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Safety priority for nuclear plants by MS Swaminathan

The stalemate in relation to the Kuda­nkulam Nuclear Po­wer Project (KK­N­PP) continues despite the ‘fail-safe’ certificate issued by former Indian President Abdul Kalam and the central panel of experts headed by A E Muthunayagam. The representatives of the people of that area are still saying, “We will never settle down for anything less than the scrapping of the KKNPP.” Srikumar Banerjee, secretary of the department of atomic energy, has expressed serious concern about potential damage to the reactors, thereby, emphasising the urgent need to arrive at a settlement. In this context, I recall the visionary address delivered by Homi Bhabha, the founder of the Atomic Energy Establishment at the second International Conference on the Pe­aceful Uses of Atomic Energy held in Geneva in 1958 under the auspicies of the United Nations. Bhabha delivered the opening plenary address largely concentrating on the potential of nuclear power for strengthening global energy security. I was a participant in that congress since I had been invited to deliver a lecture on the application of nuclear tools in agriculture. Listening to Bhabha was a thrilling experience. He pointed out the advantages of nuclear power and mentioned prophetically that as and when non-renewable forms of energy like petroleum products are priced properly, nuclear power will become economically competitive. At that time, the industrialised nations were paying the Arab nations and Iran less than a dollar per barrel of oil. It was only in the early ’70s that Iran started a campaign to force industrialised nations to pay a fair price for petroleum products.

A few nuclear power plant accidents, including Chern­obyl, created a great deal of apprehension in the public mind regarding the safety of such plants. The recent Fukushima-Daiichi disaster in Japan hei­ghtened concerns worldwide with the result that countries like Germany announced the decision not to take the path of harnessing nuclear power to meet their energy requirements. On the other hand, those who are concerned with the impact of climate change, as a result of aggressive imbalance between carbon emissions and absorption, look up­on nuclear power as a source that would mitigate climate change. In addition to the possibility of a breakdown of ‘fail-safe’ mechanisms, there are also concerns about nuclear waste disposal. This is because many components of nuclear waste have long half-lives. For example, the half-life of Uranium 235 is 700 million years. Another threat comes from terrorists, who can try to damage nuclear power plants. Thus, both problems of nuclear security and safety are involved. Under such conditions, how can the government of India promote public trust and ensure that the trust generated is sustainable? Besides Kudankulum, there is also an agitation against the proposed Jaitapur plant, which is of French design. Kudankulam is based on Russian technology. So far, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Bo­ard has been functioning under the control of the department of atomic energy. The question has been asked whether a regulatory authority should function under the department to be regulated.

To allay public apprehensions about the effectiveness of the regulatory mechanism, the prime minister announced th­at the government will bring a Nuclear Safety and Regulatory Authority Bill before parliament. This Bill is now in the public domain and views have been sought by the concerned parliamentary committee, whi­ch is scrutinising the Bill. Several questions have been asked about the autonomy of proposed authority and its efficacy in the context of split responsibilities for regulation — one for civilian nuclear power facilities and the other for strategic and defence purposes. I am confident that as a result of the examination of the parliamentary committee, we will have an effective Nuclear Safety and Regulatory Authority that exists in countries like France, where nuclear power is the dominant component of the energy security system.

Immediately, we need action in two directions. First, is the creation of a credible, tra­nsparent, effective and truly autonomous Nuclear Safety and Regulatory Authority. Second, there is need for a political solution to the fears of Kudankulam and Jaitapur residents. In my view, regulations should not mean just imposing restrictions, although, these are exceedingly important. Tr­ansparency is the pathway for ensuring public trust. The public trust will come only if there is more information and public understanding of the issues involved. The Kudankulam stalemate can be ended only by the prime minister and the chief minister of Tamil Nadu since technical opinions have fallen on deaf ears.

The French Nuclear Safety Authority on transparency and security in the nuclear field has provided for the establishment of local information committees (LICs). I would like to suggest that it will be prudent to set up nuclear literacy clubs to disseminate basic information on nuclear power plants, known biological and environmental effects of ionising radiations at low and high doses and nuclear safety and security, to name a few. In areas near nuclear po­wer plants, one man and one woman member of the elected local body should be trained to become community nuclear power information managers. This will help launch a nuclear literacy movement in the county as a whole.

(The writer is an agricultural scientist who led India’s green revolution)