Antinuclear

Julia Gillard’s backflip on uranium to India has met with dismay by India’s growing anti nuclear movement

Heat rises beyond the smog in India  AMANDA HODGE, SOUTH ASIA CORRESPONDENT : The Australian November 26, 2011 “………particularly where the government’s nuclear energy parks are planned, such as India’s southern tip, news of the [Julia Gillard’s]  backflip [on uranium sales to India] has been met with dismay.

power debate in India has never been fiercer – or opposition greater…..  confidence worldwide in the nuclear industry has plummeted since the Japanese tsunami in March triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

In India, where its nuclear capability has traditionally stirred great national pride, Fukushima gave meaning and pictures to environmentalists’ warnings. “People are realising that if something like this can happen in Japan, where everything runs on time, it can definitely happen here,” Greenpeace India nuclear spokeswoman Karuna Raina says…..

People are deeply concerned because they haven’t been told how safety will be assured. What started off as localised protests is now knitting together into an all-India anti-nuclear movement.

While India’s government aims to ramp up nuclear energy to 25 per cent of all generated power by 2050 (from less than 3 per cent today), some analysts have warned there will be few commercial opportunities in the short term for Australian uranium, given India has already signed supply contracts with six other nations…..

he says India’s nuclear ambitions are “highly unrealistic”, pointing to the 2008 projections of the then Atomic Energy Commission chairman that nuclear could even be as high as half of all power by 2050. “Dr (Anil) Kakodkar projected that India would be generating 650,000MW of nuclear power by 2050. That’s 650 1000MW nuclear reactors,” he says. “You would almost need to evict the entire fishermen population of India.”…….. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/heat-rises-beyond-the-smog/story-e6frg6z6-1226206437691

November 28, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized