PRESS RELEASE
CNDP CHARTER OF DEMANDS
TOWARDS ENSURING SAFETY, TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE CIVILIAN NUCLEAR SECTOR
The government of India is intent on expanding nuclear power generation and related activities on the premise that nuclear power holds the key to India’s long-term energy security, and is appropriate to India’s needs, besides being economical, clean, safe, environmentally sound and climate-friendly.
The agenda to promote nuclear power has acquired greater thrust and importance as a result of the lopsided debate on the United States-India nuclear cooperation deal, and is likely to retain its salience irrespective of the eventual fate of the deal, which has been cleared by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group, the U.S. Congress and now signed into law by the US President. It is also being pushed aggressively by US corporate interests, and by French and Russian nuclear equipment manufacturers, as well as India’s own Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).
However, the government has failed to make out a persuasive case for promoting nuclear power. The DAE’s record of nuclear power generation inspires no confidence in respect of safety, economic viability, transparency or accountability. Imports of nuclear reactors and materials cannot be a substitute for resolving the numerous problems indicated by this record and rooted in the infrastructure of the Indian nuclear programme.
We in the CNDP remain highly sceptical of the extravagant claims made about the safety, environmental sustainability and cost-effectiveness of nuclear power, many of which stand belied in practice, especially in India. We believe that other sources of energy, especially environmentally sound renewable sources amenable to decentralised use, must be promoted on a priority basis while the claimed benefits of nuclear power are subjected to critical scrutiny.
Nevertheless, insofar as the government continues with the civilian nuclear programme, and seeks to expand it, it must respect the imperatives of safety, health, transparency, accountability and environmental sustainability. This calls for an extensive and radical reform of a number of legal and practical arrangements concerning the planning, appraisal and approval of nuclear power projects, and their regulation in respect of safety, transparency and related matters.
India must not rush into nuclear power generation or undertake related activities unless these arrangements are first put in place. Indeed, it is imperative to review the existing arrangements too in respect of already operating facilities.
We therefore specifically demand the following:
1. The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) which is supposed to
monitor the performance of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has for all these decades come under the ultimate control of the DAE itself! This arrangement cannot be allowed to continue. The current situation goes against the strictures of the Convention on Nuclear Safety to which India is a signatory and which calls for an “effective separation between the functions of the regulatory body and those of any other body or organization concerned with the promotion or utilization of nuclear energy”.. The AERB must be immediately made completely independent of the DAE and staffed by senior personnel known for their public probity and independence of mind who can be trusted to be completely impartial in their supervision. Further, its budget provisions should come through the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
2. Before any construction of nuclear reactors and related activities begins and before any new mining of uranium activity (e.g. in Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya, Ladakh) or anywhere else is started, the Ministry of Health in conjunction with independent and authoritative NGOs working in the field of health must carry out baseline epidemiological surveys in that area. A process of regular health monitoring to detect and therefore address possible deleterious effects of such mining activities on the local population must be instituted. This increase in all kinds of nuclear related mining activities merits particular notice and attention. A comprehensive baseline survey should be mandatory before undertaking any new nuclear related activity such as prospecting, mining or taking decisions to set up nuclear plants in any part of the country. Such a provision can also be made applicable to plants like Koodankulam which are about to come on stream.
3. The Indian Government must put forward immediately, new legislation to to replace the 1962 Atomic Energy Act. The civilian sector should be completely separated from the military-related facilities and laws passed to ensure maximum transparency of functioning and maximum public accountability of the civilian sector.
4. RTI (Right to Information Act) must be made fully applicable to all aspects pertaining to the existence and development of the civilian nuclear energy sector so that the government cannot claim secrecy in the name of ‘security’ considerations and thereby hide relevant information.
