DiaNuke.org

Small modular reactors — a radioactive idea

Helen Caldicott AUSTRALIAN politicians are contemplating developing nuclear power for this country. In their ignorance, they are mooting “small modular reactors” (SMRs) about which they clearly know little. To partly explain their enthusiasm here is the background story. The so-called “nuclear renaissance” died following the Fukushima catastrophe when one-sixth of the world’sRead More

Nuclear Power Plants Costlier than Ever: New Research Finds Construction Delays Escalate Cost

A new analysis of the history of nuclear power plant projects shows since 2010 delays have contributed 18 per cent the costs.

Mounting apprehensions regarding techno-economic feasibility of EPRs: Shankar Sharma’s Letter to the DAE

16 July 2020 To The Secretary Department of Atomic Energy, New Delhi Dr. Jitendra Singh MOS, PMO, New Delhi Honorable Prime Minister Govt. of India, New Delhi Dear Sirs, Greetings from Sagar, Western Ghats, Karnataka. May I draw your kind attention to the latest French Auditor’s report, as in the newsRead More

Unlike Covid, Nuclear Weapons Leave No Curve to Flatten

Lassina Zerbo | Kyodo News The coronavirus pandemic seemed to come from nowhere, and the battle to beat it is currently crowding out thoughts of another terrifying threat whose “surprise” would cause significantly greater devastation. The tragedy of COVID-19 must take immediate priority, and it has thrown a stark lightRead More

What the Nuclear Ban Implies: Struggles Against Nukes by Communities and Smaller Countries Are Now Legal

The coming into effect of the Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will empower and breathe new life into the struggles of affected communities, destroyed landscapes  and smaller countries for a nuclear-free world.

“We would like France to apologise”: Nuclear test survivors in French Polynesia

As the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings approaches, the legacy of cold war–era French nuclear testing is still in dispute

Two Decades Since Pokhran-II Nuclear Tests: A Quick Analytical Survey

Sukla Sen | The ill-advised nuclearization neither enhanced India’s security — defined in terms of the ability to eliminate/minimise external military threats, nor strategic autonomy — the ability to operate more freely on the international stage.

The story of Midori Naka and the harvested body parts of atomic bomb victims

“The human remains taken from Hiroshima and Nagasaki formed a crucial archive for understanding the effects of radiation, and from the very beginning the U.S. government touted the usefulness of this new collection.”

‘Disaster Capitalism at its Worst’: Nuclear Industry Lobbies Scramble for Bailout during COVID-19 Crisis

Friends of the Earth on Monday accused the nuclear power industry of exhibiting “disaster capitalism at its worst” after a lobbying group representing it reportedly asked the Trump administration for a 30% percent tax credit amid the coronavirus pandemic and pressed congressional lawmakers to include handouts in stimulus legislation making its way through the House and Senate.

Fukushima mothers record radiation for future generations

A group of over 10 mothers who set up a citizen-led laboratory to monitor radiation levels in Fukushima following the massive earthquake and tsunami which caused meltdowns at the nuclear power plant in the northeastern prefecture 9 years ago, continue to record and disclose radiation data on foodstuffs and soil collected or brought in by people from different parts of the prefecture, as well as seawater off the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

“We would like France to apologise”: Nuclear test survivors in French Polynesia

As the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings approaches, the legacy of cold war–era French nuclear testing is still in dispute

‘Disaster Capitalism at its Worst’: Nuclear Industry Lobbies Scramble for Bailout during COVID-19 Crisis

Friends of the Earth on Monday accused the nuclear power industry of exhibiting “disaster capitalism at its worst” after a lobbying group representing it reportedly asked the Trump administration for a 30% percent tax credit amid the coronavirus pandemic and pressed congressional lawmakers to include handouts in stimulus legislation making its way through the House and Senate.

The Chernobyl series, why now?

Pinar Demircan | Declaring Soviet Russia as the sole perpetrator of the world’s largest nuclear disaster over the Chernobyl series by ignoring nuclear realities to the extent I have described above, shows that the image of the risks on nuclear power plants around the world is tried to be reshaped.

Low-Dose Ionizing Radiation Causes Cancer: Review of 26 Studies Shows

An international team of experts in the study of cancer risks associated with low-dose ionizing radiation published the monograph, “Epidemiological studies of low-dose ionizing radiation and cancer: Summary bias assessment and meta-analysis,” in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute on July 13, 2020.  

In a Season of Impetuous Lawmaking, whither Nuclear Safety?

Sonali Huria | The Leaflet SINCE returning to power last year with an overwhelming majority in the 2019 general elections, the Modi-led government has passed a series of legislations in rapid succession without any credible dialogue both within and outside Parliament – amendments to the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, which in effect have diluted the statutory requirementRead More

Namaste Nukes? Trump’s Toxic Sales Pitch for the Stalled Westinghouse Nuclear Project in India

Kumar Sundaram | Despite the hype that Trump’s recent visit generated – of an upgrade of US-India relations to a ‘Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership’ and so on – there is very little that India stands to gain. In the absence of any new meaningful and people-centric cooperation on trade, environment, education or technology, this nuclear tango will only remain a farcical buildup at the cost of the safety and livelihoods of Indian citizens.

