[Reader-list] ‘No mechanism to cope with nuclear accident’

[T Peter]

*‘No mechanism to cope with nuclear accident’ *

*Date:17/09/2009* *URL:
http://www.thehindu.com/2009/09/17/stories/2009091756290400.htm*
Special Correspondent

   *‘Authorities of Koodankulam plant violating safety regulations’ *

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Rally in New Delhi on October 2

‘India becoming dumping ground for obsolete nuclear technology’
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 Thiruvananthapuram: The People’s Movement against Nuclear Energy alleged
here on Wednesday that the district administration in Thoothukudi,
Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and
Alappuzha were not equipped to cope with an accident at the Koodankulam
nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu.

Addressing a press conference here, coordinator of the movement S.P.
Udayakumar and leaders of various member organisations said the authorities
had failed to conduct safety drills or share evacuation plans with the
residents in the seven districts likely to be affected by an accident.

“They maintain that no accident will occur at the Koodankulam nuclear power
plant. Even the Environmental Impact Assessment report, safety analysis
report and site evaluation study have not been revealed to the public in the
two States”.

Mr. Udayakumar said a series of mild tremors in the neighbourhood of the
nuclear plant and other places in the Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli districts
in the recent past had created panic among the people. “There has been no
effort to allay their fears.” He alleged that the authorities at the
Koodankulam plant were violating the prescribed safety regulations in
transport of radioactive material.

“Nuclear fuel rods and uranium are brought to the Thiruvananthapuram airport
like ordinary cargo and transported to Koodankulam by road without any
warning or advance information to the people on the movement of radioactive
material.”

Mr. Udayakumar said India was becoming a dumping ground for obsolete nuclear
technology peddled by other nations. “The U.S. has not built a nuclear power
plant for the last 30 years while Russia stopped making new nuclear power
plants since the Chernobyl accident. They are now trying to dump their
technology on developing nations.”

State president of the Kerala Swathantra Matsya Thozhilali Federation
(KSMTF) T. Peter said the Koodankulam nuclear power complex would pollute
the near shore waters, leading to the mass migration of fish. This, he said,
would pose a new threat to the traditional fishermen community, already
reeling under several crises. Mr. Peter said the coastal communities were
living in fear of diseases caused by radioactive contamination.

“The Three Mile Island accident in the U.S. and the Chernobyl accident in
Ukraine are not just a memory but a living reality for people suffering from
various health problems and birth disorders,” Mr. Udayakumar pointed out.

The People’s Movement against Nuclear Energy will take out a rally in New
Delhi on October 2, Gandhi Jayanthi, to voice protest against the power
plant.