[sacw] sacw dispatch (22 Oct 99)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web
22 October 1999
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#1. N-accident may occur anytime in India: Expert
#2. India's name is'nt religiously correct they claim
#3. Cocksure chieftains
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#1.
Times of India
22 October 1999

N-ACCIDENT MAY OCCUR ANYTIME IN INDIA: EXPERT

HYDERABAD: Former chief of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) A
Gopalakrishnan has warned that India is ``likely to face a serious
nuclear accident in the not too distant future''.

He was replying to a question whether an accident similar to the one
that occurred in a uranium processing plant in Japan last month could
occur in India.

Mr Gopalakrishnan said a report prepared by AERB in 1995, which listed
130 defects in various nuclear installations, ``did include some
identified problems related to reprocessing plants''.

``I am not permitted to discuss the specifics openly but suffice to say
that the degree of automation and cross-checks on safety in our older
plants are very minimal and one cannot assert at all that an accident
like the one which occurred in Japan will not happen in India,'' he
said.

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has so far not made the AERB
report public in spite of legal pressure from the People's Union of
Civil Liberties, and DAE officials were not available for comment on
whether Indian fuel processing plants faced any risk as in Japan.

The September accident at the Japanese facility in Tokaimura occurred
when too much uranium was fed into a container, setting off an
uncontrolled chain reaction. It continued for hours spewing
radioactivity into the air leaving 49 people exposed to deadly r
adiation.

Mr Gopalakrishnan said excessive secrecy in DAE and inability of AERB to
function independently alone took care of the safety of nuclear
installations in India.

``With a captive AERB from which the DAE can in effect withhold
information as they wish, coupled with the shelter the DAE enjoys
through invoking the national security bogey and the Official Secrets
Act, we are likely to face a serious nuclear accident in the not too
distant future,'' he said.

``But, with the prevailing cover of secrecy and lack of public awareness
none of us may ever come to know that such an accident has happened
unless the roof of a plant blows out or a visible fire rages there,'' he
said.

According to Mr Gopalakrishnan, the AERB report, among other things, had
urgently called for modification of emergency core cooling systems
(ECCS). Emergency cooling is vital to prevent melting of the reactor
core in the event of breakdown in the circulation of primary coolant.

India had two close calls, one in 1979 - when primary coolant pipe in
Tarapur reactor burst. Luckily, the reactor was not operating at the
time and so an accident was averted.

In 1993, explosion of leaking hydrogen blew up the turbine building of
the atomic plant at Narora and the resulting power blackout stopped the
coolant pump. This time, the core melting was averted by whatever
natural circulation that prevailed due to what is known as the
``thermosyphon'' effect.

While the Narora fire ranked three in the international event scale of 1
to 7, DAE installations had experienced smaller incidents that had the
potential to become serious, he said.

These include cable fire in Rajasthan atomic power plant in 1985, escape
of coolant heavy water in Madras station in June 1986 and as recently as
in March 1999, six tonnes of heavy water gushed out exposing seven
workers to radiation.

While a fire gutted Kakrapar switch yard and flooded the turbine in
1994, the concrete dome of Kaiga atomic plant collapsed in May 1994 - an
incident which would have been a disaster had it happened while the
reactor was running.

In an official statement in April 1999, the Nuclear Power Corporation
(NPC) said the Narora fire was ``beyond the control of NPC as the fire
happened in the turbines'', and that the Kaiga dome collapse was
``unfortunate''.

In May 1987, a mistake during a routine refuelling operation resulted in
a fuel assembly getting entangled with control rod forcing closure of
the second unit of the Madras station for two years.

Four tonnes of heavy water spilled out of Dhruva research reactor in
1985 because a valve did not close and in 1991, six vital valves in the
ECCS of Dhruva were found to be in wrong positions.

Another serious human error occurred in 1989, when a technician was
locked inside the Dhruva vault as the reactor was being started.

A recent DAE study had listed all possible accidents that could occur in
Indian atomic power stations due to human error, but its findings, like
the AERB report appear to be secret since efforts to obtain the report
also failed.

Information about the number of workers exposed to more than normal
radiation was also not available.

With so much secrecy, Mr Gopalakrishnan said he feared that the public
would never know even if there was a serious nuclear accident in India.
``Anything which the DAE can hush up and sweep under the carpet, one can
be sure they will cover up promptly,'' he said.

``Nuclear power is an unforgiving technology,'' cautioned B P Rastogi, a
retired reactor designer. ``It allows no room for error. It requires
perfection if one wants to prevent accidents,'' he said.(PTI)
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#2.
CHANGE INDIA TO BHARAT DEMAND RELIGIOUS LEADERS
NEW DELHI, Oct 20 (DHNS)

The seer of Prayag Mutt, Jagatguru Shankaracharya Swami Madhavanand
Saraswati, today demanded that the country should be called ''Bharat``,
not India as ''the latter smacked of slavery``.

The pontiff, who led an all religion march to the Parliament House along
with Maulana Sadruddin Ansari, Reverend Victor David of the Baptist Church
and Jathedar Narender Singh Nankana, here today, said to carry on with a
name given by aliens was nothing but an abuse.

He was addressing the rallyists who were shouting slogans like ''India
nahin, Bharat chahiye`` (Not India, we want Bharat) after the Rapid Action
Force (RAF) personnel stopped the march mid- way. The seer urged the
government to introduce necessary legislation rechristening India as
''Bharat`` and said the country should enter the new millennium as Bharat.
He also threatened the Government with a peaceful country-wide stir if the
demand was not met.
[source: India Network News Digest - Oct. 21, 1999]
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#3.
The Asian Age
Friday 22nd October 1999 
Editorial

COCKSURE CHIEFTAINS

The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh wants to have its cake and eat it too.
It has, through its leadership's customary Vijayadashami oration at
Nagpur, adopted the National Democratic Alliance's victory in the recent
polls and called it a victory of "Hindu nationalism." This
interpretation of the electoral verdict does not merely co-opt the BJP's
allies to the Hindutva platform. The RSS subsequently adds that those
within the NDA who do not strictly adhere to the Hindutva ideology
exemplify one point: even when they may have their differences within it
on certain issues, they do not consider the Bharatiya Janata Party to be
an untouchable any more. It is a moot point what some of the allies, a
fair number of self-proclaimed socialists among them, have to say to
this. But it is obvious that like an over-protective, doting parent, the
RSS is unwilling to let its political offspring have any fancy ideas of
branching out on its own. However, given the fact that the new
arrangement at the Centre is largely the handiwork of the BJP's allies,
the RSS has made a few significant omissions from its hard charter.
Issues such as Ayodhya, Article 370 of the Constitution and the need for
a Uniform Civil Code were kept out by RSS chief Rajendra Singh and his
deputy H.V. Seshadhri from their speeches. It perhaps realises that Mr
Atal Behari Vajpayee may not appreciate being saddled with such demands
at a time when he is straining his all to appear as acceptable as
possible to each of his partners in the alliance. But putting issues on
the backburner is a mere tactical device, because the RSS supremo
insisted that concepts such as secularism which were "foreign" in nature
should be kept out of the picture frame. His lieutenant has asked the
Pope to use his forthcoming visit to India as a platform to announce
"equality" of all religions, something which the RSS itself has never
done, having insisted all along that people of other faiths living in
India should consider themselves to be part of "Hindu Rashtra." In other
words, even while advising the Vatican, the seat of Christian authority
and theological order, to act against its charter, the RSS reserves for
itself the right to hold on to its own views on the form and nature of
the Indian state. Be that as it may, few will see the 1999 Lok Sabha
verdict as a reflection of an upsurge of Hindu nationalism, as the RSS
has done. Even the BJP, the Sangh Parivar's direct offshoot, consciously
avoided selling itself as a party committed to usher in a Hindutva-based
order. While it is understandable that the RSS, for reasons related to
safeguarding its own brand equity, cannot give up on its time-worn credo
for fear of losing its distinctive sectarian appeal, and will also like
to keep up the tone and tenor of its recruitment shakhas to withstand
pluralistic currents threatening to sweep the polity; it cannot at the
same time embarrass Mr Vajpayee with a strident and specific agenda.
Right now, it seems that the RSS needs the Vajpayee government more than
the latter needs it, and that may for the moment come as some kind of
relief to those who fear that it is only a matter of time for the
"hidden agenda" of the Hindu Right to be unleashed on the nation.

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