Why is it that instead of addressing the apprehensions of the protesters and putting in place all necessary safeguards to dispel their anxieties, the government has instead unleashed police terror?
The Fukushima disaster has altered and enhanced mani fold the risk perception of a nuclear plant in the minds of the people. Like elsewhere in the world, people in rural India, around whose habitation nuclear power plants are proposed to be built, are apprehensive that the dangers of a nuclear disaster may far outweigh the gains of nuclear power generation. It is not without a reason that Germany, a technologically advanced country where nuclear energy accounts for 26 % of its power generation, has decided to do away with all its nuclear plants by 2022 based on a referendum. In US, notwithstanding the proposals for nearly 150 coal based power plants being dumped due to opposition from environmentalists, no nuclear power plant has been approved in the past three decades. Australia and New Zealand have said a firm no to nuclear power. This is despite Australia having large reserves of nuclear fissile material. Japan, which witnessed the Fukushima disaster and its aftermath live, is reported to have taken a decision to reduce its dependence on nuclear power in the short term and abandon it altogether in the long term.
Even with our technological awareness have we made a mistake?
The Indian government’s record of commitment to enforcement of safety regulations, disaster management, environmental safeguards and liability issues are dismal, and demoralizing, to say the least. The Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984 has proved beyond doubt the government's incompetence in handling crisis situations besides exposing its insensitive attitude towards the victims. In 1981, when a worker in the Union Carbide India Limited in Bhopal got splashed with Phosgene, he ripped off his mask in panic resulting in his death within 72 hours. This exposed the lack of safety training. Has this been catered for today? Safety norms were ignored in the belief that they would cut costs. Employees were fired and fined for protesting against deviation in safety norms. The governmental inspectors remained mute spectators to the eventual disaster in the making. Disposal of the plant waste, environmental cleaning up and rehabilitation measures were disregarded right from the time of disaster resulting in continued environmental and ground water pollution with inherent grave health problems and risks to the people. Till today, these issues have not been addressed. Even after 28 years, the 350 tons of toxic waste lying in the area have continued to remain as it was, posing a major threat to the lives of the people in the area. The German Company GIZ, that the government was hoping would undertake the job, has refused to embark on the disposal work.
Radioactive wastes are generated at all stages of power generation including mining, enrichment and power generation. No one seems to know anything about the government’s plan for waste management. Why this secrecy? If the government continues to remain uncommunicative on vital issues affecting the lives of the people, how does it expect the people to support them? Strangely, when the locals protest out of sheer fear and apprehensions, even the educated brand them as those funded by foreign interests. Why not try establishing a nuclear plant in and around Delhi and the country will see itself waking up to realities.
In the words of Admiral Hyman Rickover, the founder of the U.S. naval nuclear submarine program, his experiments with breeder reactors showed that they were “expensive to build, complex to operate, susceptible to prolong shutdown as a result of even minor malfunctions, and difficult and time-consuming to repair.” Considering the manifold risks and the cost factor would it be wise to go in for this unreliable technology especially after the Fukushima experience?
Electricity generation capacity in India which was 1800 MW in 1950 has risen to 172283 MW in 2011 while the contribution of the nuclear power generation has been a paltry 4780 MW. In 2002- 2003, DAE was allotted a budget of Rs 33.5 billion as against Rs 4.7 billion to the ministry of non- conventional energy sources which nourishes the solar, wind, small hydro and biomass based electricity. By 2006- 2007, the DAE budget allotment had gone up to Rs 55 billion without any substantial increase in power capacity. On the contrary, by 2011 the installed capacity of renewable sources had reached 18842 MW.
Overall costs of importing and commissioning plants, replenishment of nuclear fuel, long term waste management, environmental protection, safety measures, investments in disaster management resources, liability costs, and the costs of rehabilitating and compensating the people displaced from their areas are likely to force the state to subsidise nuclear power. Would it therefore not be prudent to carry out a realistic cost and benefit analysis right now and take the public into confidence on the issue?
It is sad that the both the state and the central governments, instead of appreciating the people’s apprehensions and putting in place all the necessary safeguards to dispel their anxieties, had unleashed police terror besides filing 107 FIRs against 55795 peaceful anti-nuclear protesters and slapping “sedition” and “waging war against the state” charges against 6800 protesters. The government failed to recognize that the safety issues in the plant are a matter of public concern and interest. It is for the government to realize that the way forward is to implement all the safety measures, dispel the fear of the people by open and transparent dialogue, place in public domain the cost benefit analysis readings, and then proceed with operationalising the plant if the process indeed is safe and cost effective. If not, alternatives with practically no risk at much less cost are available to make India power sufficient. The haste is damaging the credibility of the government. The speculation indeed is that it is the slush money and foreign interests that are fuelling the momentum.
Brigadier (retd) V Mahalingam, has held varying command and staff appointments in his 35 years of Army service. He specializes in security related matters and is a leadership trainer. His areas of interest include national security, defence and security forces, governance, and politics.