5. It is imperative that the Civilian Nuclear sector and all deals, transactions and business arrangements, be governed by unambiguous and comprehensive legislation especially to cover all possible situations where health and public safety is likely to be hazarded by accidents and failure to ensure adequate safety standards. This takes on particular significance in light of the passing of the Indo US Nuclear Deal agreement and reports of a large number of contracts in the pipeline between public and private sector groups, where there are little or no liabilities on the above being covered by the parties concerned, and where it is only the government which is accountable. We demand that a graduated set of punitive measures must be put in place to cover conceivable contingencies as also a comprehensive range of compensation measures for possible victims in respect of the scale and degree of damages/suffering incurred.
6. Insofar as the private sector is to be involved or allowed into the development of the civilian nuclear sector whether in providing materials, carrying out construction activities, etc., companies should be required to take up mandatory insurance to cover for damage to public health from catastrophic accidents. Nor should the Indian government provide any liability cap whereby the government covers damages over and above the insurance limit should circumstances require this. Companies found to be at fault in their activities that result partially or fully in accidents/leaks/failures, must then be held fully accountable and pay the full measure of damages they have caused. There should be no question of the Indian government enticing the private sector through a liability cap which effectively means that the Indian government is promoting the privatization of profits even as it is ‘socialising’ the risks and costs of private sector negligence, failure and shortcomings.
7. Emergency plans in case of disasters which include procedures for mass evacuation must be publicly discussed and examined and approved by the representative bodies of the likely to be affected population. Unless comprehensive and detailed legislation is enacted in each case and promulgated by the authorities prior to giving sanctions, no such activity should be permitted. This is elaborated below:
8. The existing process of granting environmental clearance to all nuclear projects must be radically reformed and tightened, with mandatory public hearings based on full disclosure of all pertinent facts and issues, including those related to the generic problems of nuclear electricity generation, including radiation, effluents and emissions, requirements and availability of resources such as freshwater, impact on forests, fauna and flora and local eco-systems, potential for accidents and mishaps, waste separation, storage and disposal, hazards from transportation of nuclear materials, and risks to the public, and planned measures to mitigate these. Veto power must be entrusted to an informed local population as to whether they wish or not wish to have uranium mining take place in their areas or whether or not they wish to allow a nuclear reactor or other related dangerous facilities to come up in their areas. Instead of the farce that on occasions currently takes place, there must be proper Jan Sunwais that are well-advertised, organized by independent civil society bodies and open not just to government spokespersons but to participation and testimonies from all, be these ordinary civilians, concerned groups or experts. The local population must be able to hear all sides, be provided relevant materials in the local languages of the region as well as in English from all quarters, and otherwise be given the capacity to be fully informed so that it can make up its mind on the pros and cons of whether or not to accept the establishment of the nuclear energy-related facilities the government proposes.
For a country that nurses ambitions of joining the Global Nuclear Club and has worked with Nuclear technologies for over five decades, the utter absence of transparency and basic safety and security measures that prevails is totally unjustified, reprehensible and unacceptable. The entire area of Nuclear Power and Energy needs to be demystified on the one hand and the Nuclear Industry must take the lead together with Government, to inform and educate the public with regard to all matters pertaining to radiation, health, safety and security of our people . This is the least that the GOI owes to the Indian Public. As the saying goes, politics is too important to be left to politicians, so it is with all things nuclear. It is too dangerous and too critical a matter to be left only in the hands of the scientists and politicians. A citizens charter and movement for a Nuclear Free World is our demand today. As the saying goes, politics is too important to be left to politicians, so it is with all things nuclear. It is too dangerous and too critical a matter to be left only in the hands of the scientists and politicians. A Citizens Charter and Movement for a Nuclear Free World is our demand today.
On behalf of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace – CNDP
Admiral (Rtd) Ramdas
Achin Vanaik
M.V. Ramana
Sukla Sen
Dr S.P. UdayKumar
Anil Chaudhary
Praful Bidwai
ND Jayprakash
and others
The Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace – CNDP
A- 124/6, Katwaria Sarai
New Delhi – 110016
Telefax: 26517814, E-mail: cndpindia@gmail.com, Web: www.cndpindia.org