Indian Nuclear
Program: Disasters in Making
By Adnan Gill
Los Angeles, CA
On
August 6, 1945 the nuclear bomb Little Boy killed
an estimated 80,000 people. In the following months,
an estimated 60,000 additional souls were lost
to radiation poisoning. Three days later Nagasaki
was targeted by the second nuclear bomb. An estimated
39,000 people were killed instantly with another
75,000 believed to have succumbed to radiation
poisoning. American intelligence estimate the
casualties to be manifold higher in a similar
attack on Indian cities like New Delhi and Mumbai
that are much more densely populated.
India's nuclear scientists say the country could
still face an equally devastating nuclear catastrophe,
not because of its nuclear rival, but from within.
A former chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy
Regulatory Board (AERB) said, "There could
be lesser accidents which could still release
moderate amounts of radioactivity into the crowded
areas surrounding some of our less-safe installations
at Madras, Trombay or Tarapur. It could be devastating
to a large number of people."
An International Atomic Energy Agency and World
Health Organization report attributes 56 direct
deaths to Chernobyl accident and estimates that
as many as 9,000 people, among the approximately
6.6 million most highly exposed, may die from
radiation exposure. As horrific as these statistics
may seem, experts believe these figures will dwarf
in front of mass casualties resulting from an
impending nuclear disaster(s) in India. Indian
nuclear reactors are called by some ‘disasters-in-making.’
It is not a matter of if, but when.
The Indian industrial complex is notorious for
its lack of safety and catastrophic disasters.
The Bhopal Disaster of 1984 was the worst industrial
disaster in history. It was caused by the release
of 40 tons of methyl isocyanate from a Union Carbide
pesticide plant located in the heart of the city
of Bhopal, India. The gases injured between 150,000
to 600,000 unsuspected victims, and snuffed at
least 15,000 innocent lives. What is even more
disturbing is that experts believe that the Indian
nuclear complex is poised to kill even more Indians.
Such a disaster will put even the Bhopal disaster
to shame. Scientists believe that Indian plants
are so poorly built and maintained that a Chernobyl-type
disaster may be just around the corner. The threats
posed by its mad pursuit of nuclear weapons are
real, because India is the only country in the
world where nuclear research and plutonium production
take place inside or in close proximity of heavily
populated areas. The Indian nuclear complex is
believed to be unsafe and most dangerous in the
world. It is not surprising that the popular American
television program ‘60 Minutes’, charged
India with operating "the most unsafe nuclear
plants in the world."
The safety black holes in the Indian program range
from hazardous mining practices, near meltdowns,
heavy water leaks, turbine-blade failures, moderator
system malfunctions, inoperable emergency core
cooling systems, coolant pumps catching fires,
structure failures, to flooding incidents to say
the least. American-based watchdog group - the
Safe Energy Communication Council (SECC) –
described the Indian nuclear program, especially
its reactors, to be the “least efficient”
and the “most dangerous in the world.”
Nuclear safety experts are alarmed by the dangerously
unsafe conditions plaguing the Indian reactors.
Sharing his alarm with the Christian Science Monitor,
Christopher Sherry the research director of the
SECC, said, "The fact that India's nuclear
regulator acknowledges that reactors in India
are not operated to the standards of reactors
in the US and Europe is not much of a surprise,
[but] it is very disturbing."
How safe are Indian nuclear plants? According
to Dr A. Gopalakrishnan, the answer is: hardly
at all. In his alarming response to the question
Dr. Gopalakrishnan said, "Many of our nuclear
installations have aged with time and have serious
problems. Our efforts to find indigenous solutions,
despite our capabilities, are not well-organized
or focused.” Fearing the pathetically unsafe
reactor conditions, he said, “[It] is a
matter of great concern."
Today, India has 14 nuclear reactors most of which
are modeled on an obsolete 1957 Shippingport (Pennsylvania)
design. Only three reactors barely meet the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) standards. The rest
are accountable only to the so-called national
standards set by AERB.
An Indian atomic-power expert Dhirendra Sharma
estimates that Indian nuclear industry has suffered
"300 incidents of a serious nature... causing
radiation leaks and physical damage to workers."
He further concedes, "These have so far remained
official secrets."
