A day after the protests against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) took a violent turn, there was drama on Tuesday when the agitation’s coordinator, S.P. Udayakumar, was taken away by a group of men just as he was explaining his decision to surrender to the police. In a late night twist, anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal turned up at the protest venue and declared that Dr. Udayakumar should not surrender.
“He should continue with his struggle against nuclear power,” said Mr. Kejriwal, who met Dr. Udayakumar, coordinator of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy, and returned to address protesters at Idinthakarai.
Earlier, Dr. Udayakumar was taken away in a boat in the middle of a speech in the course of which he broke down amidst appeals by his supporters that he should not surrender. His much-expected surrender did not materialise till midnight.
Meanwhile, officials said the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) finished yet another inspection and preparations for loading enriched uranium in the first of the two reactors were over.
As fuel-loading is expected to begin 48 hours after a final inspection, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited brass, including its Chairman and Managing Director K.C. Purohit, are camping here to monitor exercises that would subsequently mark the criticality of the first reactor.
Though the AERB gave its mandatory approval for fuel-loading, the KKNPP invited it to do one more inspection. Subsequently, an AERB team was dispatched.
Keywords: Kudankulam nuclear project, anti-Kudankulam protest, nuclear safety, anti-KKNPP protests, violent clashes, Udayakumar surrender
Merely using fear as the reason for protesting is very poor in argument. Fukushima did withstand all forces within its design parameters, and only when a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami came it was unable to cope. Fukushima is NOT a nuclear failure. It was in perfect working condition till it was hit by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami well beyond its design parameters.
Such a disaster can hit any structure, so why can't we hold protests for building schools, homes, bus stands, offices, and post offices? After all, all these will kill people if hit by an earthquake measuring 8 or more on the Richter scale or if a tsunami wave comes crashing.
As a nation, we need to weigh pros and cons of all projects, and once we entrust our experts with the job of approving the various parameters of construction and commissioning, we need not give way to irrational and ill informed forces trying to stop them from doing their job.
Off-course discussing about the problems associated with nuclear power
plants is the right way to go. Unfortunately, human beings aren't Bayesian in their thinking. We tend to arrive at decisions by heart
instead of pondering over the facts. Some people quote Fukushima
nuclear accident which happened due to the combination of extra
ordinary events. But they forget to mention that not a single person
died due to radiation; while the magnitude destruction caused by
earthquake and tsunami was extraordinary (close to 16,000 people
died). This should be viewed as a triumph of technology instead. For a
country as large as India, no solution to energy crisis exists if we
exclude nuclear energy out of the equation. On the bright side, we
should quote the example of France which produces close to 80% of its
power through nuclear energy and it also sells the surplus power to
other countries. No person has ever died of any sought of radiation in
a French nuclear power plant.
people need power but they dont want power producing plant then how government can able to rectify this problem just think about it
Despite not having any expert knowledge on the subject, there is a group which wants to disregard every expert view, endorsed by the Government & Court and wants to hold the nation to ransom by sheer brute force. If we were to run the country only based on distrust with the assumption that everybody else, irrespective of their knowledge and achievements (I mean the nuclear scientists, Kalam etc) are stupid and greedy, God save us.
No wonder, representatives elected by us behave the way they do.. after all they represent us in every way.
I am not a resident of Koodankulam and neither do I live in India. Tamilnadu desperately needs power. We have spent crores and we are ready to begin production. We have discussed on who will bear the cost just in case there is a disaster. The political parties or NGO may be behind this agitation (but is not confirmed). But we have not seen the issue from the perspective of the local people. One suggestion would be to form a joint political initative (cutting across all the political parties in Tamil nadu) and talk to protest leaders and people. When political parties can talk to people for votes, it should be possible for them to help the people understand. If locals refuse to take the plant and believe they are made to be victims for the power for tamil nadu, then the government has to think of alternatives. Going against of the wishes of the natives is against the spirit of democracy.
The selfish protesters first realise that their actions are instigated by half knowledged leaders like Udayakumar. If they really understood the dangers of a nuclear plant they should have protested in the courts when the plant proposal was finalised in drawing stage. Now after completing the project by huge amount of money RS. 1700O Crores and human suffering these people came to block the project for simple reasons of damaging their daily earnings at the cost of crores of common peoples requirement life giving power.
i feel sad with with Tamil Nadu people,the people are live without right direction. become victim of stupid politician.
everyday i watch makkal news in malaysia , for every and single problem they waste time with strike. As we know Tamil Nadu facing water and electricity shortage, mean time the stupid people should know without water there is no chance to produce electricity , the only way by nuclear plant.
i think India / Tamil Nadu should learn from china and the people.
India cannot practice too much democracy,some how the country must act now to tighten the law to stop the people to act beyond boundary.
The world are watching you,just take a look what happen in maruti plant, the people willing to kill the company boss.
remember we are in 21st century,if wee keep on going in such way.
only the words to say go to the hell .
