[lbo-talk] Nuclear vindaloo

[Mike Ballard]

Nuclear power is not only costly but also deadly. Serious accidents are
happening at the Indian nuclear power plants. For instance, in March 1999,
there was a leak of heavy water in the second unit of MAPS reactor at
Kalpakkam, near Madras. The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), another wing
of Indian nukedom, dismissed the incident by claiming that "the release to the
environment is maintained well within the limits specified by the AERB." But M
V Ramana, an Indian scientist, estimated that the radioactivity released to the
environment was "several times the permitted 300 curies per day per reactor and
perhaps even exceeding the discharge limit of 10 times the daily quota." He
further asserted that the dose to workers was likely to have been much greater
than the AERB claims.

The Indian government admitted for the first time, in December 1999, that heavy
water, with radioactive tritium levels above the limits set by the AERB, had
been released into the Rana Pratap Sagar Lake from the Rajasthan Atomic Power
Station in May 1998. In December 1999, New Delhi also acknowledged that 21
issues relating to nuclear safety raised by the AERB as far back as 1996 had
not yet been addressed. In December 1991, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre reactor
workers discovered a big radioactive leak from poorly maintained pipelines in
the vicinity of the Cirus and Dhruva reactors causing severe soil
contamination.

We know only what they say. Protected by secrecy and opacity, the Indian
nukedom has been hiding things rather efficiently. Considering our national
track record on safety awareness and emergency preparedness, many Indians do
fear that major accidents could take place in Indian nuclear power plants. A
cursory look at the Bhopal tragedy, frequent train accidents, aeroplane
accidents, assassination of so many top-level leaders, and other such fiascos
show that we, as a nation, are not good at averting disasters or at being
prepared for unexpected emergency situations.

full: http://www10.antenna.nl/wise/index.html?http://www10.antenna.nl/wise/614/5629.php

Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the means of production, abolish the wage system, and live in harmony with the Earth. 

http://www.iww.org/culture/official/preamble.shtml

       
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