India is enhancing its economic and industrial capacity amid rapid increase in population and energy demands. Uninterrupted access to energy is the key and nuclear energy is one of the top alternative sources to expensive fossil fuel based sources. Nuclear energy sector demands investment in nuclear fuel facilities, human resource, access to high-end and dual use technology and that does not happen sans active international cooperation.

India’s nuclear energy and weapons program dates back to 1940s once Homi Bhaba – the father of country’s nuclear program – return from UK after schooling from prominent physicist Rutherford. Nuclear energy ranks fourth amongst Indian electricity production sources. Thermal, hydro and renewable resources are still the major sources of energy. India has 19 nuclear power plants that can generate 4,560 MWe, and four plants are in pipeline with installed capacity of generating around 2,720 MWe power. Reportedly, population exceeding millions is residing around these nuclear facilities and is unsatisfied with nuclear power, protesting and demonstrating against nuclearization of India.

Despite of nuclear accidents at Chernobyl, Fukushima and Three Mile Island, nuclear power is still believed to be one of the safest source of power generation. It only requires safe construction and maintenance. But for India; nuclear technology has its vices, its failure to tackle with power plants and to operate them safely is a question itself. The popular public sentiment and concerns about safety of nuclear power plants cannot be ignored. The principle risk or fear associated with nuclear power comes from radiation.

A recent Times of India report claimed that 70% deaths in last 20 years occurred from cancer caused from exposure to radiations from poorly managed nuclear power plants. It can be safely assumed that poor safety standards will only increase the risk of cancer and bigger accidents as the number of power plants grow in India. Reportedly, cancer cases in India multiply every five times a year. Department of Atomic Energy had seen 16% increase in death rate in last four years.

The increasing percentage of cancer disease and death toll due to radiation exposures at or around nuclear facilities should be an eye opener for the government of India and rest of the international community. In the race for doing profitable businesses associated to nuclear energy, the involved parties should not lose sight of safety lest the disastrous consequences increase and beyond redemption.

Most of the Indian nuclear power plants are located at the seismic zones and nobody can guarantee that an Indian nuclear plant would survive catastrophic one-two punch of an earthquake. The government has unconvincingly tried to allay growing public concerns to little avail and only media’s silence has drowned such protests in India. The 2011 Japanese nuclear disaster at Fukushima was a wake-up call for India that does not have the money, discipline, political will and expertise to handle such issues. If a technologically advanced country like Japan saw Fukushima, India is a small fry.

Indian National Disaster Management Authority in 2009 submitted an analysis report to the Home Minister, claiming that there were 12 critical vulnerabilities that simply clarified the tardiness in India’s response to a disaster. For a country, planning to work on mega and technically sensitive projects must ensure the safety and also make its management department effective in response to a disaster. Otherwise, local people and workers would be the only entities suffering from loss and damage.

India seems to become more and more obsessed with its nuclear credentials with the passage of time. Since the Modi sarkar came into power, people have been forced to evacuate their ancestral hometowns or living places for the sake of making government’s stampede to become nuclear goal and mission accomplished.

Nuclear power in India is a source of serious concern for the locals and also for international non-proliferation regime. Rising death toll at or around nuclear facilities, diagnosis of certain health issues like cancer, physical or mental deformities, paralysis, deafness, blindness are just a few concerns. The government of India seems to be paying no heed towards people’s plea and genuine concerns. The issue is that a nuclear accident would not only be disastrous for one of the most populous counties in the world but no one can guarantee if the harmful effects would not have a regional fallout.

The author is a student at Quaid-i-Azam University and can be accessed at tooba.mansoor@yahoo.com

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