Nuclear Energy

yet to find solution to the problem of what to do with the terribly radioactive waste generated by
nuclear plants, and that nuclear plants are prone to catastrophic accidents:
� S K Jain, NPCIL chairman and managing director, pointed out that India already runs 20
nuclear plants without any blemish on its safety record. xi
� The experts dismissed claims that nuclear plants harm the environment. Dr. S.P. Dharne
from the NPCIL said that nuclear power was clean and green energy, and that it could
reduce the impact of global warming since it did not generate carbon dioxide. xii Dr Srikumar
Banerjee, current Chairman of the AEC, asserted that around the 20 nuclear plants in India,
the flora and fauna had actually increased. xiii
� Dr. Anil Kakodkar, former Chairman of the AEC, allayed the fears regarding safe storage of
nuclear plant waste. He stated that the atomic waste generated by the Jaitapur nuclear plant
would not cause any problems, as “there is no question of the waste being thrown in the
open areas”. He stated that the nuclear waste would be “taken to reprocessing plant after the
use”, and therefore “(t)here is no hazard of the waste to the bio-diversity of Konkan
region.” xiv
� On the fears about radiation leakages from nuclear power plants, the experts stated that the
belief that nuclear plants cause impotency and cancer and deformities among children is
due to superstitions because of illiteracy. xv Dr Rajendra Badwe, head of the Tata Memorial
Cancer Hospital, stated that radiation caused only 0.5 per cent of cancer, affecting only the
skin. He dismissed the study by the anti-nuclear activist, Dr Surendra Gadekar, on the
incidence of abnormalities in children around the Rawatbhata Atomic Power Station in
Rajasthan, saying that the allegations were without any foundation since these had not been
peer-reviewed and published in reputed scientific journals. On the contrary, he claimed that
radiation was used to cure cancers. xvi Nuclear scientists Sharad Kale and Shrikumar Apte
said there would not be any effect of radiation on agricultural products and marine life in the
area. xvii
The propaganda is so intense, that most people in the country, at least those who read the
newspapers and watch television, believe that nuclear energy is an environmentally friendly
solution to the country's power shortages.
Part II: People's Resistance
However, at each and every place where the government is proposing to set up a uranium
mining project or a nuclear power plant, the people have risen in revolt. Protests have stalled the
uranium mining project in Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh for the last five years, xviii while a
powerful movement led by the Khasi Students Union together with various tribal organisations has
held up the mining project in the state of Meghalaya for over one and a half decades now. xix
Likewise, people everywhere are strongly protesting proposals to set up nuclear plants, be it Haripur
(West Bengal), Gorakhpur (Haryana), Mithivirdi (Gujarat) or Jaitapur-Madban (Maharashtra).
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