The Kudankulam nuclear power plant will produce 30 tonnes of waste every year which would contain plutonium which is seen as a deadly mineral. Even developed nations like France, Germany and Russia are finding it difficult to dispose the nuclear wastes, said Neeraj Jain, anti-nuclear activist and convener, Lokayat, Pune.
Delivering a talk on the ‘Dangers of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant and What could be the Alternative,' at People's Watch here on Wednesday, he said that the Kudankulam nuclear power plant is one among the major nuclear power plants which the Indian government has planned to build across the coastal regions to increase the production of electricity supply.
Prime Minister is claiming, every scientist is claiming that nuclear power is safe, cheap and even green but all of it is not true, he said. He claimed that there exists a complete dictatorship in the field of atomic energy; the department is not accountable even to Parliament.
The construction of the plant takes a longer period of time. It is very costly and has design problems. However, the three major problems are radiation leakage, nuclear waste storage and possibility of accidents.
Mr. Jain quoted the famous medical physics scientist, Emeritus Prof. John William Gorman, at the University of California, who participated in the debates on nuclear power in the 70s in the US, “Radiation produces cancer and evidence is good all the way down to the smallest doses and scientists who support these nuclear plants knowing the effects of radiation … deserve trial for murder.”
He also talked about Uranuim miners and said that across the globe 25 to 50 per cent of the miners died of lung cancer. These plants will have a great impact on the marine life and fish catch have got reduced in the bay areas of USA where there are plants. Nuclear disasters at Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters will have effects for thousands of years where children will be born with deformity and cancer.
Likewise, any radiation due to leakage at Kudankulam will affect the whole of South Tamil Nadu for generations to come.
Alternative solution
Firstly we have to come with proper conservation mechanisms for electricity and if implemented properly it could increase efficiency by 20 per cent we would have surplus amount. So the demands are “scrap KKNPP, all nuclear plants coming up should be shut down and existing plants should be phased out gradually and impose severe curbs on luxurious consumption of electricity and invest in renewable energy resources.”
Suba Annamalai, founder-president, Mallar Nadu, and an engineer who worked at Kalpakkam Nuclear Plant and Madurai-based writer A. Muthukrishnan were among others who spoke at the seminar.