Cyber Vulnerability of Kudankulam Nuclear Plant: Risks More Pronounced than the Current Episode Reveals

Kumar Sundaram | The NPCIL must come clear on the larger issue of suppliers and systems involved in the KKNPP. Transparency is a pre-requisite when the safety of millions of Indian citizens is at stake. Also, the foreign control of crucial infrastructure is an important aspect that simply cannot be ignored.

Nuclear Safety Regimes and India: What the Silence on the latest Fukushima Crisis Tells Us

Sonali Huria| The Leaflet  THE new year has begun on a grim note with a toxic gas leak at the Rourkela Steel Plant in Odisha on 6 January, which claimed the lives of four contractual workers. This is the latest in a disconcerting string of industrial accidents in India over the last fewRead More

Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster: The Definitive Story

The National Arts Club presents a conversation with Adam Higginbotham, author of “Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster.” Higginbotham’s book is the definitive story of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, an “account that reads almost like the script for a movie.” (“The Wall Street Journal”).

40 Years of Three Mile Island Accident: Murderous Legacy Still Threatens Us All

Harvey Wasserman | Forty years after TMI, the question is: How many more operating nukes will blow up like Fukushima and Chernobyl, or partially melt like Three Mile Island, pouring heat and radiation into the ecosphere?

Cyber Vulnerability of Kudankulam Nuclear Plant: Risks More Pronounced than the Current Episode Reveals

Kumar Sundaram | The NPCIL must come clear on the larger issue of suppliers and systems involved in the KKNPP. Transparency is a pre-requisite when the safety of millions of Indian citizens is at stake. Also, the foreign control of crucial infrastructure is an important aspect that simply cannot be ignored.

Cyber Vulnerability of Kudankulam Nuclear Plant: Risks More Pronounced than the Current Episode Reveals

Kumar Sundaram | The NPCIL must come clear on the larger issue of suppliers and systems involved in the KKNPP. Transparency is a pre-requisite when the safety of millions of Indian citizens is at stake. Also, the foreign control of crucial infrastructure is an important aspect that simply cannot be ignored.

Why is India bent on bailing out the French nuclear industry at the cost of its own citizens’ lives?

Even as the French nuclear regulator ASN has put the nuclear power company EDF on a safety watch after repeated warning in recent years about vulnerabilities in the EPR design, the Modi government in India continues to push for the purchase of 6 EPRs for setting up in Jaitapur. We are publishing this open letter written by the former Union Power Secretary Dr. EAS Sarma to the Secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India in this context. The letter deserves wider circulation. 

Chutka Nuclear Project: Former CM Digvijay Singh Voices Opposition, Will India’s Political Class Wake Up?

Kumar Sundaram | The former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and senior leader of the opposition Congress party has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to rethink the Chutka nuclear power project proposed in the state. We urgently need suck reckoning across the political spectrum.

Fatehabad nuclear project: a Fukushima in the making?

Amita Bhaduri | Nuclear plants are usually located near oceans or rivers in order to have access to ample water for cooling but not the plant at Fatehabad. When completed, it will be India’s largest and could be its most dangerous too.

Namaste Nukes? Trump’s Toxic Sales Pitch for the Stalled Westinghouse Nuclear Project in India

Kumar Sundaram | Despite the hype that Trump’s recent visit generated – of an upgrade of US-India relations to a ‘Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership’ and so on – there is very little that India stands to gain. In the absence of any new meaningful and people-centric cooperation on trade, environment, education or technology, this nuclear tango will only remain a farcical buildup at the cost of the safety and livelihoods of Indian citizens.

129 People Jailed for Protesting Against Kalpakkam Reactor

In a bid to intimidate fenceline communities living around the Kalpakkam nuclear reactors, the Tamil Nadu Police has jailed 129 people of the 650 that were detained in wedding halls yesterday.

Expansion of Kaiga Nuclear Plant in India: An Open Letter to the Atomic Energy Commission

Shankar Sharma | Considering all these issues in the overall welfare perspective of the true welfare of the people of Uttara Kannada district, the state of Karnataka and the country, and in the context that nuclear power is the costliest, riskiest and least favored electricity option around the world, and that there are much benign and much less costly options to meet the legitimate demand for electricity in our country, the AEC/DAE should ask NPCIL to withdraw its application for Environmental Clearance to this project proposal.

Mithivirdi Anti-Nuke Movement: Where Villagers Defeated A Mighty Corporation Like Westinghouse

The proposed 6000 MegaWatt (MWe) nuclear power plant at Mithivirdi in the Bhavnagar district of Gujarat has now been officially slated for Kovada, Andhra Pradesh. A decade long struggle to save their land has ended in victory for the villagers of the region.

IAEA team raised serious safety issues at Rawatbhata, say activists – The Hindu

Activist seek “transparent and independent” inspection to address issues of vulnerability and unaccountability.

