A Journal Devoted to Non-Nuclear India

Volume 9 Number 1 August / September 1995

"All I ask is that, in the midst of a murderous world,

we agree to reflect on murder and make a choice." Albert Camus Neither Victims Nor Executioners

Fifty Years of US Nuclear Resistance

I n August 1945, the mushroom atomic bombs in history shall be the and California's Lawrence Livermore clouds over Japan revealed to last! That war be waged no more! Laboratory, where the H-bomb was Gordon Maham the purpose of Anything less is moral and physical developed. Prison terms of six his secret government engineering suicide." He was later arrested and months were not uncommon and re- job. He resigned from the Manhat- imprisoned. sistors were subject to public harass- tan Project in protest, thus losing his ment and redbaiting. draft exemption. Refusing post-war These acts of conscience ushered in conscription, Maham was arrested the first SO years of anti-nuclear civil Civil disobedience for nuclear dis- and jailed for three yean as a consci- disobedience. armament faded along with the Ban entious objector. the Bomb movement after above Organised non-violent resistance ground nuclear tests were banned in In California, conscientious objec- began in 1955, when Catholic 1963. France's refusal to join the tor Bent Andersen was at the Civil- Workers and other pacifists publicly ban, and continued atmospheric test- ian Public Service camp in Miners- refused to co-operate with civil de- ing in the Pacific, gave birth to the villc doing alternative service, when fence drills in New York city. From group Greenpeace in 1970. Like the he heard about the atomic bombs this action a series of civil disobedi- Golden Rule and Phoenix voyages of dropped on Hiroshima and Na- ence campaigns blossomed in the the late 1950's, Greenpeace ships gasaki. He left the camp and hitch- late 1950's. People were arrested at sailed into the South Pacific to dis- hiked across the country, distribut- nuclear test sites in Nevada, the Pa- rupt scheduled French tests, and ing leaflets as he went, which read in cific and Africa; missile bases in protest US nuclear tests in the Aleu- part, "Now is the time for the people Cheyenne and Omaha; missile sub- tian Islands. of America to cry out that the first marine shipyards in Connecticut; Mass nuclear disarmament actions paralleled the growth of anti-nuclear power civil disobedience in the late 1970's. Nuclear power plants from From the Editor's Scabrook, New Hampshire on the Atlantic coast to Diablo Canyon in CON-fusion prevails California on the Pacific were sites of civil disobedience actions large and small. Participatory organising styles Recently it seems, on one of his periodic visits abroad, Prime Minister for non-violent direct actions featur- Shri Narasimha Rao visited a fusion research laboratory and was suitably ing decision making by consensus impressed. Taking advantage of his "good mood" a proposal for fusion were developed building on and research in India was mooted to him and grants worth Rs. 750 crores, moving beyond the practices of the sanctioned civil-rights and the anti-war move- ments. The real horror of this story lies not in the fact that obscenely huge amount of money is being wasted; (it definitely is and not only in such In 1978, organisers of the first na- esoteric activity as fusion); but that the scientific community considers tional demonstration at the Rocky this darbari style of functioning as perfectly normal and there is not a Flats plutonium processing plant whimper of protest. Perhaps they feel that let the