Wanted: A cure for the cure

By Gayathri V

Misuse and overuse of antibiotics has resulted in the spread of drug-resistant bacteria that lurk in the wards of Bangalore’s hospitals, placing patients at higher risk.  Read More.

Its a matter of excrement

Why is it that the nuclear powers of the world are queuing up to supply India with nuclear technology? Nuclear reactors are immensely unpopular in the United States which is the largest supplier of commercial nuclear power in the world.  It has 106 nuclear power reactors, the largest number in the world, but all of them were built in the 1960’s.  For more than three decades, no new nuclear reactors have been built in the States despite all the political rhetoric about reducing dependence on foreign oil.

Other than the more obvious danger on the scale of Chernobyl, the problem with the technology is storage of nuclear wastes.  The spent fuel is highly radioactive and needs to be stored away “safely” underground.  It takes thousands of years to decay to a less radioactive isotope.  The storage site should not be next to a groundwater source.  The water may erode the canisters and release the waste into the environment.  So the area should have little geologic activity, i.e. not prone to earthquakes.

In the States, there is one such site: the Yucca Mountain in Nevada, which should be ready by the year 2010.

So the plan to come up with more nuclear reactors in India raises the question of where they are going to put the waste?  So far the political parties have pontificated on energy needs of a “rapidly growing” economy, on foreign policy and loss of sovereignty but there has been no meaningful discussion of the dangers of nuclear energy.

Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Given the geography of India, it is likely that the resulting nuclear waste will be stored underground in the deserts of Rajasthan.  Incidentally, it turns out that Pokhran and surrounding areas in Rajasthan where nuclear tests were conducted by India in 1998 have significant radioactivity.  It would be interesting to find out what a geologist thinks a good site would be for storage in India.

So far, the United States, Russia and France are fighting over the right to supply the energy and the reactors to India–the newest minted member to the old boys club of nukedom.  There is a shitload of money involved, given that a single reactor costs $3 to $5 billion just to build and the American and French companies are starved for orders.

With such big money involved, the government and media need to examine every step of this nuclear power proliferation. It makes sense to outside powers to sell technology to India indiscriminately, but it is the duty of the Indian people to debate intelligently over how many reactors they are ready for in terms of environmental and human costs.  After all, this is people’s lives we are talking about.