Delhi Rally-National Alliance of Anti-Nuclear Movements

[bananas]

Some good news from India - citizens are rallying against nuclear energy:

Delhi Rally-National Alliance of Anti-Nuclear Movements

“DELHI RALLY”

Organized by the

National Alliance of Anti-nuclear Movements (NAAM)

On October 2, 2009, Friday at New Delhi

CONCEPT NOTE

Soon after Independence, the ‘Indian Atomic Energy Commission’ was set up in August 1948 in the new and fledgling Department of Scientific Research. But it was only on August 3, 1954 the fully-fledged Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) was created under the direct control of the Prime Minister through a Presidential Order. The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) itself was established in the Department of Atomic Energy by a Government Resolution of March 1, 1958. Just three months after the DAE was established, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru unequivocally declared in a conference on ‘Development of Nuclear Power for Peaceful Purposes’: “We want to utilise atomic energy for generating electricity because electricity is most essential for the development of the nation.”

Long on Talk, Short on Performance

Quite contrary to all the fanfare and high-pitched public relations exercises by the DAE, it is one of the most under-performing sectors in India. Just to illustrate, in 1954 a grand three stage program for development of nuclear power was announced. It had at that time been projected that there would be 8000 MW of nuclear power in the country by 1980. As the years progressed, these predictions were to increase. By 1962, the prediction was that nuclear energy would generate 20-25,000 MW by 1987 and by 1969 the DAE predicted that by 2000 there would be 43,500 MW of nuclear generating capacity. All of this was before a single unit of nuclear electricity was produced in the country.

As against these promises, the installed capacity in 1979-80 stood at about 600 MW, about 950 MW in 1987 and 2720 MW in 2000. The only explanation that the DAE has offered for its failures has been to blame the cessation of foreign cooperation following the 1974 nuclear weapons test. At the same time, these sanctions also provided the DAE with an opportunity: each development, no matter how small or routine, could be portrayed as a heroic success, achieved in the face of staunch opposition by other countries and impossible odds, while any failures could be passed off as a result of the determination of other countries to block and prevent India achieving technological advancement. Such continuous failures were, however, not because of any paucity of resources. All governments in New Delhi have favoured nuclear energy and the DAE’s budgets have always been high except for a brief period in the early 90s.

Currently 17 nuclear power reactors produce 4,120 MW (2.9% of total installed base - as against the current installed base of renewable energy being 13,242 MW which is 7.7% of total installed base with the southern state of Tamil Nadu contributing nearly a third of it, largely through wind power). The DAE is planning to set up 20 units of indigenous 700 MW of pressurised heavy water (PHWR) type reactors. The DAE hopes to be overseeing a $100 billion investment in nuclear energy in the coming decade and importing some 40 light water reactors that will help India stabilize its demand for power by 2020. The DAE predicts that the nuclear share of electricity by 2020 would be 35,000 MW.<1>

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