' Nuclear power plants pose unmanageable risks'
Last updated on: May 9, 2012 15:12 IST
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When dealing with risky technology, it is most important to take people into confidence and tell them what the real risks are, says activist Nityanand Jayaraman.
Nityanand Jayaraman, an environment justice activist and a lecturer at the Asian College of Journalism on environmental journalism, is at the forefront supporting the Koodankulam nuclear power plant agitation through the Chennai Solidarity Group for Koodankulam Struggle.
In an interview with rediff.com's Shobha Warrier, Jayaraman talks about why he supports the agitation and why all nuclear power plants in India have to be shut down.
Why do you support the agitation against the Koodankulam nuclear power plant?
I have an issue not only with the Koodankulam power plant but nuclear power per se. I think all technologies come with risks, and some risks are manageable, so we take those risks. But some risks are unmanageable and those risks should not be taken.
You mean nuclear power plants pose unmanageable risks?
Yes, nuclear power plants pose unmanageable risks. You have seen it time and again; the Kyshtym disaster in the 1950s, Three Mile Island in the 1970s, Chernobyl in the 1980s and Fukushima in 2011. We have seen that engineers, technocrats and politicians across nations have been unable to handle the fallout. It is not just the lack of faith in the Indian engineers but the unmanageability of the technology itself.
Not everything in nature can be controlled at all times. Perhaps a time will come when human beings will be able to subject the atom to their will.
It is wrong to subject communities and future generations to this kind of a risk.
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