Are India nuclear power plants safe: 3 deaths at Kalpakkam raises doubts

[kristopher]

Are India nuclear power plants safe: 3 deaths at Kalpakkam raises doubts
03/01/2012

India, March 1 -- By John C K Daly India is betting heavily on nuclear power to meet its surging energy needs. While India currently has six nuclear power plants (NPPs) with 20 reactors generating 4 780 megawatts seven other reactors are under construction and are expected to generate an additional 5 300 megawatts.

...

As for worries about the hazards of nuclear power generation earlier this month Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Srikumar Banerjee told a gathering at the Department of Atomic Energy s Raja Ramanna Center for Advanced Technology in Indore "All atomic energy plants in the country are totally secured as per international standards and are also capable of dealing with natural calamities like tsunamis or earthquakes."

...

After being in denial for years last month the selfsame Department of Atomic Energy for the first time admitted that the deaths of its employees and their dependents at the Kalpakkam nuclear site were caused by multiple myeloma a rare form of bone marrow cancer linked to nuclear radiation.

Not that the DAE willingly divulged the information it came to light in response to a Right to Information (RTI) inquiry from October 2011 with the DAE acknowledging that nine people including three employees working at the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) at Kalpakkam 44 miles from Chennai died of multiple myeloma and bone cancer between 1995 and 2011. The DAE had previously stonewalled all previous requests for information.

The report paints a troubling picture of the policies at the DAE which sends out high ranking officials with bland assurances ...

http://www.power-eng.com/news/2012/03/01/are-india-nuclear-power-plants-safe-3-deaths-at-kalpakkam-raises-doubts.html

[FBaggins]

1. Nope... it doesn't "raise doubts"

unless the person started with those doubts in the first place of course.

Nine people died of multiple myeloma. The author dishonestly leaves you with the impression that this cancer is "linked" primarily "to nuclear radiation".

How long would it take to actually report the truth? Multiple myeloma is almost always associated with a genetic abnormality. Three people who worked at the plant died... but also six of their family members. The likelihood that plant workers were "taking their work home with them" is far lower than the chance that these families suffered from one or more of the genetic abnormalities... yet somehow that didn't make the article?

If this was just a report of MM in plant workers it would warrant further investigation (as a UNC study a decade ago did indicate an increased risk for MM from significant doses)... but the fact that multiple relatives also have the same condition makes it highly unlikely.

[madokie]

2. The nuclear industry as a whole lie

It seems to matter not where they are located they're all the same, they lie.

[PamW]

3. I'd like to see some documentation of these "lies"

I'd like to see some documentation of these "lies".

I've always found that it is the people accusing the nuclear industry that are at fault.

They don't understand something, either because they didn't study it in school, or they just flat out don't have the
mental horsepower; so they proclaim it "untrue" and a "lie".

When I ask this question, I always get the "too cheap to meter" lie. However, that was NOT said by anyone in the
nuclear industry. It was said by a Government official, then AEC Chairman Lewis Strauss, and he wasn't talking about
the nuclear power plants we have now; he was talking about nuclear fusion:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Strauss

In 1954, Strauss predicted that atomic power would make electricity "too cheap to meter." He was referring to
Project Sherwood, a secret program to develop power from hydrogen fusion, not uranium fission reactors as is
commonly believed.


PamW

[kristopher]

4. Sure.

Start with your repeating the spin about Strauss in that post and move on to any of your posts in this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11277405