Nuclear Energy

Recommendations

Info

final stages of construction. Such an accident is unprecedented in the annals of nuclear energy history. Had the collapse taken place during the operation of the nuclear reactor, it would probably have led to a nuclear core meltdown. It led to a delay in its commissioning by as much as four years. The collapse of the dome occurred due to faulty design: AERB had ordered the DAE to carry out certain tests on the containment dome, which were not done. dxxvi vi) KAPS Kakrapar Atomic Power Station in Gujarat also has two 220 MW PHW reactors of Canadian design. Unit-I went critical in 1992 and Unit-II in 1995. There was a near-disastrous fire accident in 1991 at the KAPS plant. In June 1994, flood waters entered the plant because sealing arrangements were not provided to prevent water ingress, causing extensive damage. This despite the fact that similar flooding had occurred twice at RAPS in 1976 and 1982, owing to the very same construction errors! In 2004, an unexplained power surge at KAPS-1 forced the NPC to shut down the reactor. dxxvii The Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) installed in KAPS (and NAPS), was not tested initially, and it was only after the media blew up the issue that the testing was done in KAPS- 2. The system failed the test! Some design and procedural changes had to be made to make the system perform satisfactorily. But whether these changes have also been carried out in KAPS-1 and the two NAPS reactors is not known. dxxviii The KAPS reactors house the first indigenously-developed microprocessor-based control system. However, they have not been tested thoroughly for their reliability; no appropriate facility for such testing exists with the DAE. There have been instances of dangerous and erratic behaviour, such as a shutdown rod coming out when signalled to go into the reactor! dxxix vii) BARC For all the hype about BARC, this premier nuclear research institution is in an even poorer state than India’s nuclear reactors. There have been numerous ‘incidents’ at these research reactors, some of which nearly led to a major disaster. There was an instance of a reactor being started up with an operator inadvertently locked inside a room below. In 1991 Dhruva, a 100 MW research reactor at BARC, operated for almost a month with a malfunctioning emergency cooling system, in complete violation of all safety norms. dxxx Aside from these near catastrophes, there is the more insidious problem of leakage of underground pipes carrying radioactive water at the CIRUS and Dhruva sites at BARC. An even bigger disaster is the two million tonnes of liquid nuclear waste stored in tanks at the BARC site. These tanks are leaking due to aging, corrosion and faulty welds. The result of these leakages is that radioactivity in the form of hundreds of curies of Cesium-137 is reported to be present in the soil, water and vegetation on the BARC sites and the Trombay coast. Considering the long half-life of Cs-137 (over 30 years), this contamination will persist as a threat to the safety of the people and the environment for a long time to come. 128
The bed of the Thane creek, which is an extension of the sea at Mumbai port, has become highly radioactive because of the nuclear effluents discharged by the research and reprocessing plants at BARC. The Thane creek separates Navi Mumbai from old Mumbai, and the radioactive contamination of the creek spells danger to the whole of Mumbai. The people of Mumbai are going to pay the price for the callousness of BARC officials for centuries to come. dxxxi The safety situation at the Kalpakkam Atomic Reprocessing Plant run by BARC and located near the MAPS at Kalpakkam near Chennai is no better. There have been numerous cases of workers being exposed to high levels of radiation, including a major accident on January 21, 2003 (discussed in a later section). dxxxii A report of the United Nations Scientific Committee on Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) says that the routine release of radionuclides from Kalpakkam Reprocessing Plant has been high in comparison to the release from facilities in other countries. dxxxiii The reprocessing plants in France and UK are the biggest source of radioactive pollution in Europe, with radioactive releases from these plants polluting the North Sea as far as the Arctic; one wonders how far has the pollution from Kalpakkam spread in the Bay of Bengal / Indian Ocean! The DAE is totally unconcerned about these terrible radioactive releases from BARC run facilities. Gopalakrishnan writes that during his tenure as Chairman of AERB, the BARC management refused outright to comply with the procedures and corrective actions ordered by the AERB. Some years later, the DAE ended all possibilities of such disputes by putting safety standards at BARC facilities beyond the purview of this benign regulator. In 2000, Dr. R. Chidambaram, then Secretary of the DAE, ordered that the regulatory and safety functions at the BARC and its facilities, exercised till then by the AERB, will henceforth be carried out through an internal committee to be constituted by the Director of the BARC. Wow! This should break all records of nuclear safety regulations!! dxxxiv 2. DAE: Terrible Safety Management dxxxv In its submission to the IAEA as part of its responsibilities under the 1994 Convention on <strong>Nuclear</strong> Safety, the DAE stated: “Safety is accorded overriding priority in all activities. All nuclear facilities are sited, designed, constructed, commissioned and operated in accordance with strict quality and safety standards... As a result, India’s safety record has been excellent in over 260 reactor years of operation of power reactors and various other applications.” However, the reality is that the DAE is absolutely nonchalant about nuclear safety. For instance, an essential element of a safety conscious organisation is that it learns not only from its own mistakes, but also from others. DAE does not do both! 129