nucleocrats get away near Denver planned a symbolic with their loot. Our time too would come. Even self-interest, which blockade of the railroad tracks to fol- would dictate that the country's research kitty is by no means unlimited, low the legal demonstration. With and Rs. 750 crorcs not chicken feed, seems absent. participants from around the coun- try, the action spontaneously grew It is another issue altogether that the nucleocrats who have performed into more than a year of resistance this fabulous heist have a long record of sterling non-performance when that overwhelmed local courts with it comes to actually delivering what they promise. Even a cursory look at hundreds of arrests. The encamp- the operational record of nuclear power plants in the country would ment of the railroad tracks that bear this out. served as springboard for repeated blockades preceded a wave of such Fusion research is special, for it is not only our nucleocrats but every- resistance-oriented peace camps on body else's as well who love it since this black holes just gobbles huge both sides of the Atlantic in the amounts of resources and no energy ever need come out. Even countries 1980s. with a fifty year tradition of fusion research, have nothing to show for their years of effort except futuristic labs to impress gullible visiting Civil disobedience campaigns and Prime Ministers. The present long term projections of the US Depart- faith based resistance communities ment of Energy regarding an operational commercial fusion reactor pre- were re-emerging on both coasts and dict the possibility not before 2040. University of Maryland physicist, in the missile fields of the mid-west. Robert Parks observes: "For years, we joked that fusion was 30 years By the time deployment of Cruise away and always will be. Now most scientists say it is 50 or 60 years and Pershing missiles in Europe was away." punctuated with the "winnable nu- clear war" rhetoric of the Reagan ad- components and deployment sys- fuel rods, the most dangerous of ra- ministration, a widespread network tems in biblically-based "Plowshares'' dioactive wastes, has begun to ex- of such communities and campaigns actions; and infiltrating test sites to ceed safe storage capacity at many was active. impede actual nuclear weapons tests. plants in the US and other countries, Thousands have been imprisoned for spurring citizen action and concern Since 1980, this movement of con- a few days, hundreds for a month or at sites across the country. science in action has resulted, in the more and dozens for one or more United States, in some 47,000 anti- years. As we look to the challenges of the nuclear arrests during at least 1,800 next 50 years, it is with great appre- actions at more than 250 different As the nuclear age passes the half- ciation and respect that we remem- sites. Resisters have been jailed for century mark, direct action for nu- ber the actions of so many people entering military bases, sitting-in at clear disarmament continues, target- who have paved the way before us, corporate and government offices, ing advanced weapons and first-use showing us with their examples and praying at nuclear weapons laborato- strategies. A resurgence of resistance their lives an active and conscien- ries; blockading trucks and trains, at nuclear power plants has also be- tious response to the nuclear age. nuclear power plants and nuclear gun in mid 1990s, as ageing plants dump sites; damaging show risky signs of wear. The indus- The Nuclear Resistor July 7,1995 weapons try's production of irradiated nuclear

