Do Financial Audit of Nuclear Installations - PMANE

August 29, 2012

The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE)

Idinthakarai & P.O - 627 104

Tirunelveli District

Tamil Nadu

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India

9 Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg

New Delhi 110 124

Dear Sir:

Greetings! We would very much like to thank you for the CAG Report No. 9/2012-13 on the “Activities of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.” This is a timely and crucial report as it points out so many flaws and problems in the regulatory mechanism of the atomic energy establishment in India. The report also rightly points out the need to bring about an “empowered and independent” Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority with strength to its hands and teeth to bite.

It would have been nice and appreciable if the Prime Minister of India, who is also the Atomic Energy minister, had welcomed your report and assured effective and necessary follow-up efforts. Hopefully, he may break his deafening silence at some point and reassure the people of our country about your findings and conclusions. We would also earnestly hope that the PM would give more importance to the safety and well-being of the people of India than the profit of Russian, American, French, Australian and other countries’ nuclear power agencies and companies.

As the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) has pointed out in its Annual Report 2011, “NPCIL is currently constructing single larger sized units of 700 MW and 1000 MW. Some of the units planned include Light Water Reactors of more than 1000 MW. More sites are also approved by the Government of India. With the ongoing capacity expansions, the NPP sites would go up to 13 from the existing 7 soon. By 2032, nuclear power is expected to contribute 9% of the total energy requirement of the country.”

                                                                    

All these plans mean a considerable number of our Indian citizens may be living near large nuclear parks that may house several very big nuclear power plants in some 13 locations all over the country. We must note that our people’s hard-earned money is going to be spent on these projects without giving them any information, or involving them in the decision-making processes. Foreign countries, companies, middlemen, Indian brokers, contractors, politicians, bureaucrats, business houses and benamis are all going to make a killing in all this huge international nuclear business at the cost of the poor people of India.

Although the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was established in 1948, and thousands of crores of rupees have been pumped into this nuclear energy department, all we have got so far is hardly 4,780 MW of power and a few nuclear bombs whose veracity was challenged even at the time of their testing in May 1998 by a few members of the very testing team.

When the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the NPCIL talk about nuclear power projects, they erroneously argue that these projects are inexpensive and produce power at much less cost than thermal, hydro and other sources. In fact, these departments do not take into consideration the pre-project expenses such as land acquisition and compensation, and other preparatory expenses; and the post-project expenses such as decommissioning, waste management and so on. These costs and expenses must be included when we assess the cost of the power if we are professional, truthful, and responsible. Of course, there are so many other hidden costs such as damage to the eco-system, marine life, food security, nutrition, health and well-being of the people that we cannot possibly assess or audit.

The building and the operational phases of the nuclear power projects are also so rampant with corruption, kickbacks, commissions, wastefulness, shoddiness, theft and negligence. There is hardly any transparency, accountability and popular participation. No details, data or information is ever given to the public representatives or the media persons, or the local people. There is hardly any open debate in the Parliament about the commissions and the omissions of the AEC, DAE, NPCIL or other related bodies.

Given this culture of secrecy, opacity and impertinence, there is a clear need for a thorough and comprehensive financial audit of each of the power plants, DAE-run institutions and other nuclear energy-related establishments in our country. We would very much like to request you to do such a financial audit of all of the above institutions and let the country know the whole truth please.

Thanking you once again on behalf of the people of India for the report on the AERB, we send you our best personal regards and all peaceful wishes,

Cordially,

S. P. Udayakumar       M. Pushparayan          Fr. F. Jayakumar         M. P. Jesuraj    
V. Rajalingam

PMANE Calls for the Resignation of AERB Chairman and the Disbanding of AERB

People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE)                                 

Idinthakarai & P. O. 627 104

Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu

Phone: 98656 83735; 98421 54073

koodankulam@yahoo.com

pushparayan@gmail.com

  August 22, 2012

PMANE Calls for the Resignation of Sri. S. S. Bajaj and the Disbanding of AERB

While thanking the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) for the timely and comprehensive report entitled “Performance Audit on Activities of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (Department of Atomic Energy),” the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) calls for the immediate resignation of its Chairman Sri. S. S. Bajaj and for the complete disbanding of this ineffective and wasteful handmaiden-organization of the Indian nuclear establishment.

The CAG report aptly sums up that “AERB is on a very tenuous ground if it has to be judged in terms of benchmarks of what is expected of an independent regulator” who is supposed to deal with regulation, verification and enforcement of regulations.

