Petition against New Uranium Mining and Nuclear Power Plants in India

Comment: We are fighting against uranium mining and nuclear power all over the world!

Posted by Radical Notes October 18, 2009 at 12:06 am in Petition

To Smt. Pratibha Patil,
The President of India,
Rashtrapati Bhavan,
New Delhi – 110 001.

Copy to:

Sri Manmohan Singh,
The Prime Minister of India,
New Delhi – 110 001.

Sri Jairam Ramesh,
The Minister of Environment & Forests,
New Delhi – 110 001.

Madam,

We are writing to you on behalf of the National Alliance of Anti-nuclear Movements.

It is to protest against the reported decision of the government of India to take a quantum leap in installed capacity for nuclear power generation, from the current level of 4,120 MW to 63,000 MW by 2032. This decision is but an invitation to disaster.

In this context, we will like to submit the following.

Nuclear power, contrary to orchestrated hypes, is actually costlier than power from conventional sources like coal, gas and hydro. And once all the hidden costs are factored in, it would be costlier than even from renewable sources, like wind, in particular.

More importantly, it is also intrinsically hazardous, as large amount of radiation is routinely released at every stage of the nuclear fuel cycle. An even more intractable problem is that of safe storage of nuclear waste and safe disposal of outlived power plants, given the fact that the half-lives of some of the radioactive substances involved are over even millions of years.

Even more disconcerting is, considering the complexity of the technology of a nuclear reactor; there is no way to ensure that a major accident at a nuclear power plant will never take place. And a major accident, given the nature of things, will just turn catastrophic affecting a very large number of people, over a large territory, over a very long period. The disastrous accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in the Ukraine province of the then USSR, on April 26 1986 is a chilling illustration.

The promise of nil greenhouse gas (GHG) emission is also nothing more than a myth if the entire fuel cycle – including mining, milling, transportation and construction of the power plant – is considered.

Moreover, nuclear energy with its highly centralized power production model would only further aggravate the problem by accentuating the current development paradigm reliant on mega-industries and actively blocking any possibility towards ecologically benign decentralized development.

The strong linkage between nuclear power and weapons – in terms of large overlaps in technology, in turn triggering strong political push – of which India itself is a graphic illustration can also be overlooked only at our own peril given the genocidal, and suicidal, character of the nuclear weapon.

As nuclear power is economically unattractive and socially unacceptable, on account of radiation hazards and risks of catastrophic accidents, no order for new nuclear reactors was placed in the USA and most of West Europe during the last 30 years, since the Three Mile Island accident in the US in 1979.

The US and European companies in nuclear power plant equipment and nuclear fuel business are thus looking to Asia for markets – India, China and Japan spearheading the current expansion programme.

It is unfortunate that the Indian government is becoming their willing collaborator in this in pursuit of its megalomaniac hunt for nuclear power and weapon. It has thus, over a period of just one year, rushed to enter into agreements with as many as seven countries, viz. the US, France, Russia, Kazakhstan, Namibia, Mongolia and Argentina.

So far, nuclear power production capacity in India is very small, only about 3 percent of the total electricity generation capacity; and the veil of secrecy surrounding the existing nuclear power plants in the country, and absence of any truly independent monitoring agency, has seriously hindered dissemination of information on accidents – large and small – at these plants and their public scrutiny. That explains the current low level of popular awareness as regards the grave threats posed by the nuclear industry.

Taking advantage of this, the government of India is now set to steamroll its massive expansion program.

The contention that nuclear power is indispensable to meet future energy needs is false; for energy demand, and “need”, is obviously a function of the development paradigm chosen and pursued. And “energy security” is not an autonomous entity or objective, but must be in alignment with other chosen objectives which must include equitable growth and concerns for ecology.

Viewed thus, “energy security” may be achieved by: (I) Increasing efficiency of electricity generation, transmission and distribution. (II) Doing away with extravagant and wasteful use of energy. (III) Pursuing a path of low-energy intensity and decentralised development. (IV) Making optimum use of alternative energy options. (IV) Radically raising investment in development of sustainable and renewable energy sources and technologies, especially wind and solar energy.

As a part of its expansion program, the government of India has announced plans to expand the nuclear power plant coming up at Koodankulam (Tamil Nadu). Additional four reactors from Russia of 1,200 MWe each, in the immediate or near future, are to come up over and above the two of 950 MWe each, presently under construction. The process for setting up a nuclear plant at Jaitapur (Ratnagiri district, Maharashtra) has also reached an advanced stage. The French company Areva is set to supply two new generation reactors of 1650 MWe each, to be followed by another two. Land acquisition notices have been served on the local people to acquire 981 hectare of land.

The government has reportedly already approved 15 new plants at eight sites. These sites are Kumharia in Haryana – meant for indigenous reactors; Kakrapar (indigenous reactors) and Chhayamithi Virdi (reactor from US) in Gujarat; Kovvada (reactor from US) in Andhra Pradesh; Haripur (reactor from Russia) in West Bengal; Koodankulam (reactor from Russia) in Tamil Nadu; and Jaitapur (reactor from France) in Maharashtra.

Similarly, the mad rush for more and more power plants is matched by an accelerated drive for uranium mining in newer areas: Andhra and Meghalaya, in particular. And this, despite the horrible experience of uranium mines in different parts of the world, as also in our own Jadugoda – where appalling conditions continue despite strong popular protests, spanning decades.

In view of all these facts enumerated above, we the undersigned demand that the government of India put a complete stop to the construction of all new uranium mines and nuclear power plants, and radically jack up investments in renewable and environmentally sustainable sources of energy.

We also earnestly urge you to intervene immediately.

Sincerely,

Please Sign

http://radicalnotes.com/journal/2009/10/18/petition-against-new-uranium-mining-and-nuclear-power-plants-in-india/

Sign Petition : STOP MINES FROM USING CANADA’S PRISTINE WATERWAYS AS WASTE DUMPS

Comment: please sign the Petition below and all anti-uranium mining petitions across the world!!!

Sign Petition : STOP MINES FROM USING CANADA’S PRISTINE WATERWAYS AS WASTE DUMPS

Please click the link below to sign the Petition:

http://www.change.org/actions/view/sign_petition_stop_mines_from_using_canadas_pristine_waterways_as_waste_dumps

Targeting: Michael Ignatieff (Leader of the Liberal Party), Gail Shea (Minister of Fisheries & Oceans Canada) and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister of Canada)

Started by: BiLL Fowlie

STOP MINES FROM USING CANADA’S PRISTINE WATERWAYS AS WASTE DUMPS

Mining companies are discarding their toxic leftovers in our lakes right now!

Tail Lake (Nunavut) and Scully-Wabush Lake (Newfoundland) have already been approved and the federal government is reviewing applications to okay 14 more.

Decisions on eight bodies of water will be made by the end of this year. Visit here for a map and list of all the mines/lakes currently under review.

Act now. Write your political representatives and tell them the use of natural, fish-bearing waters as mine dumps is not an option.

Industry had other disposal options. These lakes must not be sacrificed.

Trout Pond and Duck Pond (near Buchans, Newfoundland) were approved for destruction in this way in 2006.

These lakes used to contain Atlantic salmon and brook trout and were also home to otters. They are now essentially biological dead zones.

Since then, the requests from the international mining industry to use Canadian waters for their toxic waste disposal have increased at an alarming rate.

Why? Because it would save them tens of millions of dollars in operating costs over the life of their mine. Why build and maintain a tailings pond if you can simply dispose of your waste in a natural lake basin?

Let’s keep Canada’s precious water resources clean! Write to the decision makers today!

This petition ends on Aug 04.

Stop Uranium Mining

Click here to sign the petition:http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/stop-uranium-mining


Target:To Abolish Uranium Mining

Sponsored by: Trish Sturrock

Virginia Uranium, Inc., a new corporation, is seeking to lift the moratorium on Uranium Mining in Virginia.

