Listen to the movement across the border

Why is it that no 'intellectual' here is willing to educate himherself concerning the suicidal impacts of atomic energy on all life? The apathetic public should be woken up to understand the dangers that our own government would be bringing in, should its Rooppur nuclear power project materialise. It is curious that save a few stray voices, not even a feeble movement has been mobilised so far against this government's prescription for disaster --- which is what nuclear energy really promises us, says Ameer Hamza All kinds of groups in Bangladesh have been agitating and fasting to get themselves heard and attended to, but none has impressed this scribe so much as the unflagging movement in Shining India recently, against its new nuclear reactor plans. Compatriots in Sonar Bangla ought to listen to what the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) across the border are saying about their government's latest nuclear projects. That would hopefully wake up the apathetic public here into understanding the dangers that our own government would be bringing in, should its Rooppur nuclear power project materialise. It is curious that save a few stray voices, not even a feeble movement has been mobilised against this government's prescription for disaster --- which is what nuclear energy really promises us. We are told by one of the most informed and respected Indian journalists, Praful Bidwai, that the two Russian origin, 1,000 MW reactors under construction in Tamil Nadu's Koodankulam, at India's southern tip, were never subjected to an Environment Impact Assessment. They were cleared by the ministry concerned five years before the EIA process started! The intrinsic hazards of nuclear reactors were not even considered! If a technologically and scientifically smart country like India is so slipshod on such crucial matters, what can we expect a not-even-a-laggard (scientifically and technologically, that is) Bangladesh to show? Bidwai goes on : 'The plants will require millions of litres of freshwater daily and release it at high temperature into the sea, affecting the fish catch on which lakhs of livelihoods depend. They are being built within a one-kilometre radius of major population centres, violating the 1.6 km 'nil-population' zone stipulation.' Our own PM's pet project would likely be far worse, given the population density and a very critical river water source, not to forget the nonchalant attitude of the vested interest groups dealing with the so-called prestige project. Listen to Bidwai again: 'The reactors will routinely release effluents and emissions containing radioactivity, a poison you can't see, touch or smell. Scientific studies covering 136 nuclear sites in seven countries show abnormally high leukemia rates among children, and higher incidence of cancers, congenital deformities, depressed immunity and organ damage.' Hundreds of thousands of protesters, among them, well informed professionals taking the lead, have been demanding that the Koodankulam project be scrapped. They have solid reasons. According to a special report (which a Norwegian environmental group got hold of) released in June by Russian nuclear expert groups, including Rosatom, its own nuclear reactor operator, as many as thirty-one 'serious flaws' have been identified in Russian reactors, the kind that the PMANE wants scrapped. These faults make them highly disaster-prone. Perhaps the same model is waiting for Rooppur in Bangladesh. Why is it that no 'intellectual' here is willing to educate himherself concerning the suicidal impacts of atomic energy on all life? Mind you, radioactive wastes remain hazardous for thousands of years and there is yet no fail-safe method of nuclear waste disposal, anywhere in the world --- the nuclear industry's claims notwithstanding. A quarter century after the Chernobyl disaster, over 300,000 people still cannot go back home because of radioactive contamination around the disaster site. And that is the scenario in the vast land space of Ukraine. Can we imagine something like that in the tiny geographical area of Bangladesh with its dense population subsisting mostly on land and water-based livelihoods? (E-mail: nyew@bol-online.com)