As the report establishes correctly, “the legal status of AERB continued to be that of an authority subordinate to the Central Government” and its Department of Atomic Energy. In fact, the DAE, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL), and the AERB all function out of Mumbai and have offices at Anushaktinagar in Mumbai.

In fact, the CAG report finds the AERB’s performance not only dismal but pathetic in all areas of its operation. For instance, the report clearly records the disheartening fact that “AERB failed to prepare a nuclear and radiation safety policy for the country in spite of a specific mandate in its Constitution Order of 1983. The absence of such a policy at a macro level can hamper micro level planning of radiation safety in the country.”

More than this inordinate delay in the development of safety policy, the “consenting process and system for monitoring and renewal were found to be weak in respect of radiation facilities.” Consequently, our highly and densely populated country has enormous number of radiation facilities without valid licenses and our mostly illiterate and half-literate people have been at the mercy of these facilities and corrupt officials and politicians.

Even after the Supreme Court had directed the AERB  in 2001 to set up a ‘Directorate of Radiation Safety (DRS)’ in each state for regulating X-ray installations, DRS has been set up only in Kerala and Mizoram so far. AERB’s scant regards for the Judiciary and the Laws of the Land was demonstrated when they completely ignored the Madras High Court’s legal proceedings and gave permission for Initial Fuel Loading (IFL) at the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project’s unit 1. They had given a written undertaking at the MHC that they would implement all the recommendations of the post-Fuklushima task force but conveniently forgot to do that before giving IFL permission to KKNPP.

The CAG report points out that AERB has not conducted 85 percent regulatory inspections for both industrial radiography and radiotherapy units. Obviously, the “AERB was not exercising effective regulatory oversight over units related to the health of the public.” Even worse, “AERB had failed to enforce safety provisions and compliance with its own stipulations even when its attention was specifically drawn to deficiencies in the case of units in Kerala.” Please note that this is in the most literate and political aware state of Kerala and one can easily imagine what AERB would have done in other backward states.

The CAG report establishes that AERB does not have a detailed inventory of all radiation sources or proper mechanisms to ensure or verify that radioactive waste is disposed of safely. One may remember the Mayapuri incident in Delhi in which radioactive waste was found in a hawker shop in April 2010 and two people were killed due to radioactive exposure.

The CAG report also establishes the cruel fact that “off-site emergency exercises carried out (by AERB) highlighted inadequate emergency preparedness.” The recent off-site emergency exercise held at Nakkaneri hamlet near Koodankulam is a case in point. The AERB officials were actually present at this farce also.

The CAG report puts on record: “Even after the lapse of 13 years from the issue of the Safety Manual relating to decommissioning by AERB, none of the NPPs in the country, including those operating for 30 years and those which had been shut down, had a decommissioning plan.” When we asked the Central Government Team about the decommissioning plan for Koodankulam, their report simply said “provisions for facilitating decommissioning in KKNPP-1&2 have been made in the design” without giving details. The CAG has found out that AERB is “slow in adopting international benchmarks and good practices in the areas of nuclear and radiation operation.”

The CAG report has welcome recommendations that India needs a nuclear regulator who is “empowered and independent” and that a “nuclear and radiation safety policy may be framed in a time-bound manner.” Out of 27 codes and guides required for nuclear and radiation safety, AERB has developed only 11 and the rest need to be “developed expeditiously.”

In a typical DAE style, the DAE has “acknowledged the concerns” highlighted by the CAG without “specific assurances giving timelines within which our (CAG) recommendations would be acted upon.” In all probability, AERB would do nothing and simply dismiss the CAG report. The Prime Minister, who is also the atomic energy minister, must respond to this devastating CAG report in a responsible manner, announce a moratorium on all the nuclear activities all over India, set up an “empowered and independent” regulatory authority, and most importantly, work for the welfare of the people of India rather than the corporations of the United States, Russia, France and Australia etc.

The Struggle Committee

The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE)

To read the CAG report click the link given below:

Performance Audit on Activities of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board 

PMANE's open letter to Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

August 20, 2012

The Struggle Committee

People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE)

Idinthakarai & P. O. 627 104

Phone: 98656 83735

koodankulam@yahoo.com

The Honorable Chief Minister

Government of Tamil Nadu

Fort St. George

Chennai 600 009

Fax: 044-24992255, 25671441, 28133510

Honorable Madam:

Greetings! As we have completed a whole year struggling against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP), we would like to initiate a fresh round of dialogue with you.