Volume 9 Number 1 2 August /September 1995 Fire Derails Japanese Fast Breeder

n December 8, the Fast were dangerously slow in reacting. leased the video pictures two days Breeder Reactor at Monju Despite clear evidence of a leak, the later. Oin Japan had an accident operators took twelve minutes to re- involving a leak of sodium coolant. spond. Even then, they slowly PNC and STA now plan to drain Approximately four tones, of sodium coasted the reactor down rather than the sodium and investigate the cause leaked from the secondary cooling implementing an immediate shut- of the accident But draining the so- system. No leak of radiation was de- down as standard operating proce- dium is not an easy job and nobody tected This was the largest leak ever dure requires. On the second day af- knows how long the clean-up work recorded from the piping of operat- ter the leakage, PNC team entered will take. All the welding will need ing reactor anywhere in the world the room and took video pictures. to be checked This can take a long But the pictures released to the press time. Besides, Fukui Prefecture Gov- On December 11, the Fukui per- showed only a corner of the room ernment and other local govern- fectural officials and later STA (Sci- with intact pipes and a small amount ments will probably resist the restart ence and Technology Agency) offi- of Monju. Tukio Kurita, the gover- cials along with PNC (power nor of Fukui Prefecture, has lodged Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Develop- Sodium and Air: a protest with Prime Minister ment Corp.) staff surveyed the room A Dangerous Mix Tomichi Murayama demanding that where the leak occurred They con- the government suspend its plans for cluded that the leak's source was a Monju. defective weld in a temperature Nuclear experts like probe attaching it to one of the 55 This fiasco has further corrobo- cm main secondary lines. The weld- liquid sodium as a rated what the anti-nuclear move- ing had been done in 1991 during coolant due to its high ment had been saying particularly remodelling of the whole loop due conductivity and low against Monju and Japan's pluto- to a design fault nium policy. neutron absorbtion Video pictures show the extent of properties. Sodium in the damage. Sodium oxide and so- Jinzaburo Takagi: Citizens' dium hydroxide deposits were found contact with either air or mostly under and around the area of water causes an explosive the defective tube but also through- Nuclear out the room as well. This suggests reaction. Instead of that the sodium-water reaction was abjuring industrial scale vigorous and lasted for hours spread- ing the reaction products every- use of such dangerous Implications far India where. materials, nucleocrats As it happens, India's uranium re- serves are sparse and usually of poor Some steel structures showed evi- feel that the sweetness of quality ore. The Indian (pie in the dence of melting, indicating that the the technological sky) nuclear programme is, and has sodium had caught fire reaching challenge is well worth always been, predicated to the temperatures in excess of 1500 de- the risk of blowing up proposition that fast breeder reactors grees centigrade. The video pictures would work and produce large quan- of the room together with theoreti- whole populations. tities of plutonium in the near fu- cal considerations strongly suggest ture. Thus, the repeated failures of that it was a spray fire, one of the fast breeders in both France and Ja- most feared types of sodium reac- pan, are of special concern to Indian tion. This runs contrary to PNC's in- of leaked sodium. This was a blatant attempt to play down the seriousness nucleocrats who can see their dreams itial statement to the effect that; "a of continued government largesse minor leakage in the secondary so- of the accident. In reality the damage was extensive with melted steel slowly dissolving. It is perhaps for dium loop caused some fumes." structures and reaction products this reason that they have of late be- come more interested in fusion In the course of the accident, the spread throughout the room. This rather than fission. Since, nobody operators deviated repeatedly from only came to the light after the per- fectural survey team took and re- anywhere has got any working standard operating procedure and model of a fusion power generator, one can safely work in this 'frontier' area, crores can be spent, with no awkward questions asked regarding performance.