The Indian government does not releases information
about the leaks or accidents at its nuclear power
plants. Laws also prohibit scientists and politicians
from speaking out about the radioactive contaminations
and accidents in the nuclear facilities. What
ensured the absolute secrecy of accidents at nuclear
projects was the Indian Atomic Energy Act of 1962
(NO. 33 OF 1962. 15th September, 1962), which
prescribes that the nuclear program should be
shrouded in secrecy. It prohibits private and
public equity from within and outside the country.
The Act provides the Indian Department of Atomic
Energy (DAE) enormous powers and rights to withhold
information from public. It also says the program
should be run by the DAE with limited participation
from private industries. Critics call the DAE
an 'unaccountable organization'. Due to obscure
international oversight and the 1962 Act the safety
conditions at Indian nuclear facilities remain
largely hidden from the public.
Technical problems with Indian reactors are so
severe that the rated capacity of the country's
10 reactors totaled only 1,840 MW, contributing
less than 2.5% of India's commercial energy even
four decades after it launched its nuclear reactor
program.
Just a decade ago, a nine-month AERB safety study
documented more than 130 extremely serious safety
issues which warranted urgent corrective measures.
Urgent corrective steps were recommended, especially
at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre; Indira Gandhi
Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR); Nuclear Power
Corporation of India Limited; Uranium Corporation
of India Limited; Indian Rare Earths Limited;
Nuclear Fuel Complex, and the Heavy Water Board.
Due to its age and insufficient safety procedures,
IGCAR is prone to serious accidents. In 1987,
during a fuel transfer process, a tube that guides
fuel into the reactor was snapped. Then in 2002,
75kg of radioactive sodium leaked inside a purification
cabin.
The Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS) reactors
are the oldest in the world. They experiences
extensive tube failures which have resulted in
the de-rating of its reactors from 210 MW to 160
MW. The two reactors share the same emergency
core cooling system, which experts say is a recipe
for reactor meltdown.
Kakrapar Atomic Power Station (KAPS) reactors
are considered to be India’s model reactors
for controlling radiation leaks; not surprisingly,
even they emit three times the radiation of the
international norm, a fact admitted by S.P. Sukhatme,
chairman of AERB. Mr. Sukhatme’s shocking
admission put the rest of the country's nuclear
power plants in grave perspective. Top Indian
antinuclear activist Suren Gadekar found the admission
to be extremely shocking and disturbing. He said,
"The main implication is that other nuclear
power plants are much worse than even Kakrapar."
In February 2002, chairman Sukhatme requested
the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd to
plug tritium contaminated water leaks in its reactors.
In 1994, owing to its faulty design KAPS concrete
containment dome collapsed. The collapse exposed
the workers to high doses of radiation. Thereafter
the floodwater entered the condenser pit and turbine
building basement which resulted in a four-year
delay in its commissioning.
In 2002, the AERB ordered the closure of India's
first nuclear plant - Rajasthan Atomic Power Station
(RAPS). The reactor was plagued by a series of
serious defects ranging from turbine-blade failures,
cracks in the end-shields, a leak in the overpressure
relief device, and a leak in many tubes of the
moderator heat exchanger. It was not the first
time that a serious and dangerous accident had
forced RAPS to shut down. In 1976, the reactors
were flooded due to construction errors. The reactors
were once again flooded in 1992. Also in 1992,
four of the eight pumps caught fire. On February,
12 1994, it was shut down for the repair of its
calandria overpressure relief device which resulted
in the leakage of radioactive heavy water. Later,
in 1994, the Indian Express reported that in the
aftermath of Canadian reports on the possibility
of rupture in the pressure tubes of Canada-India
Reactor, US (CIRUS) reactors, RAPS also went through
the safety checks, as it was designed from the
copied Canadian blueprints. Once, the emergency
core cooling system got obstructed, leading to
a near meltdown. RAPS’ innumerable problems
forced it to be de-rated from 220 MW to 100 MW.
Despite such problems, the RAPS reactors continued
to function without high-pressure emergency core
cooling system.
Despite a warning from the US-based General Electric,
the manufacturers of the turbines, India commissioned
the Narora Atomic Power Station (NAPS) in 1991.
As a result failure of two steam turbine blades
in 1993 resulted in a major fire in one of the
heavy water reactors, which nearly led to a nuclear
meltdown. The disaster could have been averted
had either the government or the DAE found it
prudent to yield to GE’s warnings. The US-based
General Electric, the manufacturers of the turbines,
had warned about the problem and offered a revised
design. But neither the government nor the DAE
found it prudent to effect the needed changes.
