SAYANORA Nukes: Japan takes it to streets to demand a nuclear-free future

ANTINUCLEAR MOVEMENT

Fukushima Fallout

Weekly updates by Keito Hirabayashi

The line of protestors marches on down Omote Sando in Tokyo

The Sayonara Nukes Rally, held on July 16 in central Tokyo, was a glittering manifestation of the political awareness, determination and sheer hope that is growing almost by the day in Japan. The authorities, I’m sure, thought that once they got one nuclear reactor restarted, all the protestors would give up, go home, turn on their TVs and be good little electricity consumers again, but in fact the opposite has happened. The demonstrations at the PM’s residence every Friday show absolutely no sign of dwindling since Ohi restarted and now 170,000 people –well over the 100,000 called for—have let the world know that they want their future and that of their children to be nuclear free.

Such large numbers of people have not been seen on the streets of Japan since the student protests in the 60s and 70s and there was a distinct feeling of triumph and excitement at the rally’s main stage, as tens of thousands, packed in under the hot sun listened to messages from the organizers, followed by an explosive performance by the Frying Dutchman, whose song Human Error has been known to instantly convert university students to an anti-nuclear perspective (a recording of this song with English subtitles is available at the Flying Dutchman website and is definitely worth listening to, although the version they did at the Rally was much more interactive). This was followed by a hilarious parody act by a group called Suishinja. Although most protestors left to participate in the marches after the addresses by Sakamoto Ryuichi, Oe Kenzaburo, Setouchi Jakucho (a popular Buddhist nun, who at 90 years old, claimed to be the oldest person at the rally) and other organizers, it shows how Japanese protest culture has developed, I think, when a semi-punk band and a comedy troop are also part of the official program.

In fact there were different routes that protestors could march along and, other than the main stage, there were also different areas where different groups assembled—trade unions, Gensuikin (Japan Congress Against A- and H- Bombs) and others, had their own area within the larger venue of Yoyogi Park. I thought this was a very good way of organizing everyone—especially after the minor controversy at the Friday protests where trade unions are not allowed to bring flags showing their union’s name. There is no doubt that the new generation of protestors, who have been very active in organizing the Friday protests, have different ways and styles of doing things which sometimes do not totally fit with the more traditional organized groups of protestors, but the Sayonara Nukes Rally managed to avoid this problem by allowing everyone their own space, yet still having a strong sense of togetherness.

Koodankulam: Delays, Corruption and Half-Truths

No questions were raised when India’s nuclear regulator has gave its nod to repeat the full systems test at the first unit of Koodankulam atomic power project in Tamil Nadu. Here isNITYANAND JAYARAMAN‘s article, published in Tehelka.

On January 25, newspapers reported official statements regarding yet another delay in commissioning the Koodankulam plant. A widely published PTI report declared that India’s nuclear regulator has given its “nod to repeat the full systems test at the first unit of Koodankulam atomic power project in Tamil Nadu.” The media seemed satisfied with the statement. No questions were raised. The Hindu report referred to this “permission” as “some good news on the Koodankulam front” and said it raised expectations of an early commissioning.

The test itself would take a fortnight. Interpretation of its results can take another fortnight. This will delay the commissioning, not hasten it. But the delay is not the issue here. Any which way one sees it, the “permission” is not good news. For nuclear proponents, it represents yet another delay. For nuclear opponents worried about the lack of adequate safeguards and due diligence in Koodankulam , the “permission” raises disturbing questions.

Even a child will tell you that you need to repeat a test only if you have failed in the first instance. NPCIL’s desire to gloss over its failure and make it seem as if the “permission” was a hard-won victory is understandable. But why is the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board playing ball? Why is it referring to the decision as a permission rather than an order? What were the circumstances that led to NPCIL failing the first test?

The nuclear establishment has a way with words. By using cryptic and vague one-liners to dress the truth, it lulls some into a false sense of security even while others panic, and rumours begin to take root.

Of all the pronouncements from the establishment, Atomic Energy Commission chairperson RK Sinha’s statement earlier this month offers some glimpses of the truth. Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Sinha had said “Essentially there are some system parameters like flow, pressure, temperature that need to be maintained within particular values.”

Piece this information together with bits from other statements that appeared in the media, and the following picture emerges. During the first hydro test conducted last December, certain valves did not behave the way the manufacturer claimed they would. These valves were opened up, repaired, and some “minor” components replaced.