Volume 9 Number 1 3 August / September 1995 Memories of Hiroshima

was sixteen years old in ing. I wrote to boys who were con- the automobile mirrors used in the the summer of 1945. In scientious objectors, who refused to Detroit car industry. IJune, I had completed kill. This was a very patriotic war grade ten, and would enter grade and conscientious objectors were My mother was right 50 years ago. eleven in September. I remember treated like dirt in the military. They They should not have done it. My well the invasion of Normandy and had to put in their time in the serv- father was right when he said to the end of the European War. A ice, but were given the most dis- leave uranium in the ground! I think young girl who lived two doors agreeable jobs the military could that I am now right to call for an from my home had married her find. I undertook to support them end to the lying and destructiveness childhood sweetheart, a young and try to keep up their morale. Kill- of this industry which would steal neighbourhood boy in April 1945, ing, and what I understood as "bully from us the future life and health of and he was sent overseas almost im- power" merely biased the post-war our planet! mediately with the US army. His negotiating process where the real first battle was the invasion of Nor- decisions which carved out future re- Dr. Rosalie Bertell mandy, and he died on the beach- lationships were made. The strong- head. His young pregnant wife was est, not the most just, got to "lay t the time, I was a ten year devastated by the news. The pain of down the law." This merely set the old living on the other end of invasion could be felt throughout stage for the next war, as the loser Athe nuclear chain reaction in the neighbourhood, as we saw the tried to build up the power to con- the federally planned city of Rich- build-up towards the invasion of Ja- front his oppressor. land. Richland was home to the pan. Remember, we had heard hor- workers and families at the Hanford rible stories of the fighting in the On August 15, 1945, as all the Engineering Works, a plutonium Pacific Islands, most recently at Iwo neighbourhood was celebrating, my making facility 30 miles up the Co- Jima and Okinawa. mother was strangely quiet. As she lumbia River. prepared the supper, I watched her Then on 6 August 1945, the Presi- stir the soup and keep repeating: We were elated when we heard the dent announced that the US had "They should not have done it. They news of the bombing. People came dropped a new and awesome bomb should not have done it." These out into the streets and raised a on Hiroshima, and this might make words still haunt me. They were cor- cheer: kids jumped around, did cart- it unnecessary to invade Japan. On rect, but I do not know how my wheels, shadow-boxed each other. August 9, a second bomb was Mother knew, because the propa- We had finally taught those Japs a dropped on Nagasaki. We were told ganda was so strong at the time. lesson! that Japan's military ship building was the target. Then Japan surren- My father served on the Financial Trinity test bomb and Fat Man— dered and there would be no second Advisory Board of our Church. Dur- the bomb which was dropped on bloody invasion to end the Pacific ing the late 1940's, when there was a Nagasaki—were plutonium bombs; War. Everyone went crazy with cele- boom in the uranium mining indus- therefore my dad's fingerprint's, so bration. My brother went to our try, the Church wanted to invest in to speak, were on both. Church and he, together with an- God's Lake Uranium Mining Com- other boy, rang the Church bells for pany in Canada. My father strongly Mervyn Witherup, my father, died twenty minutes straight, until they objected to this, and I heard him on May 12, 1988 aged 77. He died were both exhausted. All of the talking about it at home. Eventually, of prostrate cancer that had spread Church bells in the city were ring- the Church withdrew its proposal to his bone marrow. The prostrate is ing, and the people were out in the and did not invest in the industry. one of the organs that collects ra- streets singing and laughing with There were no nuclear power plants dionuclides. I have no doubt that joy. The boys were coming home. at the time, so, as I now know, the Hanford killed my father. However, The war was over! only use for that uranium was this is an issue which divides our bombs. Again I do not know how family. My mother is very sure that During the war there were many my father knew this or why he so ve- work at Hanford did not cause her patriotic demands made on us, like hcmently opposed this industry. He husbands cancer. rationing of food in short supply or was a business man himself, the needed by the troops. We also wrote President of the Standard Mirror A pollster would find that most letters to boys in service. I took on a Company, which produced most of citizens in the area around Hanford, slightly different type of letter writ- do not think that the radioactive and

