Review N-programme: Experts
A group of 50 prominent intellectuals, including historians Ramachandra Guha, Romila Thapar, Sumit Sarkar, Dr Mushirul Hasan, former Atomic Energy Regulatory Board chairman A. Gopalakrishnan, economists Amit Bhaduri and Jean Dreze, psychologist Ashis Nandy, and scientists P.M. Bhargava, Satyajit Rath and M.V. Ramana,
expressed concern at the major nuclear disaster which took place at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power station in Japan.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, they had cited preliminary estimates based on data from the United Nations agency which has stated that Fukushima has already released about one-fifth as much iodine-131 as the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe, and half as much caesium-137, both of which cause cancer.
“The crisis has shown that even in an industrially advanced country, nuclear reactors are vulnerable to catastrophes irrespective of precautions and safety measures. Small individual incidents can spiral into serious mishaps. Citing the example of Fukushima, the earthquake cut off primary power supply to the reactors while the backup power failed with the tsunami and loss of cooling water precipitated the crisis.”
The statement warns that the Japanese nuclear crisis is a wake-up call for India, which has launched a huge nuclear expansion programme. Yet, instead of acknowledging the gravity of the crisis, our Department of Atomic Energy has cavalierly minimised it, described it a “purely chemical reaction”, and declared that Indian reactors cannot undergo serious accidents.
It states India needs to “radically review its nuclear power policy for appropriateness and safety”.
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