In the aftermath of the Fukushima calamity, a study conducted to find how many people are living around the world’s 211 nuclear power plants.
India has 56 million living within a radium of 75 km of seven operational nuclear power plants. The Narora plant in Uttar Pradesh has close to 16 million people living within 75 km radius.
The Kanupp plant in Karachi has the largest number of people amounting to 8.2 million living within a 30 km radius while 152 nuclear power plants have more than one million people living within 7 km.
“One in 20 Indians today lives in the shadow of a nuclear plant,” pointed out Karuna Raina, a campaigner for Greenepace.
External attacks such as earthquakes, tsunamis, fires, flooding and terrorist attacks are some of the greatest risk factors for a major nuclear accident. But plants situated outside known geological danger zones can pose greater accident threats as was the case with Fukushima Daiichi plants which were said to have a low chance of facing a major earthquake and tsunami.
The topic of population density gains importance in the light of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently raising the issue of foreign nuclear suppliers trying to escape liability in case of an accident.
The NGO Greenpeace raised this issue with former attorney general Soli Sorabjee, who pointed out that restricting the liability of suppliers to just five years in case of an accident is ultra vires.
Russia, US and France which are supplying nuclear equipment have been protesting against the unlimited liability period and have been demanding a dilution of the Nuclear Liability Act.