India/Pakistan

Sign to stop nuclear exports from Japan to India

admin — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:23:52 +0000

We stand in complete opposition to the India-Japan nuclear cooperation agreement that is currently under intense negotiation. The governments of both countries must refrain from promoting nuclear commerce, jeopardising the health and safety of their people and environments.

The Fukushima accident in Japan should provide an eye-opener to the Indian government and it must realise that cooperation in/supply of nuclear technology comes with insurmountable safety risks. Nuclear accidents result in totally unacceptable damages to people and the environment. Even more than two years after the accident in Fukushima the reactors are far from being under control and massive radioactive releases have contaminated the ground, air and water, contaminations that coming generations will have to endure even after it has taken its toll on the current generation. The criminal nexus of the nuclear Industry and policy makers now stands exposed.

For the poor villagers in India, this would mean more displacement, land-grabbing, radiation and loss of livelihood. They are already under siege from their own government at the Koodankulam and Jaitapur nuclear sites.

Support the people of India and Japan by signing the petition today!

Indian government attempts to choke income flow for NGOs

admin — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:24:29 +0000

Anti-nuclear protesters in India continue to be under seige at the hands of their government which is now attempting to choke off overseas financial support for NGOs there when almost none is available in India. Anti-nuclear protesters have already been shot (dead), arrested, harassed etc attempting to exercise their democratic rights to stop the destructions of lands, lives and livelihoods for mega nuclear power plants. Read more in today's Washington Post.

The battle to stop Koodankulam

admin — Thu, 09 May 2013 19:52:57 +0000

Green light for Koodankulam could still be red light for nuclear industry

admin — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:35:09 +0000

"The Supreme Court decision to clear the decks for the commissioning of the controversial 1000 MW nuclear powerplant at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu is certainly a set back for the anti-nuclear agitators; but ironically it will be a bigger setback for the Indian nuclear establishment because it will now be forced to deliver," writes G Pramod Kumar in the Huffington Post. Read the complete article. On May 6th, the Indian Supreme Court approved the establishment of the Koodankulam plant, located in Tamil Nadu, and declared that all safety standards have been met. A batch of petitions had been filed by anti-nuclear activists, challenging the project on the ground that safety measures recommended by an expert body had not been put in place.

Continued safety problems at Koodankulam

admin — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:31:18 +0000

P.K. Sundaram, Research Consultant with the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP), India, continues to furnish us with updates about the problematic nuclear site which faces mass opposition that has been subjected to draconian oppression. Read his most recent article here.

Update on Koodankulam

admin — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 15:11:10 +0000

Writes Dr. S. P. Udayakuma: "We have been fighting against the Koodankulam Nuclear power Project (KKNPP) since the late 1980s. This Russian project was shelved right after the Soviet Union’s collapse and taken up again in 1997. The Indian government and Russians have constructed two huge reactors of 1,000 MW each without any consent of or consultation with the local people. We have just obtained the outdated Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report after 23 years of long and hard struggle. The Indian nuclear authorities have not shared any basic information about the project with the public. They do not give complete and truthful answers for our questions on the ‘daily routine emissions’ from these reactors, the amount and management of nuclear waste, fresh water needs, impact of the coolant water on our sea and seafood, decommissioning costs and effects, Russian liability and so forth. We are deeply disturbed by all this." Pictured - students protesting the Koodankulam nuclear pwoer project. Read more.

"A Nuclear Clash Could Starve the World"

admin — Sat, 12 May 2012 15:45:34 +0000

Mushroom cloud rising above Hiroshima after U.S. atomic bombing of Japan, August 1945As described in an op-ed posted at CNN, "A Nuclear Clash Could Starve the World," Jayantha Dhanapala and Ira Helfand report on the findings of a new PSR/IPPNW report, NUCLEAR FAMINE: A BILLION PEOPLE AT RISK.

Among the findings: even a limited nuclear war, as between Indian and Pakistan, involving less than half of 1% of the world's nuclear arsenals, would cause climate disruption that could set off a global famine; 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs (see photo, left) exploded in a war between India and Pakistan would lead to the starvation of an estimated 1 billion people, one-sixth of the human race, over the following decade; each U.S. Trident nuclear submarine can destroy 100 cities and produce the global famine described in the study (the United States has 14 Tridents).

Jayantha Dhanapala is a former ambassador to the United States from Sri Lanka, U.N. under-secretary general for disarmament and chairman of the 1995 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review and Extension Conference. Ira Helfand is the past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) and current North American vice president of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW).

Finnish nuclear regulator tells Indian official of EPR problems

admin — Thu, 19 May 2011 14:00:41 +0000

From The Hindu newspaper: "Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh heard a sobering assessment of the Areva's Finnish reactor project (pictured left) — which is running four years behind schedule, with cost overruns hitting 2.7 billion euros — from that country's nuclear regulator.

In a presentation made to Mr. Ramesh and a visiting Indian delegation in Finland earlier this week, Finnish regulator STUK put the blame for the crippling delay on Areva, for taking on the job without the requisite competencies, without experienced partners, and without completing design and engineering work before it started construction.

“In all of the Areva's earlier projects, the owner and licensee of the French nuclear power plants EdF had played the important role as the architect-engineer and had been responsible for the construction management,” The STUK told Mr. Ramesh. “at the start of the project it was found that many of the experienced nuclear manufacturers who had contributed to the earlier Areva projects had left the business. The Areva had to find new subcontractors and to coach them in nuclear manufacturing.”

The Finnish regulator added that the original schedule was “too ambitious” for a nuclear plant that is the first of its kind, larger than any previous project and built after a long gap in nuclear plant construction in Europe."

Good website reference for anti-nuclear action in South Asia

admin — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:49:05 +0000

South Asians Against Nukes is a good clearing house website to use for actions, articles and other information about anti-nulear activities in South Asia.

Indian opponents of Jaitapur reactors forced to flee

admin — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 23:45:04 +0000

Several activisists protesting the planned Jaitapur reactors near Mumbai, India, that will displace five villages, are on the run after bail was denied and local police slapped several charges of violent protest and attempt to murder against them. Local activists have approached the supreme court on their behalf but the activists, including a priest, fishermen and mango farmers and a tailor, remain on the run.