Health

Nuclear issues in Japan – will this change the situation in India regarding more nuclear plants ?

The nuclear industry in India has been a very closed area, with the national secret tag being applied at the talk of anything to do with the nuclear industry. There are rumors (and magazine articles) that hint of various problems in the past with the nuclear plants that India runs, including injuries, containment issues, radioactive leakages, and so on. However, as opposed to the western countries such as the US, France, UK, etc where there is much more information regarding the state of their nuclear plants, any reporting on the nuclear industry in India depends on insider information, or when there are politics inside the nuclear establishment and information is revealed to score points. The hope is that the creation of nuclear power plants have been done only on the basis of pure scientific reasons, and no other reasons.
There have been nuclear problems in other countries such as Russia, the United States, and so on, and these have been publicly disclosed, even though the revelation of these problems have caused huge Public Relations problems to the nuclear power industry. For example, in the United States, the problems at Three Mile Island caused a decades long public revulsion that prevented the creation of new nuclear power plants. It was only recently that the focus on clean energy and against the pollution caused by coal plants had caused a change in opinion with a recognition that nuclear power was a relatively clean and inexpensive source that could provide energy in realistic proportions.
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The Environment Ministry starting to become something other than a rubber-stamp body

For a long time, the Election Commission of India was a rubber-stamp body, about which nobody took any notice, and about which political parties really did not take too much notice. And then came the man called TN Seshan, who was to all practical purposes, a former cabinet secretary, put into a smooth official job after retiring from his top secretary status. And boy, did he shake the system. He defied all political parties, putting the Election Commission in the midst of all sorts of action, controversies, and so on; and even then he was frequently censured by the Supreme Court, he established a much more empowered body whom no political party takes for granted, and whose top posts are a matter of debate and controversy.
A similar position is that of the Union Environment Ministry, which was typically seen as a body where politicians were posted who were not being given the top post of home, finance, industry, commerce, food, etc, a ministry which was seen as having somewhat of a low profile; and somewhat irrelevant in a time when there was a lot of frantic development happening, a lot of industrialization happening, and so on.
And then came a number of factors, but I would consider three essential factors – the emergence of the Maoists, the emergence of global warning as a significant issue, and the arrival of Jairam Ramesh as the new environment minister. The Maoists are primarily based in the more tribal, more forested and wilder areas of the country, and in many of the areas of conflict, there is a conflict between the needs of industry and that of the dwellers of the area. Over a period of time, there has been a growing emergence of thought that it is not so simple to simply take resources wherever they are based, but the rights of the tribals and other natives is important, and the environment ministry is a powerful voice in that area. And Jairam Ramesh has not been in the least hesitant to jump into such fights, even when other ministers in the Government are frustrated by the apparent objections shown by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
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Another Bhopal Tragedy – Oil spill off the Bombay coast

August 7 morning saw the biggest ever oil spill in India as MCS Chitra collided with MV Khalijia 10 km off the Mumbai coast with the former tilting precariously and leaking oil into the sea. An estimated 500 tonnes of oil spilled into the sea and about 250 containers, some carrying hazardous chemicals and pesticides got hurled overboard. This accident is having a ripple effect; not only affecting the flora and fauna in and around the coast but also causing losses to local fisherman with a ban being imposed on fishes. Even the export market is taking a toll as an estimated 24,000 ships are stranded due to the oil spill.
Several aquatic species and sea birds have been found dead along the Mumbai coast, as a result of the oil spill off Mumbai. The formation of thick layer of poisonous oil in the seawaters has inflicted a distressing blow to the biological equilibrium by rendering fishes, turtles and other species immobile due to the caused high viscosity. Many sea birds whose diet comprises aquatic species have consumed oil which has adversely affected their digestive tracts. Mangroves along the coast have also been damaged and it is asserted that only few of them will be able to regenerate. “Cleaning up process in on but it would take around 45 days”, said the Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.
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