As you know, the Government of India and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) have not shared any basic information with us about the KKNPP. Even after the Central Information Commission (CIC) has instructed them, they have not shared the Site Evaluation Report (SER) and the Safety Analysis Report (SAR) with us. They have not heard our opinions or allayed our fears and concerns about the lack of fresh water resources, the changes in the design of the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV), the management of liquid and solid waste and so on.

Neither have they got any liability from the Russian government and/or companies for the KKNPP 1 and 2. The Government of India is not even willing to share the secretive Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) that they signed with the Russian government in 2008. Even as we are dealing with KKNPP 1 and 2, the Government of India is announcing the agreement on KKNPP 3 and 4 with utter disregard for the sentiments of the local people and the people of Tamil Nadu as a whole.

When the Madras High Court is hearing a batch of petitions against the KKNPP, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) gave consent to load fuel rods in the first unit of KKNPP and the Court has condemned this defiant attitude and behavior of AERB and some Congress ministers. It is so depressing and painful to see such contemptuous treatment of not just the people of India but also the Judiciary.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has also given consent to discharge enormous amounts of sewage, trade effluent, desalination plant effluent, demineralization effluent, steam generator effluent, suspended solids, dissolved solids, and many other waste products into the sea. The TNPCB has fixed the temperature of the effluents at the discharge point as 45 degrees. They have also allowed the KKNPP to release significant amounts of Sulphur Dioxide, Nitrogen Dioxide, particulate matters and many other harmful radioactive pollutants into the air. Nobody seems to bother about the impact of all these on the sea, sea food, crops, dairy, food security, nutrition, health and wellbeing of us, our children and grandchildren.

We have taken note of your recent letter to the Prime Minister dated August 19, 2012 demanding all the power from KKNPP to Tamil Nadu. Even though you have written twice before on March 31 and April 25 this year, the Prime Minister or his PMO has not even acknowledged your letters. Earlier you had demanded more power from the Central Pool and financial help for various power generation schemes, but the UPA government always ignored your genuine requests and earnest efforts. In fact, most of our pre-March 2012 agitations and processions were in support of your demands and schemes.

If this is the way they treat the Chief Minister of an important State and popular leader of millions of Tamil people, you can possibly imagine the feelings and attitude they may have towards the poorest of the poor who have been struggling on our own for more than a year now. The Delhi elites seem to have scant regards for the Tamil fishermen, Tamil women, and the Tamil people as a whole.

It is also strange that our neighboring states would not share the Nature-given river waters with us but we, the Tamil people, have to suffer nuclear waste, thermal pollution, saline refuse, and most importantly, nuclear radiation and give them all risk-free electricity. It is quite preposterous that the Congress government in Kerala stakes a claim for 500 MW from KKNPP; in fact, the Congress governments in Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram can together decide to set up KKNPP 3-6 somewhere in Kerala. The intelligent people of Kerala would never allow that and the political parties there, whether Congress or Communists or BJP or others, would never let that happen also.

It is we, the Tamil people, who are left high and dry by the so-called ‘Tamizhina Thalaivar’, his party that is part of the UPA and a few other parties in Tamil Nadu. When you assumed power in 2011 and stood up for the popular causes of the Tamil people, we heaved a sigh of relief that we had a leader who understood our needs and wants after all. We were so shocked when you reversed your stand on the KKNPP issue in March 2012.

As we pointed out during our meeting with you in September 2011, India needs a more creative and original energy policy and we, the Tamil people, need to protect the Tamil land, water, air, sea, sea food, natural resources and the future for the Tamil progeny. The UPA government in Delhi is keener and hell-bent on pleasing the foreigners and their MNCs and taking care of their and their friends’ self interests.

Most of the people here in our area have been praying to Our Lady of Lourdes at Idinthakarai and to the Sage Vishwamitra in one of his rarest temples in India near Koodankulam with the solemn hope that these divine forces would save them from nuclear threats to their land and the sea. They believe that from Gorbachev and Rajiv Gandhi who initiated the KKNPP to the Russian engineers and scientists who designed the Koodankulam reactors have met with misfortunes. It is only natural for people to turn to supernatural forces when their political energies are dissipated and actions discouraged by the vested interests.

We would very much like to request you, Madam, to turn the KKNPP into a pro-people and Nature-friendly project, bring about solar power policy and projects all over our State, rectify the transmission and distribution issues, protect the interests of the Tamil people, and leave a wonderful legacy of visionary leadership and compassionate development with the people of Tamil Nadu and India.

Looking forward to your favorable actions, we send you our best personal regards and all peaceful wishes,

Cordially,

S. P. Udayakumar       M. Pushparayan          Fr. F. Jayakumar         M. P. Jesuraj    V. Rajalingam

Coordinator