Make Japan Nuclear Free: Letter to the Japanese PM from Protest Groups in London

His Excellency Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan

His Excellency Mr. Keiichi Hayashi, Ambassador of Japan to the United Kingdom

We have come here today as Japanese expatriates and UK citizens to support people in Japan and make four requests to the Japanese government. We would like the government to abolish nuclear power generation, to prevent the further release and spread of radioactive materials, to implement policies to protect people’s health and lives and to uphold citizens’ rights to engage in social activities and free speech. We are deeply concerned that radioactive contamination from the nuclear catastrophe at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant that started on March 11 2011, has been spreading across Japan.

The nuclear tragedies in Chernobyl and Fukushima have taught us that despite the guise of ‘peaceful use’, the destruction caused by a nuclear power disaster would be similar to nuclear war. Japan is the most earthquake prone country in the world and, currently, is in a very active seismic phase. Nuclear catastrophe in Japan would lead to long-term worldwide radioactive contamination. There is no safe method to dispose of nuclear waste. Using nuclear power means passing a burden to our children and their descendents. In addition, throughout the nuclear fuel cycle from uranium mining to decommission and waste storage, nuclear energy relies heavily on the sacrifice of workers who are exposed to radiation as they carry out these tasks. Given the deadly long-term toxicity of radiation released to the environment through use of nuclear energy, it must be said that nuclear power is both extremely dangerous and irresponsible.

Activists oppose Andhra nuclear power plant

PTI | Dec 8, 2012

READ MORE Andhra Nuclear Power Plant|Solar Energy|Andhra Pradesh

SRIKAKULAM: Anti-nuclear activists have urged government to reconsider its decision to set up a nuclear power plant in Andhra Pradesh, saying the proposed project would pose a danger to the life of people.

The government is setting six light weight nuclear reactors, each of 1,000 MW capacity in the district.

Activists comprising former union energy secretary EAS Sharma among others deplored the government's move while addressing a public meeting at Ranasthalam on Friday.

"Countries that depend upon nuclear power are shifting to new modes post Fukushima disaster. Countries like Germany are shifting to solar energy as the form of power generation. We appeal to government for a thorough review of the proposed plant as the project would put to risk thousands of lives," Sharma told reporters.

According to government, in all 1,983 households with a population of 7,960 from Ramachandrapura, Gudem, Kotapalem, Tekkali and Jeeru Kovvada villages would be displaced from the project area and rehabilitated at a distant location.

Koodankulam Could be Another Bhopal Disaster In Waiting: Noam Chomsky

COMMUNITY UPDATES

Internationally acclaimed academician Noam Chomsky of Massachusetts Institute of Technology of the United States has said that Koodankulam could be another Bhopal disaster in Waiting. In a solidarity letter to the struggling people he said `Nuclear energy is a very dangerous initiative, particularly in countries like India, which has had more than its share of industrial disasters,  Bhopal being the most famous.’  ` I would like to express my support for the courageous people’s movement protesting the opening of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant.’said Noam Chomsky.

Avram Noam Chomsky is internationally famous linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, logician, historian, political critic and activist. He has worked as a professor  in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT. In addition to his work in linguistics, he has written on war, politics, mass media and a many other areas. Chomsky was cited more often than any other living scholar from 1980 to 1992 and he was voted the “world’s top public intellectual” in a 2005 poll. Described as the “father of modern linguistics, he is most well known for his book called `Manufacturing Consent’

`The support of Noam Chomsky is a major blessing to the fishing community of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, who are unfortunately the first victims of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant,’ said T. Peter,Secretary, National Fish Workers’ Forum. `We hope more and more groups and individuals will flow now to support the struggle.’

`Chomsky is one of the most leading existing internationally renowned left intellectuals today. It is surprising that while such a great personality has expressed support to the Koodankulam struggle, the left in India is still confused about their stand on the hazards of nuclear energy,’ said Civic Chandran, activist writer. Chomsky’s response came as a part of the efforts of the anti-nuclear activists to campaign on Koodankulam issue through the net in a unique manner through a well known website calledwww.countercurrents.org  The site has been publishing posters using statements in support of the the Koodankulam struggle from well known  national and international personalities every day along with their photographs from October 11, onwards.

Mairead Maguire, the 1976 nobel peace prize winner and Irish peace activist also expressed her  solidarity to the koodankulam struggle. She said the struggle is an inspiration to the world. She also said “I offer my solidarity with the brave people of Koodankulam, as they nonviolently resist the Koodankulam nuclear power plant in their community. The courageous villagers-men and women- who are risking their lives do so to safeguard the lives of their children, the livelihood of all their fishermen,and their environment. We support you all, continue to be brave,

Does People’s Life Matter to You, Dr. Kalam? by DiaNuke.org

Sethu Nezeer | Countercurrents.org

The commissioning of the Koodankulam Nuclear Plant seems imminent. The mainstream media will be soon seen lauding and licking the sweet development dessert made from the crushed pulp of mass protest. The persecuted fisher folks of the koodankulam village will bite the silver bullet and bleed to silence. Dr.Kalam has always been vocal about his dreams of a young India equipped with state of the art space technology, building a synthetic nation where rocketry and space missions shall build a gateway to elevate India into the league of the invincible global powers; The gateway of dreams which denies entry to 80% of Indians languishing in the peripheries of our development.

Dr.Kalam vouched for the safety of nuclear energy in a special essay in the op-ed page of The Hindu on Nov-6, 2011-‘Nuclear power is our gateway to a prosperous future’. The article throws light on the economic, social and environmental concerns that rely on both factual and mythical doctrines on the safety, inevitability and feasibility of nuclear energy and its reactors. In most part of the essay he highlight the energy guzzling development agenda for the Neo- India and further substantiated the urgency to meet the soaring energy demand by skillfully aligning retrospect events of trial and error and meticulously stating comparative advantages of incremental risks of nuclear accident to that of non-nuclear ones. The nuclear accidents in Fukushima and Chernobyl are quoted by him as a ‘’Mishandled’’ and “Mismanaged’’ disasters that were “Unfortunate”. Lives lost, environment devastated, possible hazard to posterity –and he comfortably trivialize it as ‘mismanaged’, ‘mishandled’. I would call the statement grossly ‘misappropriate’. And his claim that there is no substantiated study to prove the pernicious corollaries of a nuclear accident is like farming on a mine laden field and hoping to not step on one. All the much promulgated facts about nuclear energy and the holy healing effect it has on the energy depleting economy are globally disputed propositions.

The disclosure by a Norwegian group doing informed and authentic activism of a special report from nuclear safety experts from Russia reveals 31 grievous flaws of the VVER-TYPE reactor, to our dismay is the same installed in koodamkulam.

The unpreparedness of these reactors to handle both man-made and natural disasters is traumatizing and shall evoke certain dire repercussions if anything is to go wrong. Optimism evades my comprehension as we begin our nuclear endeavor in the wrong footing. The agitators are enraged because they fear that their land, their air, their sea, their biodiversity and their life itself is at stake for a dream that was never theirs. I couldn’t resist myself from quoting these lines from Atharva veda that kalamji has so passionately inscribed in his autobiography ‘wings of fire’.

Koodankulam Agitators Occupy The Sea by DiaNuke.org

Courtesy: Countercurrents.org

Koodankulam, in Tamil Nadu, India, where an historic anti-nuclear struggle against a nuclear power plant is going on witnessed a new form of agitation today. More than 2000 villagers and fisher folks, including women and children, entered the sea and occupied it until the evening, as a surveillance plane ominously kept flying over their heads. In another development supreme court of India refused to issue an interim stay on the fuel loading at the plant, but asked the government to ensure the safety of the people living nearby. The attorney of government of India assured the court that the nuclear plant is completely safe.

Villagers are agitating against the fuel lodading of the plant from last Sunday. On monday, the police brutally assaulted the agitators and hundreds of people were injured. One person was killed wher the police opened fire on a solidarity march in a nearby town.

Here are the pictures of todays Occupy Sea agitation taken by Antony Kebiston Fernando

Kudankulam Nuke Project lacks transparency while NPCIL thwarts CIC decision – Moneylife by DiaNuke.org

Moneylife » Kudankulam Nuke Project lacks transparency while NPCIL thwarts CIC decision

Despite orders from the CIC for making safety analysis, site evaluation and environmental impact assessment reports of the controversial Kudunkulam Nuclear Plant Project public, Nuclear Power Corp is refusing to do so. A story of an RTI applicant’s fight for transparency

The recent inspection conducted by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) clearing the commissioning of the first unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant after which the government attempted to begin operations, led to protests by people. This time one person was killed in police firing.

 

A petition has now been filed in the Supreme Court against the green signal given to the plant to begin operation without ensuring the 17 crucial safety measures recommended by the Centre’s task force, being put in order.

 

It is also the lack of transparency and refusal by the government to share vital information in public interest of this nearly Rs4,000-crore Kudankulam Nuclear Plant in Trivunelveli district of Tamilnadu that has perhaps precipitated the crisis since early 2011.

Stop Repression in Koodankulam, Put a Moratorium on the Reactor: Aruna Roy by DiaNuke.org

Press release issued in the press conference in new Delhi today which was addressed by Aruna Roy, Praful Bidwai and Soumya Dutta

We are dismayed by the violent and repressive actions taken by the Tamil Nadu police against local residents who are protesting the Kudankulam nuclear plant.

Police action has claimed the life of one person, and led to the hospitalization of several others. Even from afar, we are shocked at the pictures coming from the area, which show police and paramilitary forces literally driving people into the sea. Reliable reports state that, on 10 September, the police invaded the village of Idinthikarai, terrorized its people, and desecrated places of worship.

The concerns of the local population are valid. The recent admission by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Boad in the Madras High court, that it has failed to implement the recommendations of its own review committee, has only served to heighten these apprehensions. The AERB effectively refused—against the recommendation of its own committee—to revise various safety parameters or consider the possiblity of a larger-than-expected Tsunami. The Nuclear Power Corporation has not even made arrangements for a backup mobile Diesel Generator set for essential functions, simply promising to do so in the “long term.” Nor has it constructed adequate backup sources of water to cool the reactor in the event of loss of normal cooling.

Kudankulam: A Brief Summary of the Issues Involved by DiaNuke.org

Suvrat Raju, Physicist

1)      The local residents of the region have never been consulted or taken into confidence about the project. A common misconception is that the protests started recently. In fact, the protests started soon after the plant was mooted in 1988 and even then, the police responded repressively and fired upon people.

2)      At the public hearing on the Environmental Impact Assessment, there was overwhelming local opposition to the plant, but the Government simply ignored this.

3)      After Fukushima, the AERB itself set up a review committee to examine the safety of nuclear installations in India. The committee suggested that “in the light of Fukushima experience it is considered prudent to postulate the magnitude of beyond design basis natural events” and “enhance ... conservatism” regarding the possibility of various events. In its submission to the Madras High Court, the AERB has effectively trashed the recommendations of its own safety committee. It has simply stated that the existing safety measures are adequate, and that nothing further needs to be done.

4)      More specifically, the NPCIL does not have adequate water backup, in the event that emergency cooling of the reactor or spent fuel pool is required. It has simply “promised” to construct one, but there is no clear time frame or accountability on this promise.

The Accidental Protester: Hydrangea Fridays Continues in Japan by DiaNuke.org

Jacinta Hin

Jacinta Hin was born in the Netherlands, and has been living in Japan since 1989. She works in the field of human resources and personal coaching.

Her earlier article on the Hydrangea Fridays can be accessed here.

Another related article is here: Protest Becoming Part of Life: Japan after Fukushima

It’s Friday, late afternoon. Time to shut down the computer and join my friends for the weekly evening protest.
For the past few months I’ve been attending the Friday demonstrations in front of the Prime Minister’s official residence. Also known as the Ajisai (Hydrangea) movement, we're protesting against both the restarting of the Oi Nuclear Plant, and nuclear energy in general. A newbie no more, I now have the routine firmly under my belt.

Koodankulam: The Inside Story by DiaNuke.org

E Amudhan R.P. one of the most noted contemporary documentary film makers and media activisth. He has made several award winning films and his seriesRadiation Stories Part 1 & 2explored issues around the Kalpakkam nuclear project and Part 3 is an in-depth work on Koodankulam.Shooting on location, staying with the locals over many years, this film presents stark reality.

The PMANE led peoples' struggle against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) has captured global attention because of its long, spontaneous and non-violent nature.

Recently, Amudhan was in Mumbai for the public screening of theRadiation Stories Part 3 - Koodankulam  and shared with me his views on what has made the Koodankulam struggle such a success and the inside details about the struggle.

It should serve as a guide for other agitations and for film makers who can learn from the strategies used by the people of Koodankulam and those used by the government in this epic David vs Golaith struggle.

-- Anuj Wankhede

Videos: RADIATION STORIES

Q) The KNPP agitation is being said to be based around one person - S.P.Udaykumar. Is that accurate?

The agitation is not based on one person. Fishing community has been opposing the nuclear project since its inception. Inland farmers, traders and labourers joined the movement after Fukushima disaster. The movement has a large participation of common people who genuinely oppose the project with full conscience and understanding. The movement has a collective leadership of village elders, women, youth, students, farmers, fishermen, vendors, traders, agriculture workers and salaried class.

Jaitapur Project Untenable: National Commitee

The National Committee in Solidarity with Jaitapur Struggle met in New Delhi on July 18, 2012. It has issued the following statement:

The Fukushima disaster has raised several fundamental issues in regard to the Jaitapur project. The location of six reactors in Jaitapur raises the risk of an accident substantially. Also, it is not clear how the issues of spent fuel storage are being addressed in Jaitapur considering the kind of risks that are now clear after Fukushima. The Committee noted that there is not one plant of this design that has yet been commissioned in the world, with plants in Okilkuoto and Flamanville running into serious problems, both in their construction and regulatory issues.

The reactors being purchased from Areva company in France are of untested technology and are exorbitantly expensive. So far the actual price and details of the agreement between Areva and the NPCIL have not been made public. The cost per unit of electricity of such a plant will be 3-4 times that of equivalent coal-fired plants.

Nuclear Power or Not? Leaders Fight it Out

Chandigarh, Jul 20 (IANS): Leaders of all political hues in Haryana are fighting a nuclear war these days. The leaders have gone ballistic with their positioning over the issue of setting up a nuclear power plant in southwest Haryana.

The Bhupinder Singh Hooda government is trying its best to persuade farmers, who are agitating against a nuclear plant in Gorakhpur village in Fatehabad district. The farmers have found backing in opposition parties like the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that are also opposed to the setting up of the plant.

In the past week, the Hooda government has organised open sessions for the public to bring forward their objections and get responses from scientists and experts about the project.

The government is faced with objections on two fronts. First is the opposition by a section of farmers who do not want to give up their agricultural land which is set to be acquired for the nuclear plant. The government has already set the process for land acquisition into motion.

Second, there is basic opposition to the setting up of the plant itself owing to safety concerns after the nuclear plant disaster in Japan's Fukushima in March 2011.

The state government proposes to acquire over 1,500 acres of land for the nuclear power plant, having four units of 700 MW capacity each, to be set up by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL). The plant will generate electricity for meeting the growing power needs in the state.

Farmers Say NO to Nuclear in Haryana, Boycott the Farcical Public Hearing by DiaNuke.org

DiaNuke.org Correspondent

The public hearing on the Environmental Impact Assessment of the proposed Gorakhpur Nuclear Power Plant in Fatehabad, Haryana came to an end within 40 minutes of its start yesterday after the local people's fierce opposition. Irked by the farcical and undemocratic manner in which the EIA hearing was bei8ng conducted, at least 8,000 people from Gorakhpur, Kajal Heri, Khajuri, Badopal and other villages started protesting as the event started. Hansraj Singh Siwach, the President of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (Farmers' Struggle Committee), raised objection on the undemocratic manner in which the hearing was being conducted: the enabling document - the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report which was supposed to be provided to the villagers one month in advance, in local language, was not given.

Public consultation under gun point?

SAYANORA Nukes: Japan takes it to streets to demand a nuclear-free future by DiaNuke.org

Fukushima Fallout

Weekly updates by Keito Hirabayashi

The line of protestors marches on down Omote Sando in Tokyo

The Sayonara Nukes Rally, held on July 16 in central Tokyo, was a glittering manifestation of the political awareness, determination and sheer hope that is growing almost by the day in Japan. The authorities, I’m sure, thought that once they got one nuclear reactor restarted, all the protestors would give up, go home, turn on their TVs and be good little electricity consumers again, but in fact the opposite has happened. The demonstrations at the PM’s residence every Friday show absolutely no sign of dwindling since Ohi restarted and now 170,000 people –well over the 100,000 called for—have let the world know that they want their future and that of their children to be nuclear free.

