Antinuclear

“…………STEPHANIE MARCH: India’s nuclear safety watchdog, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, issues the guidelines for how mines like Jaduguda operate and is responsible for overseeing the nuclear power plants, like this one in Rajasthan, that may eventually receive Australian uranium. However, India’s Auditor General and Public Accounts Committee have found deep flaws in the regulator’s structure and operations. Their reports call the regulator weak and not independent of industry or government.

ABHIJIT IYER-MITRA: Well the concern really is that it’s becoming a bit of an old boys’ network. So the people who retire from the Atomic Energy Commission, they come onto the Atomic Energy Regulatory body and they’re basically auditing their own friends. They’re auditing their own work.

S.R. UDAYAKUMAR, ANTI-NUCLEAR ACTIVIST: If they were transparent, open, accountable and democratic in their functioning, we wouldn’t have this problem. We wouldn’t be so suspicious and afraid. They don’t share any information with the public. They don’t even respect the democratic heritage of this great country.

STEPHANIE MARCH: India hopes to build dozens of nuclear reactors in coming decades, fuelled partly by uranium coming from Australia, but critics say the country isn’t up to the task of doing so safely.

M.V. RAMANA: If Australian uranium were to be fuelling a nuclear reactor, could there be a potential accident sort of like what happened in Fukushima, and the answer is yes. This is certainly possible in any nuclear reactor. It’s particularly possible given the operating record in nuclear reactors.

STEPHANIE MARCH: Back in Jaduguda, it’s hard for the locals to see the potential benefits of India’s nuclear future. Their own power supply is intermittent and many believe the price they’ve already paid in the name of their nation’s development is too high.

S.R. UDAYAKUMAR: Do we have a good functioning, safe toilet in any of (inaudible) the in this country? No. If we cannot even do that, how do you want us to believe that we will be quite alright with storing and safeguarding the nuclear waste for so many generations? This is dangerous. People of Australia really should think about our safety and well-being.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Stephanie March reporting.http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2014/s4080503.htm