The people's struggle for survival is going on at Kudamkulam. They are retaining the strength of the agitation without any support from political parties. Now in India, it's a fact that a lot of people's struggles are conducted without the support of mainstream political parties. Kudamkulam agitaion is the strongest among them. The people of Kudamkulam know why they are agitating. Do we need more nuclear plants? State says that we need more nuclear plants to meet our energy needs and there is no alternative for nuclear energy. When the world refuses to establish new nuclear plants, The Government of India says nuclear energy is essential for satisfying our energy needs. India only produces 4,780 MW of electricity through nuclear energy. It's only 2.9% of the total production of electricity in India.
But what is the approach of
developed countries towards nuclear energy? It's a fact that they are not
planning to start new plants and they are thinking about decommission of the
existing plants. Nuclear power projects are dangerous as well as expensive than
any other type of power projects. When a nuclear tragedy happens, it doesn’t
end there, it spreads to generations. The world has witnessed several nuclear
tragedies like Chernobyl, 3 Mile Island, Fukushima etc. None of these areas
have overcome the tragedy. Japanese nuclear scientists are still
working hard to stop the radioactive leakage in Fukushima.
Kudamkulam project is not a transparent one. The authorities always keep secrecy on the
progress of the project. The reactor parts of Kudamkulam plant is made by Sio
Podolsk, a Russian company which faced Government probe in Russia for misdeeds.
One of their officers was arrested in Russia for exporting low quality
equipment. It's widely alleged that the reactor parts bought for Kudamkulam
plant are of low quality. This became controversial after the arrest of Sio Podolsk
officer. Manmohan Singh and his Government say that the nuclear plants in India
are safe. But a survey conducted by Nuclear Energy International says that
Indian nuclear plants are of bad quality. According to a study conducted by
Helen Caldicott, a renowned physician and an anti-nuclear activist, Indian
nuclear plants are the most polluted plants in the world. Even though major accidents have
not happened in India, there were leakages and other serious problems occurred in
Indian nuclear plants like Narora. The livelihood of a large number of people
at Kudamkulam is based on fishing. It’s a fact that the nuclear plant will
adversely affect their livelihood.
If we look at the total
production of electricity in the world, we can find that the nuclear energy’s
contribution is 14% only. USA has the most number of nuclear plants. There are
104 nuclear plants in USA. But the number of cancelled projects is more than
this. They have decommissioned 28 plants yet. The Nuclear power industry is at
a critical stage now. The contribution of nuclear power to the total production
of electricity in the world is now only 10%. It was 21% in 2011. After
Fukushima, the attitude and approach of International community towards nuclear
energy has changed. Actually the Nuclear power industry considers a country like
India as a good market. Central Government is now playing this nuclear politics
in the name of energy scarcity and development. A similar people's struggle is
going on at Jaitapur, Maharashtra against the Nuclear power project. But there,
some political parties are supporting the people's movement unlike Kudamkulam. The
responsible political parties in India have failed to clarify their stand
towards nuclear energy. But the people can't wait for them to take leadership
of the struggle. This is the question of people's survival.