Anti-Nuclear Struggle in South India: the Answer is Blowin’ in the Wind

Gabriele Dietrich

Gabriele Dietrich is the Convener of the National Alliance for People’s Movements (NAPM), India.

She can be contacted at reach.gabriele@gmail.com

In the present situation, one of the most striking ecological struggles in India is the struggle against nuclear reactors. The Indian government has a policy regarding “peaceful” nuclear energy. This position is, of course, highly questionable, because whoever has studied the history of nuclear energy production would know that it was the nuclear research during World War II which served the interest of producing a nuclear bomb “against fascism” which brought nuclear energy into being. While World War II had factually ended in early May 1945 because of the conquest of Germany by the Allies, the Americans, after the experience of the attack on Pearl Harbour, could not resist the opportunity to try out the explosion of nuclear bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. After this incredible devastation, it became difficult to believe in “peaceful” nuclear energy.

In the meantime it has become very obvious, especially since the accidents in Chernobyl in 1986 and the melt-downs in Fukushima Daichi in 2011, that this is an incredibly hazardous technology. Apart from this, the very process of using uranium produces plutonium which creates a problem of nuclear waste which radiates for thousands of years and cannot be safely disposed of. Nobody has as yet claimed to have found a solution for this predicament. The so-called “developed” countries, who have a very high energy consumption, were initially relying quite heavily on nuclear energy, e.g. France used this option for over 60% of its energy needs. Only in recent times there is stronger resistance against this option. Of late, France has imported energy from Germany.

In India, there was an explosion of a “nuclear device” in 1974 under Indira Gandhi. It was not admitted then that this served the development of nuclear weapons. It was only in 1998 under the NDA regime (a coalition), which gravitated towards Hindutva, that a nuclear bomb was detonated with fanfare in Pokhran in the Rajasthan desert under the code name of “The Buddha is smiling”. Of course this was a great insult to Buddhism and to Dalits (who believe that they were Buddhists originally) and the anti-nuclear movement got a new impetus at that time. Despite all this the Indian government under the leadership of Dr. Manmohan Singh, has signed the 123 agreement with the U.S on import of nuclear technology, which serves the expansion of nuclear reactors. This contract became a prestige issue and any serious debate on nuclear options either in parliament, or in public, was strictly avoided. The absurdity is that nuclear energy is depicted as a “clean” energy option as opposed to thermal energy which enhances the burden of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Dear Prime Minister, Please Wake Up to the Dangers of the DAE’s Denial Mode

Dr. E A S Sarma

Former Union Power Secretary, Govt of India

Know more about Dr. SarmaHERE.

E.A.S.Sarma
14-40-4/1 Gokhale Road
Maharanipeata
Visakhapatnam 530002

To

Dr.Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister

Dear Dr. Manmohan Singh,
Subject:- Safety of nuclear technology- Further studies in Germany confirm the accident risk

This is in continuation of my letters of December 11, 2011 and May 1,2012 on the high accident risks and the enormous cost of nuclear power. I enclose copies of both the letters for your ready reference.

Unfortunately, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) that you head is constantly in a denial mode on the genuine safety concerns that have arisen in the public mind after the Fukushima tragedy. Instead of learning from Fukushima events as they have unfolded day after day and updating its own safety calculations, DAE has launched a campaign to
“market” its technology.

Solidarity Pours in from Across the World for the Indian Antinuclear protests by DiaNuke.org

From Germany to The UK, there have been massive street protests to mark solidarity with the non violent anti nuclear protesters in India.

The issue has struck a cord with ordinary citizens in these countries who have seen the effects of this nuclear folly for decades.

What strikes these protesters is the most blatant Human Rights Violations in India against the Kudankulam protesters. "In a land of Mahatma Gandhi, the state is using all its resources to muzzle a non violent protest and that too a hunger strike. It is madness" is the sentiment echoed by the protesters.

Recently, Amnesty International and other Human Rights organizations cautioned the Indian Government on this issue.

Scrap nuclear power programme, demands Lok Sabha MP

Press Trust of India / New Delhi May 17, 2012, 04:38

"I demand that the government should stop the nuclear power programme because it can affect our farm productivity, environment and people," Tarun Mandal said during Zero Hour.An Independent MP today demanded scrapping of the country's nuclear power programme saying it would have adverse effect on farm production, environment and people. He pointed out that radiation can be spread through water used in the atomic power plants which can badly hit crops, environment and people of the country.