Volume 9 Number? 4 August/ September 1995 chemical wastes pose any problems be alive, and my mother would have wasn't even born when the to heath. These communities have been spared so much suffering. Now atom bombs were dropped lived basically off the government that I am a father myself, I am not Ififty years ago. And yet I too teat for fifty years—and where you completely free of fear for the health have some thoughts to share since in draw your paycheque shapes your of my own children, who are third- a strange way my birth is linked to politics. Richland High School is generation hibakusha. Hiroshima. home to Richland Bombers whose logo is a mushroom cloud. Hiroshima has always been a good My father was a doctor of medi- argument against the atomic bomb. cine specialising in radiology, who Although it would be political sui- But although the Cold War has sup- joined the British Indian Army since cide for President Clinton to apolo- posedly come to an end, there are his private practice wasn't working gise in the name of the American still many nuclear weapons through- too well. Within six months he was people for these acts of technological out the world Due to nuclear weap- sent to Singapore where he became a murder, the fiftieth anniversary of ons' testing and accidents in nuclear prisoner of war of the Japanese at the atomic bombings provide a good facilities, many people have become the fall of Singapore in August opportunity to do so. The President hibakusha. 1942. My mother had no news of would grow in stature and become a him for more than three years. As true statesman, and it would have a prisoner of war, my father wasn't real psychological effect on nuclear treated any worse than others. In disarmament. fact being a doctor, he wasn't re- quired to do the hard manual labour Bill Witherup on the trans-Malaya railway, which from The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists proved a graveyard for many of his colleagues. Yet, by the time he re- y parents and two older sis- turned after the Japanese surrender ters were in Hiroshima's following Hiroshima, he was, I am M Minami-machi area, two told, just bare skin and bones having kilometres from the epicentre, when lost twenty kilogrammes in weight the atomic bomb was dropped. My A look at the area around Hi- and had forgotten names of even his eldest sister was three years old, and roshima shows that we're sur- children. Under my mother's loving the next was born in February of the rounded by war preparations. There care, however, he recovered and then following year, which meant she as is the US military base at Iwakuni, went on to do pioneering work in exposed while in the womb. My the Self-Defence Force bases at Kure establishing radiology in India. mother's parents, who lived about a and Kaita, US military ammunition kilometre away, died instantly dumps in several places and more. I believe that my parents had de- amidst the roaring conflagration. I How can Hiroshima be the foun- cided to have no more children long was born in 1949, four years after tain-head of world-wide peace cam- before I was born, but their delight the bombing, and another four years paigning surrounded as it is by all in having survived the war made after that, in 1953, my father died. these military installations? Living them change their minds. Would my here in Hiroshima, I have seen its re- father have survived without the Although my mother had burn construction and growth into a huge atomic bombing of Hiroshima and scars from her back up to her shoul- city, but it worries me that the Gem- Nagasaki? One never can tell about ders, she raised the three of us alone baku Dome now looks smaller both survival, but I personally doubt it and in her weakened condition. literally and figuratively. She's now 83 years old A few years In September 1981, we were re- ago she broke a bone and is now The major challenge to the chil- turning to India after a two years confined to a wheelchair. Her life al- dren of atomic bomb victims is how stay in the United States and took a ternates between a senior citizens' to use the Hiroshima experience to short holiday in Japan and went to home and my home. counter any repetition of past mis- see Hiroshima. Today, Hiroshima is takes. This year I would be sitting a modern city—a symbol of resur- So, I am a second generation down with my mother and listening gent Japan. But underneath the sur- Hibakusha. The hibakusha's perspec- carefully to my mother's stories of face there are scars of the misery the tive on today's society is coloured by that time. It will be a source of spiri- Bomb continues to inflict. Not even their hellish experience. Just as it col- tual energy that will guide me the my father's life and my very existence ours my father's death and my rest of my life. I feel are worth that suffering. mother's life for me. I sometimes wonder that if the bomb hadn't been Shqji Kihara Surendra Gadekar dropped maybe my father would still NUKE-INFO Tokyo

Volume 9 Number 1 5 August / September 1995 French High-handedness on the High Seas

