All the major nuclear accidents so far have afflicted different reactor designs, have had entirely different causes, have progressed along different pathways, and have had different consequences. Even newer reactor designs are not immune. In the case of the VVER reactors constructed in Koodankulam, a particular concern is with the control rod mechanism. On 1 March 2006, for example, one of the four main circulation pumps at Bulgaria’s Kozluduy unit 5 tripped because of an electrical failure.
The risk of catastrophic accidents means that the pursuit of nuclear power is justified only if it is done democratically with the informed consent of the potentially affected populations. What the Koodankulam protest tells us is that these populations are not consenting to be subject to this risk. They deserve to be listened to, not dismissed as stooges of foreign funding.
Tehelka: In Denial of Fukushima MV Ramana, Princeton University
1 comment:
Fundamentally it is unfair to put the nuclear risks on the future generations.
It is just like borrowing money now and having the future generation pay for the present generation's folly.
If you look at it this way, there should be no nuclear reactors in the first place.
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