Mahatma Gandhi Community Forum

Protest against the Nuclear Energy Plant at Koodankulam, Tamilnadu

Protest against the Nuclear Energy Plant at Koodankulam, Tamilnadu

Over the years, people of Koodankulam, Tamilnadu have been taken fast and silent protest against the beginning of operations at the Nuclear Energy Plant in their region. A group of protestors and the representatives of the people have met the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu and she had in turn directed the issue for the advice of the Central government of India.

Nevertheless, the fast continues indefinitely to seek a stay order from the courts to halt the functioning of the plant.

Both the state and central government are crossing their fingers at each other as the state has already favoured the group demanding the closure of the plant while the central government has already completed the work of the plant and ready to begin the production.

I've personally favoured the nuclear energy production in the past too when the nuke deal was in process between India and the US. The protests from Koodankulam people are out of apprehension and fear of any possible disaster. The tragic incidents occurred at the nuclear plants in Japan during the Tsunami had escalated the people's stand and they have been taken for the ride and politicised for nothing. Fear and possibility of tragic disaster in using any technology will not put us in the path of progress. The protestors must understand the fact that every factory or industry has got its own potential dangers. They must work towards the safety and security aspects of the plant rather than fighting for halting its operations.

The nuclear energy is the vital source of energy for many countries and India too shall have it as per safety guidelines specified by NSG and IAEA. People of Tamilnadu should shed their fears and come forward to support this in order to see more development and progress.

Tags: deal, energy, gandhi, koodankulam, nuclear, nuke

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Comment by GOPI KANTA GHOSH on October 17, 2011 at 1:47pm: I am sorry to say I do not agree to this stand. Nuke is not solution. It will create unsafe earth. Any amount of saftet measures can not assure 100% safety when accident occurs...renewable energy sources must be encouraged...

I support what David Slesinger said...

Comment by David Slesinger on October 17, 2011 at 1:16pm: Sorry to see you take this position. I have been a longtime opponent of nuclear power. I have been arrested at four different plants in the US, one over a dozen times. In 1982 I served 4 months in jail for a trespass civil disobedience along Gandhian lines. We pleaded guilty, did not use a lawyer, and told the use we did not seek leniency.

I thought Gandhi was not an advocate of technological progress. When I was about to reconnect with Narayan Desai, I learned of a flap where students were judged out of line for bringing cell phones to the program where they studied Gandhi.The centralization required to have such massive projects is antithetical to the decentralization implied by Hind Swaraj

Since India saw the horrors at Bhopal, I would expect Indians would be more concerned about environmental matters.

The simple review of the problems of nuclear power is that there is no safe level of radiation. Plants emit radiation through regular operation every day. High level nuclear waste is dangerous for many times longer than recorded history. The planet will not be rid of the scourge of nuclear weapons as long as nuclear power is still used to create electricity. The top activist groups in the US are NIRS, http://www.nirs.org/

Beyond Nuclear http://www.beyondnuclear.org/

and Ralph Nader's Critical Mass Energy Project http://www.citizen.org/cmep/

Best Wishes,

David