George Orwell points out a strange fact regarding behaviour of colonial masters. The violence needed to maintain the relationship of oppression ate away their own innards like a cancer so that the sufferers of colonial oppression were not only the colonised but also the colonisers. The recent 'troubles' in France reminded me anew the truth of this observation. Would the French state of Jacques Chirac behave in such a high-handed manner at home if it was not indulging in the same behaviour in Polynesia? n July 10, ten years to the The 23 crew from both the inflat- At 8.40 AM, French Navy Soldiers day after France bombed ablcs and the Rainbow Warrior were armed with axes stormed the Altair, Othe Rainbow Warrior and transferred to Mururoa and held and damaged the rudder and broke on killed photographer Fernando interrogated by military police for the portholes. They threw tear gas Pereira, some 150 French comman- more than 15 hours. Crew identified into the engine room and forced the does gave a repeat performance, sur- themselves as "Fernando Pereira". captain and crew members of the Al- rounding and storming the ship as it tair to leave the ship. Having taken sailed into the nuclear test exclusion "The best commemoration of Fer- command of the Altair, the soldiers zone. Tear gas canisters were thrown nando's death we could offer was started the engines, put the gears on board; doors and windows were our action today" said Mills, one of into reverse and abandoned the ves- smashed. the crew. "An end to nuclear testing sel, which went full speed backwards now and forever is what Fernando into the harbour. The Altair nearly The raid happened just as the new would have wanted us to fight for." collided with other vessels (a speed Rainbow Warrior had entered the 12 boat of the Italian Financial Police mile exclusion zone around Mururoa and two Coast Guard speedboats) International Piracy nuclear test site at 5.00 A.M. local and then crashed several times time, attempting to delay prepara- At 7.30 AM, on October 25,1995 against the dock. The fire brigade of tions for the French nuclear test. The the Altair (59 meters long, 859 Brindisi harbour intervened and Rainbow Warrior was rammed by a tons) entered the Mediterranean port managed to turn off the engine. large tug, causing damage to its of Brindisi along with four inflat- bow, before being towed to a moor- ablcs to block the French destroyer, During the assault, one Altair crew ing point inside the lagoon. Three Dupleix (139 meters, 4300 tons), member was injured and lost two teeth. "Greenpeace continues to out of four Greenpeace inflatables— which is armed with Exocet missiles. launched outside the 12 mile exclu- work world-wide as a catalyst of in- sion zone at 2 A.M. and 3.30 AM The Altair sent its inflatable with ternational public opinion with local time succeeded in entering the activists on board, who painted on peaceful demonstrative actions lagoon and reaching the drilling rig, the sides of the destroyer "Stop Nu- whenever possible to stop nuclear belying French claims that they had clear Tests". In the meantime, four testing," said Captain Enever. sufficient resources to repel Green- other activists chained themselves "The French assault is an act of in- peace. Two activists scaled the rig along the dock to the mooring ropes and occupied it for more than 20 of the Dupleix. The crew of the Du- ternational piracy," said Giusseppe minutes. The inflatables were then pleix immediately shot at the inflat- Onufio, nuclear campaign spokes- boarded by commandos after a two ablcs with water cannon and started men of Greenpeace Italy. hour chase through the lagoon. flooding the Altair's engine room. Terrain August & November 1995

Decolonisation: French Style

Volume 9 Number 1 6 August / September 1995 Mysterious Army Activity at Pokharan

ome curious developments Army camp, a few kilometres behind Army deployment has not been wit-

