Seeking to take their campaign against Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant to the global level, anti-nuclear activists on Wednesday sought support of the international community for their efforts to scrap the project and make the world ‘nuclear-free’.
In a letter to various Foreign Missions in New Delhi and Chennai, People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) said though the global nuclear industry tries to promote nuclear power as the answer to global warming and climate destruction, the global community knows for sure that “poisoned Earth with nuclear waste cannot be the answer for polluted air”.
“We have no moral legitimacy whatsoever to produce electricity for our present needs and endanger the future of our children and the unborn generations with the dangerous booty of nuclear waste, contaminated sites and deadly radiation,” S.P. Udayakumar, Convenor, PMANE said. He said countries that had so far relied heavily on nuclear power have decided to phase it out.
Alleging that no public hearing had been held on KKNPP, he said the Environmental Impact Assessment report of the Indo-Russian project received by protestors was “outdated” and full of “inaccuracies and incomplete information”.
“So let us make a solemn resolve here and now to build a new world that has no uranium mines, no nuclear reactors, no waste dumps and no nuclear weapons”, Mr. Udayakumar said, seeking their support for stir and a “nuclear free” world campaign.
Commissioning of the first unit of the KNPP was originally scheduled for December last year but has been delayed due to year-long protests.
Keywords: Kudankulam nuclear plant, anti-Kudankulam stir, PMANE, nuclear energy
Let us turn the tables for a change. The critics of nuclear power are harping on safety
and lives of people close to the plant. Can the critics logically provide data to show
the safety record, carbon emissions, environmental destruction comparisons of coal,
thermal, fossil fuel based and renewable energy? let us look at the facts rather than
keep harping on the same old argument of safety when it has been proven and
shown the probability of accidents and how waste will be treated. Is there any system
where we can guarantee 100% that there will be no accidents? Even in stone age, Mr.
Udayakumar could trip on a stone and get injured. Misleading people is serious
crime.
They have no moral legitimacy whatsoever in *suggesting* that nuclear
power might "endanger ... unborn generations with the dangerous booty of
nuclear waste, contaminated sites and deadly radiation". It is an
utterly mendacious suggestion. However, nuclear power deprives
governments of fossil fuel revenue, so it's a lie that many find
rewarding. Indeed, it is likely they already have considerable
international support.
What about Kalpakam plant.People around Kalpakam plant are prone to
same dangers to that of Kudunkulum. It is pathetic that more people
die everyday because of road accidents .Without electricity we have to
live in stone age . Other means of electricity production pollutes
environment so much. Nuclear energy is clean and renewable.Everybody
should try to install solar panels on their roof tops .TN Government
has introduced 50% subsidy for solar power generation and willing to
buy electricity. The
government should advertise the importance of nuclear energy and the
measures it takes to safeguard any potential accident.
We have acute power shortage on one hand and we have Mr. Udayakumar wanting to
shut down a multi gigawatt power plant after thousands of crores already spent. I am
sure he does not use power and probably uses diesel generators. We don't live in a
perfect world. The fact remains that pollution due to nuclear waste is much smaller
than any other means of power generation. But, with rhetoric, logic suffers. We love
to protest with no logic.
The sheer Audacity of the Govt to push ahead the commissioning
of the Plant-AT ANY COST- EVEN after admitting to the Apex Court
that Russia is EXEMPTED from the ambit of the Nuclear Liability
Clause is Tremendous.
Is itnot a cause for All in the Scientific Community,Social Organisations as well as media to seek Clarity on:
A.Safety Aspects
B.Liability of any happenings.
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