Page 1 and 2:
NUCLEAR ENERGY Technology From Hell
Page 3 and 4:
Introduction Part I: Government Pla
Page 5 and 6:
yet to find solution to the problem
Page 7 and 8:
Mithivirdi: A powerful movement of
Page 9 and 10:
eing proposed to be set up in the c
Page 11 and 12:
nuclear power plant accident, in ou
Page 13 and 14:
was subsequently endorsed by the he
Page 15 and 16:
Atoms are so small that they can’
Page 17 and 18:
called enriched uranium. [Note that
Page 19 and 20:
of a nuclear power reactor. A typic
Page 21 and 22:
Coolant: A liquid or gas circulatin
Page 23 and 24:
Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor Hea
Page 25 and 26:
Is Nuclear Energy Safe? Chapter 3 A
Page 27 and 28:
iii. Gamma radiation: This is akin
Page 29 and 30:
haematopoietic system). Radiation c
Page 31 and 32:
Part III: Radiation Emission in Nuc
Page 33 and 34:
The radioactivity from the tailing
Page 35 and 36:
power plant contains an amount of l
Page 37 and 38:
Tritium is a particularly scary mat
Page 39 and 40:
Plutonium cxi Named after Pluto, th
Page 41 and 42:
Firstly, reprocessing does not redu
Page 43 and 44:
sports and fishing were also banned
Page 45 and 46:
detail the impact of these 'once th
Page 47 and 48:
We today know for a fact that the n
Page 49 and 50:
Till 2005, there were at least 10,0
Page 51 and 52:
The report mentions 16 “events”
Page 53 and 54:
In an article published in The Nati
Page 55 and 56:
Even asssuming that there will not
Page 57 and 58:
fossil fuels. It has now come up wi
Page 59 and 60:
Opinion of Credit Ratings Agencies
Page 61 and 62:
it acknowledged that the expected c
Page 63 and 64:
plant owners to use much more of th
Page 65 and 66:
was the Vice-President of the USA):
Page 67 and 68:
6. Blithely Ignoring Health Costs S
Page 69 and 70:
Is Nuclear Power Green? Chapter 5 S
Page 71 and 72:
Energy Balance attempts to make an
Page 73 and 74:
nuclear energy as compared to elect
Page 75 and 76:
Table 1: Estimates of Total and Nuc
Page 77 and 78: � At the end of 2009, there were
Page 79 and 80: Therefore, despite all the optimism
Page 81 and 82: 1. Reviewing the Nuclear Renaissanc
Page 83 and 84: certification also runs out in 2012
Page 85 and 86: nuclear phase-out plans which are n
Page 87 and 88: lower house (Bundestag) to pass a b
Page 89 and 90: UK and French nuclear safety author
Page 91 and 92: The second and more important reaso
Page 93 and 94: eactor or two, but considering that
Page 95 and 96: Pre-Independence Period India’s N
Page 97 and 98: Secretary to the DAE. The 1958 Reso
Page 99 and 100: The reality has been quite differen
Page 101 and 102: Narora Uttar Pradesh PHWR 220 x 2 4
Page 103 and 104: Background Part III: US-India Agree
Page 105 and 106: 2. New Reactors Even before the Ind
Page 107 and 108: clearance, indicative of the fact t
Page 109 and 110: producing electricity from these re
Page 111 and 112: matters of negotiations”. cdxliii
Page 113 and 114: arm of Indian big industry, had ext
Page 115 and 116: India’s Nuclear Installations: Sa
Page 117 and 118: extremely sensitive material used i
Page 119 and 120: area due to uranium mining. cdlxxxi
Page 121 and 122: women complained of fatigue, weakne
Page 123 and 124: India: World’s most unsafe, most
Page 125 and 126: the AEC has not instituted an award
Page 127: The biggest deficiency in the Rajas
Page 131 and 132: Fires have also occurred repeatedly
Page 133 and 134: workers are exposed to radiation, a
Page 135 and 136: can't catch anything else, and ther
Page 137 and 138: up in 1971 at Kalpakkam to lead the
Page 139 and 140: Tulsunde (population 800), Janshipa
Page 141 and 142: are going to be correspondingly hig
Page 143 and 144: governing the computers and systems
Page 145 and 146: guidelines.” It’s unbelievable
Page 147 and 148: The Sustainable Alternative to Nucl
Page 149 and 150: especially bad in the rural areas,
Page 151 and 152: of the human body. In particular, t
Page 153 and 154: While the costs of large dams are h
Page 155 and 156: Demand Side Management Potential to
Page 157 and 158: such absolutely non-essential uses?
Page 159 and 160: The US has the highest installed wi
Page 161 and 162: Solar water heaters are a very simp
Page 163 and 164: Renewable Energies: Poised for a Le
Page 165 and 166: (iii) Small Hydro Power The governm
Page 167 and 168: Indian villages are spread over wid
Page 169 and 170: Energy about the huge potential of
Page 171 and 172: anticipating a change in NSG rules,
Page 173 and 174: � Privatise the public sector, in
Page 175 and 176: countries - recycling rubbish in th
Page 177 and 178: inflows of foreign capital (also kn
Page 179 and 180:
analyse. We must develop our politi
Page 181 and 182:
xxvii I. Semendeferi, “Legitimati
Page 183 and 184:
lxxxvii Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jam
Page 185 and 186:
cliii The IAEA maintains an interna
Page 187 and 188:
cciv Mycle Schneider, et al., “Th
Page 189 and 190:
cclxxi “Nuclear power: a dangerou
Page 191 and 192:
cccxxxv “The postponement of the
Page 193 and 194:
cdi “Uranium imports boost Indian
Page 195 and 196:
cdlxix Dhirendra Sharma, India’s
Page 197 and 198:
dxxxviii “Nuclear power in India
Page 199 and 200:
dxciii M. V. Ramana, ibid. dxciv Mu
Page 201 and 202:
dclix Union of Concerned Scientists
show all

Nuclear Energy

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?