have been taking place the site, ensures people stay away nessed by the villagers near Range A Ssince November at Pokha- from what could easily described as as far as we can remember,'' says ran. The site has been fenced off. the most sensitive patch of barren Bhanwar Singh, former sarpanch of Boards declaring the area out of land on the map of the country. the Loharki village. bounds have sprung up. Across the fence, there are even signs to suggest Villagers of Loharki say the site While there always has been rou- that earth movers have been used for was fenced recently and people were tine firing of live ammunition and excavation work on the site. And told not to venture near it. On close exercises in sectors B, C. and D by though the government has em- examination one the detect fresh the Army and the Air Force, this is phatically denied repeated US asser- bulldozer tracks, used for removing the first time in many years that top tions that it is planning to conduct earth. One can also spot cement defence officials and a large Army another nuclear test at Pokharan, no- though no one has a clear idea of presence have been seen inside body has any explanations to offer. what use was it in the test site. Range A. Villagers such as Malka, just opposite the nuclear site, Kalan, Three kilometres ahead of Loharki Villagers are puzzled why the gov- Nautala, Etah, Palana, Hoparadi, village, which in turn is some 34 km ernment suddenly decide to fence off and Tadama were abandoned as they from Pokharan and adjacent to the the test site in Range A, not used for were inside the test Range. Though nuclear-testing range, a dusty sand anything after the 1974 test. Range reports of Loharki being abandoned trail breaks off from the main road A, demarcated by white pillars, lo- appeared at that time, old-timers in to lead to the nuclear site where the cated 200m apart, is spread over a the village denied they had been country conducted its first test on huge expanse of undulating arid flat- moved out- May 18,1974. land pockmarked with sand dunes. Range A today is just a sea of sand Six kilometres on foot into the de- Another new edition to the land- and the top brass and defence per- sert, and over sand dunes, is the lat- scape near the test site is a huge sand sonnel teeming in the area only a est site, identified by a huge earth dune —the locals refer to it as a tibba month ago have all gone. While fir- mound and shale rocks surrounding — which was not natural creation ing and test exercises and being con- a crater. Twelve-feet-high concrete Those allowed entry into the test ducted on ranges B and C, the com- pillars support the barbed wire range to collect shell scrap say they mand posts set up in and around which fences of the site. The entire have not come across the signs of Loharki have long been dismantled. test site is surrounded by these pil- any fresh tunnelling activity. Yet Dust winds have covered the area lars. A sign, freshly painted in red, they say the tibba is unnatural, sug- which had been used as a temporary prohibits entry into the area. An gesting that only some recent exca- helipad for the top brass. vation work could have created this. Although the Americans have been The massive Pokharan testing maintaining that spy satellites picked range complex is divided into four up signs of cables being laid, villag- ranges. While Range A is to be used ers say the only activity they saw was exclusively for nuclear tests, ranges B the installation of a six-kilometres- and C are used by the Army for long water pipeline leading to their weapons trials and desert exercises. village. But even this pipeline has Range D is used by the Indian Air since been removed by the Army. Force. When the correspondent tried to Those living in Hagi Bali Moham- check with the Army officials, they med village, just outside the nuclear simply said, " Nobody will answer test range, say there was intense these questions.,, Nor is anyone Army activity in and around Loharki posted locally to provide answers to village in November and the entire sensitive questions. area was fenced to ward of outsiders. Recolonisation: Shishir Gupta Indian Express American Style "We are even not allowed to enter into our farms ... this kind of large

Volume 9 Number 1 7 August / September 1995 China's Broken Hearts

At one level, there is greater political tolerance in India than in China. And yet, paradoxically, Indian intellectuals especially sci- entists, are more timid in speaking out their minds and trying to influence public policy. Even an outright stupidity like the grant of Rs. 750 crores for fusion research has not drawn any sustained public criticism. This massive wastage of research funds is going to ultimately hurt them (scientists and researchers) the most. Hopefully, the following article will strengthen the backbone. ver since the massacre at N. resolution that proclaimed 1995 The May 15 petition is not likely Tiananmen Square six years as "The United Nations Year of Tol- to change the attitude of the Chinese Eago, the scene that I saw erance." It noted that China was a government toward the Tiananmen with my own eyes has haunted me. founding member of the United Na- tragedy. On the contrary, they have On the morning of June 4, 1989, tions and it holds a permanent seat detained some leading dissidents, the blood of students was every- in the security council. "China put many of the petitioners under where on the streets, and the name should conscientiously implement virtual house arrest, and they have lists of hundreds of dead and this resolution, so that this spirit of continued to harass those who pub- wounded were hung on the gates of tolerance, a spirit with which our licly voice their ideological differ- hospitals in Beijing. The deep country is relatively unfamiliar, may ences. wound in the hearts of the Chinese take root and flourish in areas like people will never be healed if the our country's politics, thought, relig- As they punish outspoken dissi- current Chinese Government verdict ion, culture and education." dents, the Chinese government says on it is not overturned. that protests threaten social stability. But history suggests that Every year since 1989, when repression over- as the anniversary of the rides tolerance, there massacre approaches, a will never be lasting few brave people petition social stability. Re- the Chinese government pression can maintain to re-evaluate its verdict. surface stability for On May 15, 1995 45 in- many years but never tellectuals asked the gov- forever. Social stabil- ernment in writing to ity can be realised stop regarding people of only by adhering to independent thought as the rule of law, per- "hostile elements." More mitting freedom of broadly, the petition ad- speech and by tolerat- dressed to President Jiang ing different political Zemin and Qiao Shi, views and diverse ide- Chairman of the National ologies. The current People's Congress, asked leaders are stubbornly the government to prac- blind to the fact that tice more tolerance to- if the government fails ward dissidents. Decolonisation: Chinese to take the lead in re- versing the official

