other countries having a nuclear power program, India also has a safety regulator, the
Atomic Energy Regulatory Board. It was set up in 1983 by the DAE to lay down safety standards,
frame rules and regulations in regard to public and worker safety under the provisions of the Atomic
Energy Act, 1962 and enforce their compliance in all DAE and non-DAE installations. However,
unlike other countries having a nuclear power program, India's nuclear regulator is not independent
of the bodies it is supposed to oversee, but is subservient to them! The AERB reports to the Atomic
Energy Commission (AEC). The Chairman of the AEC is also the head of the DAE. The Chairman
of the Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) and the director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
(BARC) are also members of AEC. However, the chairman of AERB is not a member of AEC!
Thus, the regulatory authority is subordinate to the NPC and BARC, bodies it is supposed to
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