Every time, this self styled leader of anti-nuclear brigade Mr. Udaykumar comes on TV, he waxes so much innocence and eloquence on his so called "Gandhian" struggle against Kudankulam. It's an insult to our father of nation, who led the freedom struggle from the front, against the British raj. And here, we see Udaykumar, evading arrest every time from the police by hiding behind children and women, whom he's conveniently made as a shield of protection around him to prevent any action against him. It smacks of hypocracy Now that Madras High Court has ruled unequivocally ruled in favour of Kudankulam, he's no business to fish in troubled waters. It's high time, state adminstration calls his bluff and allow the law of the land to prevail in Kudankulam.
I disagree. Being in Japan and having experienced the nuclear scare first-hand I feel the downsides of nuclear industry are grossly downplayed:
1. Problems of radioactive waste and how they would affect generations are glossed over in most reports supporting nuke power.
2. Nuke power is not the only solution for power crisis caused by corruption & incompetence.
3. In Japan, only 2 nuke plants (out of 54) are running (and NO power crisis). Recently about a lakh people had anti-nuke protests in Tokyo and weren't beaten up!
4. If Japan lies about damages & health risks (under nuke-lobby pressure), thinking of those in India who might get affected by nuclear disasters (remembering Bhopal) is a depressing thought.
5. When calculating costs of nuclear power, the cost of damages caused (in various forms) and resulting compensation etc. are not considered thus biasing the results.
6. And, our supine govt will side with the corporates if they cause disasters due to negligence, a la Bhopal.
When the hon'ble Court after due verification and inquiry has given consent to go ahead, the current agitation shows that court orders will not be obeyed if they are not to their liking. This attitude needs to be tackled with strong measures, otherwise any future judgments not to their liking will not be obeyed/tolerated. It is time prominent/popular citizens sends strong message to the agitating people about the Legal position and its sanctity, to strengthen the Police force who are struggling to control the agitators while opportunits politicians flaying police for upholding law :-)
We are eating mutated vegetables and mutated fruits...and we are worried about the safety of a Nuclear power plant. Damage to good old earth has already been done people!!!! just enjoy the ride while it lasts!!!
Can anyone please describe what is the preparedness level of our government to tackle any nuclear disaster, like Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster management. Please do not repeat nuclear reactors are safe. That is not the answer for my question. Only describe about the plans during nuclear disaster and its management. First of all, do we have any such things like that?
An unwanted nuclear plant is the root cause of this trouble. No nuclear power plant in India had ever produced the rated capacity. Neither will Kudangkulam, which is a second hand plant from Russia. Even if it produces 500MW, the power available to Tamilnadu will be 250 mw only, which is nothing. In fact, Tamilnadu can save 500mw by just replacing the GLS bulbs with CFL. The cost of power from the kknp project will be more than 20Rs / UT. Looking at it from any angle, it is a waste of money, time and energy to go for nuclear energy in India.
Every nuclear reactor was build with the best saftey standards known at that time. The government can not say we are building the reactor with the best standards so don't be bothered. The people who would be affected in case of mishap are the people protesting. Just because country is short of power we can not say, we will compromise the safety of the fishing villages.
It is very clear that some vested anti-nationals are behind these so-called protests. I wouldn't be surprised if the "leaders" and instigators of these violent acts are getting paid by the anti-national elements.
Pro-nuclear energy activists should come forward in times like these and
offer their own surrounding areas to the govt. to build nuclear power
plants. Sure it will take a while to build another plant but if they
start now, it will get complete eventually. We're losing crores to
corruption on a regular basis. At least the money put into a new plant
will solve India's power shortage issues.
For growing economy of India , power security is most essential. We
must try to generate as much power as possible for sustained
development. I am not against Nuclear power plants, but can't we try to
go for non-conventional power projects. We must invest more in renewable energy source . We must learn lesson from Japan. Our
politician are more concerned about the Purchase of the reactor from
other countries.
These protests are a huge drain on the nation's resources. If the CAG or
other authority calculates losses from all "protests", strikes, etc., in
a year, the sum would be far more shocking than the coalgate amount.
Every technology has associated risks. We need to know all the risks and take appropriate protection measures to use it. If man did not use fire just because of risks civilization wouldn't have happened.
KNPP was built with the highest standards of safety. There is no need for protesters to get panic. It has protection even if core gets meltdown. India is in 11 percent power deficit. India needs power to sustain its growth.
There is no need for Udaykumar and his followers to block the functioning of KNPP when the court has given a clear verdict about its safety and other aspects. When Tamilnadu is reeling under acute power crisis we need to have power from Koodankulam. Hope the protesters will realise the importance of the project and allow to load the fuel into the reactors. Every one knows the protest has a political affiliation. Police action is in order to deal with them.
A clear consequence of disparate priorities of the government and the citizens. Neither trusts the other on its actions. Wonder what can redeem ...
Its really sad that innocent people fall victims to such irrational protests organised by specific individuals with their one-sided thoughts. It would be great if someone leading the protest can take a step back, think about nation's power shortage and propose/come up with an actual solution that would be a sure-shot alternative to Nuclear Energy and still promise to meet and support the ever growing energy demand of a king sized economy of a developing nation like ours. There is none till date and it has been proven historically ! Those countries that have now decided to discard Nuclear Energy are neither in the same phase as India is nor are they as big a nations as ours.
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