Nuclear Energy: Are We Prepared?

After the accident in the nuclear energy plant in Fukushima, and the radiation leak that a nation as developed as Japan is finding helpless to contain, the uncomfortable question posing itself in our minds is “What if it had happened in India?”

While nuclear energy is “clean” and has helped meet burgeoning energy demands of many countries, its accidental leak from reactors has been a major health concern. The world had learnt  the hard way from Japan after the atom bombs were dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Nausea, vomiting, weakness, fatigue, bleeding gums and diarrhea occured soon after exposure to raditaion. Later effects included development of catarct and cancers of the thyroid gland, lungs, breast and blood. Young children exposed around birth developed leukemias and died often in their teens.

Several accidents have occured in nuclear power plants across the world, the worst being in Chernobyl (near Ukraine) in 1986. The radiation that leaked was not just huge but went undetected for quite some time exposing thousands of unsuspecting people to toxic doses. Many fell ill, developed cancers and leukemias and died painfully. What was worse is that it affected the next generation as well: maimed babies, with deformed limbs, mental retardation and heart diseases were born to mothers who had been accidentally exposed during their pregnacies. Till date 16,000 people are thought to have died due to the Chernobyl disaster.

What gives us the feelg that we are invincible and better prepared than Japan or Russia? The machine in Fukushima that broke down is the GE’s mark 1 reactor, 2 of which are already in India in Tarapur. The locations of our new and upcoming nuclear plants are on the coasts where they are vulnerable to natural disaters like tsunamis and earthquakes. Further, our high population density causes much higher loss of human lives when disasters strike. And most important: we are not, and cannot in the forseeable future, be as disaster-prepared as Japan or other developed countries.

I recall when I was in Japan 20 years ago on a fellowship, almost all buildings in the country were already “earthquake proof” and an earthquake drill was undertaken with utmost seriousness in our trainees’ centre once a week. The resuscitaion and emergency gears were checked and kept ready all the time. And no one took these drills as a joke as we tend to here in India.

Residents who have dwelled in and tilled the lands around proposed sites like Jaitapur or Kalpakum for generations may indeed have cause for concern with the proposed intrusion of nuclear plants in their territory. They have seen the occasional fury of the seas or felt the trembling of the land but accepted them as being beyond human control. The recent decision of our government to play with nuclear fire in their backyard may understandably be a cause of grave concern and anxiety to them.

As published in HT City ( Hindustan Times) dated 20 March, 2011.