Uranium production presents a serious threat to our water supplies.

Radioactive and other toxic gases and particles will be washed and blown from the mill tailings unless they are protected from rain and wind for HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of years.

These toxins will then find their way into our waterways becoming a danger to people, livestock, wildlife and crops.

No one has yet put forth a means of controlling this type of pollution.

Below are just a few reasons we need to stop them:

1. The drinking water supply of Virginia Beach is downstream of the proposed mine in Southside. Other cities downstream of Uranium deposits include Fredericksburg and Richmond.

2. The radioactive waste produced by a uranium mining and milling operation is stored on site for more than 1,000 years. Any leakage could contaminate waterways and wells.

3. Uranium mining has left superfund federal clean-up sites everywhere it has been done west of the Mississippi River.

4. The coal ash spill that flooded 400 acres in Tennessee in 2008 was caused by the failure of an earthen dam similar to those used to contain uranium mining waste. The spill would have been much worse had it contained radioactive uranium 'tailings'.

5. No Uranium mining and milling operation has ever been licensed in the US east of the Mississippi. The region's wet climate and high population make it too risky.

Join me in the fight against decimation of our beautiful State!

Join me in the fight against decimation of our beautiful State!signature
goal: 1,000,000

16
signatures! Already a Care2 member? log in


For more impact, add a personal comment here

I agree to Care2's terms of service. We respect your privacy.

Your email address is used to confirm your signature and is NOT displayed publicly.

Examples of the people signing the petition:

We signed the "Stop Uranium Mining" petition!
# 16:5:58 pm PDT, Apr 29, Name not displayed, Canada

the moratorium must NOT be lifted to enable uranium production.
# 15:5:47 pm PDT, Apr 29, Thorton Wells, Kansas

# 14:4:31 pm PDT, Apr 29, David Dunkleberger, Pennsylvania

# 13:3:47 pm PDT, Apr 29, Sandi Fentiman, Canada
Poisoning of the land/wildlife/people hits EVERYONE faster than any of us may want to believe or acknowledge. The time to act is now!

# 12:3:38 pm PDT, Apr 29, Kristina Salgado, Arkansas

# 11:2:27 pm PDT, Apr 29, Mieke Bernaards, Belgium

# 10:12:44 pm PDT, Apr 29, Mervi Rantala, Finland

# 9:11:18 am PDT, Apr 29, Elizabeth Reynolds, United Kingdom
This is a worthy cause, please get your friends and family to sign! Another worthy cause :- The Venus Project is an Organisation that proposes a feasable plan of action for social change; one that works towards a peacful and sustainable global civilization. It outlines to strive toward where human rights are not only paper proclaimations but also a way of life. A world whe Mother Nature and Technology work together, not as two opposing forces. Where Resources and

Science are choices over Profit and Power. Please look up the website

http://www.thevenusproject.com/ and sign the petition. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/The-future-that-Humanity-Deserves

# 8:10:14 am PDT, Apr 29, Panagiotis Rigopoulos, Greece

# 7:9:54 am PDT, Apr 29, Maria Gonzalez, Uruguay

# 6:9:48 am PDT, Apr 29, Kristina Borisova, Bulgaria
STOP URANIUM MINING!!! It`s awful for the enviroment and we should have realised that nature is the most precious posesion we have and we must save it no matter what it will cost us, because without it we cannot survive.

# 5:9:13 am PDT, Apr 29, Marcin Sztwiertnia, Poland
For more impact, add a personal comment here

# 4:6:25 am PDT, Apr 29, Jamie Mills, Georgia

# 3:6:14 am PDT, Apr 29, Mike Downs, Missouri

# 2:5:45 am PDT, Apr 29, Name not displayed, Virginia
I am appalled at the lack of concern of our earth!

# 1:5:24 am PDT, Apr 29, Trish Sturrock, Virginia
We love the parks and recreation that Virginia has to offer - if Uranium mining is allowed all that may be gone. The uranium industry has an extremely poor environmental and public health history...in this time of technology surely there is a better way!