People’s movement against nuclear project in Haripur: a must-watch documentary

Courtesy: Alternative Media Initiative People’s movement against nuclear project in Haripur: a must-watch documentary

Nuclear Safety Regimes and India: What the Silence on the latest Fukushima Crisis Tells Us

Sonali Huria| The Leaflet  THE new year has begun on a grim note with a toxic gas leak at the Rourkela Steel Plant in Odisha on 6 January, which claimed the lives of four contractual workers. This is the latest in a disconcerting string of industrial accidents in India over the last fewRead More

Nuclear Safety Regimes and India: What the Silence on the latest Fukushima Crisis Tells Us

Sonali Huria| The Leaflet  THE new year has begun on a grim note with a toxic gas leak at the Rourkela Steel Plant in Odisha on 6 January, which claimed the lives of four contractual workers. This is the latest in a disconcerting string of industrial accidents in India over the last fewRead More

Nuclear Safety Regimes and India: What the Silence on the latest Fukushima Crisis Tells Us

Sonali Huria| The Leaflet  THE new year has begun on a grim note with a toxic gas leak at the Rourkela Steel Plant in Odisha on 6 January, which claimed the lives of four contractual workers. This is the latest in a disconcerting string of industrial accidents in India over the last fewRead More

Nuclear Safety Regimes and India: What the Silence on the latest Fukushima Crisis Tells Us

Sonali Huria| The Leaflet  THE new year has begun on a grim note with a toxic gas leak at the Rourkela Steel Plant in Odisha on 6 January, which claimed the lives of four contractual workers. This is the latest in a disconcerting string of industrial accidents in India over the last fewRead More

Nuclear Safety Regimes and India: What the Silence on the latest Fukushima Crisis Tells Us

Sonali Huria| The Leaflet  THE new year has begun on a grim note with a toxic gas leak at the Rourkela Steel Plant in Odisha on 6 January, which claimed the lives of four contractual workers. This is the latest in a disconcerting string of industrial accidents in India over the last fewRead More

Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Strategic Stability and Nuclear Risk in South Asia: New SIPRI Report

This volume assembles the perspectives of eight experts on South Asia on why and how machine learning and autonomy may become the focus of an arms race among nuclear-armed states. It further explores how the adoption of these technologies may have an impact on their calculation of strategic stability and nuclear risk at the regional and transregional levels.

Noam Chomsky: The Myth of “Usable” Nuclear Weapons

Noam Chomsky sits down with Lawrence Krauss in this episode of The Origins Podcast:

Uranium Atlas 2020: A global map of uranium mines that also tells you about their environmental and social costs

Trinity Test and the 1979 Church Rock uranium mill disaster, both in New Mexico.

The Uranium Atlas looks at everywhere uranium was mined and processed, then how and where it was used, and who suffered as a result. The inescapable conclusion is that the uranium pathway has led us down a slippery slope — to nuclear weapons, nuclear power, and long-lived radioactive waste. And to global discrimination against Indigenous peoples and communities of color.

Fukushima’s Nuclear Samurai

After a devastating earthquake hit off the coast of Japan, what would follow would be a devastating tsunami that nearly leveled the nuclear reactor at Fukushima. In order for the nuclear plant to keep from exploding, brave scientists decided it was their duty to stay and work in shifts 24 hours a day until the nuclear reactor could be sustained and repaired. Check out this incredible story of selflessness and bravery, in the true way of the samurai!

Why is India bent on bailing out the French nuclear industry at the cost of its own citizens’ lives?

Even as the French nuclear regulator ASN has put the nuclear power company EDF on a safety watch after repeated warning in recent years about vulnerabilities in the EPR design, the Modi government in India continues to push for the purchase of 6 EPRs for setting up in Jaitapur. We are publishing this open letter written by the former Union Power Secretary Dr. EAS Sarma to the Secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India in this context. The letter deserves wider circulation. 

Irradiated Lives: Contractual Workers at the Rawatbhata Nuclear Power Plant

Fact finding report on casual workers in Rawatbhata.

In Pictures: Massive “No Nukes Day” Demonstration in Tokyo- 28 June 2014

On this Saturday, 28th June, over five thousands of people gathered at Meiji park in Tokyo and made a big demonstration called ” No Nukes Day” , protesting against the restart of operation in Sendai nuclear power plant, in Kushu. It has been raining from the morning on that day, but after starting the march at 14:30 it stopped raining and they started marching for approx. 3 km from Meiji park to Yoyogi park. They walked through the weekend Tokyo town raising their voices against restart of all nuclear power plants in Japan and made a strong appeal to people around the town.

In Pictures: Massive “No Nukes Day” Demonstration in Tokyo- 28 June 2014

On this Saturday, 28th June, over five thousands of people gathered at Meiji park in Tokyo and made a big demonstration called ” No Nukes Day” , protesting against the restart of operation in Sendai nuclear power plant, in Kushu. It has been raining from the morning on that day, but after starting the march at 14:30 it stopped raining and they started marching for approx. 3 km from Meiji park to Yoyogi park. They walked through the weekend Tokyo town raising their voices against restart of all nuclear power plants in Japan and made a strong appeal to people around the town.