Nuclear disarmament activists and environmentalists on Friday expressed “solidarity” with the campaign against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) and anti-nuclear campaigns in other countries, including Britain.
They also criticised the British Government for “exporting” civil nuclear technology to India.
Speakers at a meeting organised by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and South Asia Solidarity Group here said there were ``lessons’’ to be learnt from the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
"If the lessons of Chernobyl and Fukushima are not learned, then governments are inviting further disasters. Protests against nuclear power in the UK , India , Japan and Germany – and many other countries – show the scale of global public opinion against this dangerous and expensive form of energy” said Kate Hudson, General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
The Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas, said she was “deeply worried about the situation in Kudankulam – both in terms of the nuclear plant and the treatment of local opponents”.
Amrit Wilson of South Asia Solidarity Group, said nuclear energy was ``on the run in Europe with multinationals like GEC increasingly reluctant to invest in it’’.
"Unfortunately as part of the fall out of the US- India Nuclear Deal of 2008, these companies have been running to India with their sub-standard and dangerous reactors. That is what has happened in Jaitapur and Kudankulam and elsewhere. We stand in solidarity with the protesters there. The companies involved are all powerful global companies and so international solidarity is crucial,” she said.
An anti-nuclear activist from Japan, Satsuki, said he was ``irradiated after the explosions at Fukushima’’.
"I am not fighting for my own life. It is the children and the future and the future children who will be killed. I am fighting for them. You too are fighting for them in Kudankulam," he said.
Keywords: Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, KKNPP, South Asia Solidarity Group
Kandankulam is harmful to the general public and it is not in the best interest of Tamils.
Instead India may build a nuclear station either in Kachchaitheevu or Andaman.
Any action has reaction. If you use Nuclear, the danger of radiation is there. if you use coal, the weather pattern will change causing water scarcity. We cannot compare ourselves with Europeans, they have already tested the fruit of the capitalism. However, if people of Kundankulam do not want nuclear power, they and people of state should be prepared for restricted/costly renewable power supply and job losses. Democracy is about the choice, you cannot force industry on the people. If other states of India are ready to allow nuclear power, they should be get priority.
Nuclear energy is not at all safe energy. Previously some nuclear plant lovers argued that nuclear energy is cheap, clean and safe energy. With the nuclear liability issue, now nuclear energy is not cheap. From Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear disasters, it is evidently proved that nuclear power plants are not at all safe. But some born scientists of our nation are saying that it will not cause pollution whereas combustion of fuels causes pollution. Nuclear power plants emits radiation; the effluents emanated from the npp will pollute water bodies. The temperature of sea water may rise to seven degree celsius which will be detrimental for the survival of fish and other aquatic organisms. On what basis, the distinguished scientists like Dr Kalam, MR Srinivasan etc are campaigning for the disastrous nuclear power plants even after the denial of nuclear liability by Russia. Nuclear power plants have to be eradicated all over the world. Then only people can live peacefully and joyfully.
It is great to see that the anti-nuclear protest in Kudankulam is gaining international exposure. Many thanks to these activists for their support.
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