Nuclear Energy

Diseases of old age prevalent amongst the youth
A significantly higher rate of solid tumours
Kalpakkam’s forgotten people
Kalpakkam houses two nuclear reactors, a fast breeder test reactor and another research
reactor, and a fuel reprocessing plant. The 5 km region around these nuclear facilities which is the
most affected region has a population of nearly 1 crore people.
Dr V Pugazhenthi and a team of doctors from Alice Stewart School for Epidemiological
Studies, Tellicherry, Kerala and St. Joseph Hospital, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, under the guidance
of Dr. Rosalie Bertell, the world renowned environmental scientist did a study of the incidence of
goiter and autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD) on the people living in this region in 2007. It is
probably the only such epidemiological study in the world. They found a very high incidence of
thyroid disorders among women above the age of 14 years living within a distance of 6 km from the
Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS), with the incidence of goiter being an astonishing 23%
amongst women in the age group of 20-40, and of AITD as high as 7% amongst women in the age
group of 30-39 years. dxlviii The average prevalence of these disorders near the plant was around 10
times as high as in the region far away from MAPS. The high incidence of these diseases was
obviously due to radiation exposure to routine releases of radionuclides, especially radioactive
iodine, from the nuclear reactors and plutonium reprocessing plant at Kalpakkam. dxlix
In another worrying indication, the doctors found several cases of congenital defects and
mental retardation in the coastal areas in a radius of 16 km, which are obviously due to exposure of
the foetus to radiation. They also detected statistically significant number of cases of multiple
myeloma, a rare bone cancer which is linked to nuclear radiation, as well as a case of colon cancer
in a young 24 year old worker – it is unusual for people to contract this cancer at such an early
age. dl
The radioactive effluents have affected the livelihood of fishermen in the coastal areas
surrounding plant. The area was rich in lobsters, crabs, shrimp and other varieties of fish, but now
the catch has drastically come down. The havoc caused to local life due to the plant is described by
Japanese journalist Tashiro Akira and others who visited several nuclear sites in the world including
India. Their findings were published in a book titled Resume. The fishermen tell them... “The reason
why our catches have declined so drastically is the plant. The warm waste water that comes out of
these keeps the fish away, particularly in the area within a few miles’ radius of the outlet.” The
villagers added, “Lots of dead fish are floating out there. We gather them up and make karuvadu.”
Karuvadu is a dish made by salting and drying fish for two or three days. The local villagers told the
journalists: “It all goes to market. People here won't touch the stuff because they know where it's
come from. The villagers take their catch of karuvadu to Madras and sell it there, where it provides
a cheap source of protein for the poor people in the city.” When the journalists asked whether it was
actually safe for people to eat this fish, the reply was, “Well, they're probably contaminated, but we
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