In 1986, the inlets of Madras Atomic Power Station
(MAPS) reactors cracked and zircalloy pieces were
found in the moderator pump. Then in 1988, MAPS
was shut down after heavy water leaked, exposing
workers to high doses of radioactivity. Again,
in 1991, tons of heavy water burst out from the
moderator system. Its emergency cooling systems
are said to be inadequate.
It is not only the designs of the Indian reactors
that are obsolete and flawed, even the very sites
they were chosen to be built upon were found unsuitable
for such facilities. The under construction 500
MW prototype fast breeder reactor coming up at
Kalpakkam was damaged by the waters of 2004 tsunami.
In a March 2005 report, the Telegraph (Calcutta)
reported, “Water had surged into the reactor’s
foundation pit when the December 26 tsunami devastated
coastal stretches of Tamil Nadu.” The report
further revealed the extent of damage, “The
huge foundation pit, close to the [MAPS], was
filled with over six meters of seawater and chunks
of silt and sludge.” The fast breeder reactor
uses liquid sodium as coolant -- liquid sodium
is an extremely hazardous agent. Once dried, it
can ignite and burn with such heat and intensity
that it is almost impossible to extinguish. Due
to such deadly hazards posed by the breeder reactor,
its Employees' Association and other workers'
unions planned in 2005 to file a court case charging
DAE of seriously lacking qualified technical personnel
at critical positions of the MAPS reactors and
for the reactor perilously endangering the safety
of the plant and the public. The reprocessing
plant holding glass-matted enriched waste is said
to be just about 150 meters from the sea. Will
it be safe if another tsunami strikes?
It is said there is no greater curse then to watch
one’s child suffer from disability and deformation.
There are thousands upon thousands of Indian parents
who inconsolably suffer from this horrific curse
everyday. What is even more breaking is that they
don’t even realize that the evil that has
brought the curse upon them is manmade. It is
the evil of nuclear poisoning. Indian nuclear
program does not harm only the workers of DAE,
but it harms the lives of ordinary citizens even
more.
“Maloti Singh, a nine-year-old girl whose
contract-worker father loaded waste drums, was
born with one leg withered into a stump and a
deformed foot. Her father and grandmother, who
used to collect stone chips from the tailing pond,
both have skin cancer. None of the family has
seen a doctor.” (Sunday Telegraph, 25 April,
1999, Issue 1430). This is only one example out
of thousands of ordinary Indians who have been
poisoned by the highly-secretive, unsafe, and
believed to be the world’s most dangerous
Indian nuclear program.
Environmental contamination is especially severe
in the eastern state of Bihar where Indian government
callously mines radioactive materials without
any regard for human lives or well-being of other
species. The health threats posed to many families
living near the Jadugoda mine are said to be worst
than the after-effects of the Chernobyl accident
in Ukraine. The locals suffer from unusually high
number of abnormal births, cancers and a host
of other ailments that were previously rare. Radioactive
contamination is said to be so massive that genetic
mutations have also been noted in animals and
in plants too.
In 1999, the Sunday Telegraph revealed, “In
all, at least 30,000 villagers -- and the land
and livestock around them -- are being exposed
to contamination from the Jadugoda facility, according
to researchers. Activists believe that the problems
are caused by the lack of safeguards at the mine
and its waste dumps, technically known as ‘tailing
ponds’, as well as the unprotected movement
of uranium and wastes. They fear that contamination
has entered the food chain and will affect the
genetic make-up of local population for generations
to come.” Sadly, those who are the worst
affected by the fatal contamination, don’t
even realize what is reducing their life span.
Most attribute the strange diseases to the ‘will
of God.’
Indian experts like N.M. Sampathkumar Iyangar
(former manufacturer of nuclear reactor components)
believe the real safety problems with the Indian
nuclear program arise from the fact that well-connected
manufacturers often sell substandard and defective
equipment and parts to build and repair nuclear
reactors. Others believe India cuts corners to
save money by forsaking the technologies that
provides safety in power plants.
What worries experts is not the fact that an ambitious
Indian nuclear program has become unaffordable,
rather the reality that the nuclear program has
become disasters-in-making.
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