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Questions are being asked in India whether enough attention is being given to the risk of a nuclear disaster in the world's second-most popular nation
NEW DELHI (AlertNet) - The nuclear fallout from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan has, not surprisingly, turned the Indian media's spotlight on the country's own nuclear energy expansion plans and the high risks it poses.
With an energy deficit of about 12 percent, power-starved India is rapidly establishing nuclear plants to fuel its economic growth. It currently has 22 plants across the country. And at least six more are on the way.
But as we in India watch industrialised, well-prepared Japan struggle to contain the nuclear emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, uncomfortable questions over nuclear energy are being raised at home.
A torrent of newspaper and online articles, television debates and panel discussions have, as in many nuclear nations, not only resurrected doubts over the need for nuclear power but also whether due attention is being given to the risk of a nuclear disaster in the world's second-most populous nation.
The Indian government has sought to reassure and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for a review of the safety systems of nuclear power plants but environmentalists, social activists and commentators remain unconvinced.
Concerns range from the secrecy which India's nuclear industry is shrouded in and its refusal to share information about its inner workings with the public to questions over corruption and skimping on nuclear safety standards
Reports have also raised the uneasy issue that some nuclear plants are situated on seismic zones and near coastal areas, posing a high risk in the event of an earthquake and tsunami.
EMERGENCY RESPONSE
Yet few have questioned India's emergency response planning if such an event would occur.
This article, comical though it may be, gives a worrying indication of how ill-prepared India may be and begs the following question.
"In the immediate aftermath of a large-scale nuclear disaster, what will the Indian government be doing to protect its people and avoid a humanitarian crisis?"
More than two years ago, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) produced a 132-page document, which provides guidelines on how to deal with a nuclear emergency.
"Proper emergency preparedness plans must be in place so that there is minimum avoidable loss of life, livelihood, property and impact on the environment," the document states in its executive summary.
The document talks of the need to have clearly defined evacuation plans for populations living in close proximity to nuclear facilities, ensuring these communities are aware of the threats and that drills be held regularly.
Trained medical staff should be required to deploy to the site of the disaster and hospital authorities near nuclear plants need to develop plans for creating a temporary hospital capacity to accommodate a large number of casualties, it states.
Supplies such as iodine prophylaxis, protective clothing and masks, radiation survey instruments, decontamination equipment should be acquired and stock-piled.
Temporary shelters for communities hit by the emergency will also need to be established, say the NDMA guidelines, warning that "many persons in shelters will have varying degrees of sickness due to radiation exposure, secondary infections, shortage of power, water and medicines."
Other key steps include withdrawal and substitution of supplies of drinking water and food (if risk of contamination) and proactively using the media to keep the public informed.
These guidelines are designed to provide direction to government departments and local authorities so that they can prepare their own action plans.
The question we should all be asking is how much of these words have been translated into reality on the ground?
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