NEW DELHI (AlertNet) - A controversial Indian law protecting companies from having to pay out major sums of compensation in the event of an accident at a nuclear power plant is pandering to foreign investors at the expense of the Indian people, say critics.
The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill - which the government says is crucial for many foreign companies to tap into energy-starved India's emerging nuclear power market - was slammed by critics last month, forcing the government to postpone its introduction in parliament.
It is now expected to be tabled before legislators in the current session of parliament, which resumes on April 15.
But opposition parties, activists and some legal experts say the bill ignores the 'polluter pays' principle and protects foreign nuclear suppliers from compensating victims and cleaning up the environment after a nuclear mishap. Some analysts add that granting foreign suppliers legal immunity upfront weakens nuclear safety.
"The bill allows private foreign companies who will build the nuclear plants to get off scot-free in case of a mishap and places the financial and legal liability on state-run company operating the plant," said Vinuta Gopal, climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace.
"There is also a limit on how much damages can be paid. This is a joke as a nuclear disaster can create massive human suffering and environmental damage so there should be no cap on financial liability."
The planned legislation seeks to put a maximum liability of about $450 million on the state-run reactor operator without placing any compensation burden on private suppliers and contractors.
A similar law in United States, activists say, has set the financial liability for such an accident at $10.5 billion - 23 times more that the limit proposed in India.
Legal experts add the planned legislation is "unconstitutional" as it goes against the 'polluter pays' principle, which is part of Indian law, and ultimately leads to the taxpayers footing the bill as the operator is a state-run enterprise.
BHOPAL DISASTER
The issue of industrial accidents is especially sensitive in a country that experienced one of the world's worst industrial disasters in 1984, when a gas leak in a Union Carbide pesticide factory in the central Indian city of Bhopal killed around 8,000 people.
Activists claim thousands more have died of illnesses related to gas exposure in the years that followed - bringing the death toll to 25,000 over the past 26 years.
A further 100,000 people who were exposed to the gas continue to suffer chronic health problems such as cancer, respiratory difficulties, immune and neurological disorders, and birth defects among children born to affected women, say health workers.
According to studies by a leading environmental think-tank last year, the absence of an environmental clean-up after the disaster has led to toxic chemicals seeping into the ground, poisoning the drinking water of tens of thousands of slum dwellers living near the now abandoned factory.
The Indian government was widely criticised for accepting what was called a "paltry compensation" for the victims of about $470 million from Union Carbide. Social activists in Bhopal say the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill proves that no lessons have been learned.
"Placing a cap is ridiculous ... the impact of a chemical disaster more than a quarter of a century ago is being felt by a third generation of people," said Rachna Dhingra of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.
"This bill basically sends a clear signal to companies with such technologies they can come to India and pollute without even the risk of having to step inside a courtroom."
DESPERATE ENERGY NEEDS
Since a 2008 U.S. deal ended India's nuclear isolation of more than three decades, firms from the United States, Russia, France, Canada and Britain have been scrambling for a foothold in the energy-starved country, which aims to double the share of nuclear power on its grid to more than 8 percent over two decades.
With an energy deficit of about 12 percent, India is struggling to power its economic growth. Nuclear energy is also being touted as a way for the world's fourth biggest emitter to curb fossil fuel emissions.
Coal accounts for more than half of India's total energy consumption, followed by oil, a bulk of which is imported. But experts say beyond 2050 the availability of coal in India will be a major problem.
Government officials say India's nuclear energy ambitions cannot be realised without this legislation as foreign companies - particularly U.S. firms - will hesitate to establish power plants without legislation that underwrites their compensation liability in case of industrial accidents.
India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been quoted in news reports as saying he is willing to make changes to the bill. But many remain sceptical.
"I doubt very much that they will remove anything that makes foreign nuclear suppliers vulnerable ... our energy needs are very pressing," said one climate change expert.
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