The petition calls for a revaluation Square, the of the June 4,1989, incident and the Most of the petitioners are promi- force them to do so. nent old scientists, very senior and release of those people who remain influential. They include, Wang in jail. Governmental leaders surely China is heading toward a demo- Ganchang, 88, one of China's best know that the longer the revaluation cratic future. No one and nothing is postponed, the harder it will be known physicist and a key member can stop that of the team that developed China's for the wounds in the hearts of the Chinese people to heal and the more first atom bomb, tested in 1964. Lee Zbee bitter will be their feelings toward The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists the government. The petition called upon the Chi- July/August 1995 nese government to live up to a U. verdict on Tiananmen people will someday

Volume 9 Number 1 8 August / September 1995 Hidden Killers

The Landmine Scandal

visually. The Italian Valmara bound- two options: take ing mine 69 is a vile device which is the risk of ploughing a field and be

o hurled several feet up in the air be- killed or have an arm or leg blown fore it explodes, firing hundreds of off, or stay out of the field and go ball bearings or steel tubes out to a hungry. range of 30 metres. A new horror is the use of plastic shrapnel makes it Where do these mines come from? undetectable by X-ray if any victim Not from the countries where they can get near an X-ray machine. cause destruction. Between 1970 and 1992, according to Pax Christi, Oxfam has called them "weapons 28 companies in Austria, Belgium, of mass destruction in slow motion." In Cambodia, where every citizen in 236 has had a limb amputed—com- pared to one in 22,000 in United States—landmines caused half the casualties in the twelve year civil war. ne of the most dreadful pic- tures that I have recently seen Today there arc 19 million refu- was of a little boy covered in gees in the world who have fled blood. The stump of one leg poked from their countries as a result of out from the rags covering him. He armed conflict and another 25 mil- was the victim of an Afghan land- lion displaced people. Landmines are mine and could not have been more undoubtedly the biggest impediment than six or seven years old. to refugees going home, because of the high risk in areas of recent con- There could be many such pic- tures, for it is often the children who suffer. World-wide, landmines kill 800 people every month and muti- late many more. Since there are about 100 million unexploded mines in place in over 60 different coun- tries, and another 100 million stock- piled, they will continue to mutilate and maim for many years to come. UNICEF estimates that for every 20 of the world's children, there is one active landmine. They have become the cheap portable weapons of ter- ror, with civilians often the chosen target. Some are planted by ground troops; some scattered by artillery shells; and many, as in Laos, dropped randomly from planes.

Today these mines are tiny instru- ments of calculated cruelty. The M- 14 American anti-personnel mine measures only 4 x 5.5 centimetres and is almost impossible to detect flict. Poor farmers in places like Cambodia or Mozambique have Britain, France, Germany, Greece, written to over 40 countries which mines directed at military targets are Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and produce landmines asking them to a legitimate form of self-defence...If Turkey produced several million halt exporting for three to five years. self destructing or self neutralising, landmines. In November 1993 the General As- they do not pose grave dangers to ci- sembly of the United Nations called vilian populations." It is generally There are, however, substantial for a global moratorium on exports agreed, however, that the failure rate signs of hope. A one year morato- for three years. This proposal re- even with self-neutralising systems is rium on landmine export declared by ceived an affirmative British vote but at least ten percent, and could be the United States in 1992 has been with an explanation which effectively much higher. extended. President Clinton has emasculated it: "Anti-personnel

' Volume 9 Number 1 9 August / September 1995

The coalitions opposing dier in the British Army for 17 years. His experience in The Convention to Outlaw Landmines Self-Destructs clearing mines in Afghani- stan for the United Nations The Inhumane Weapons Convention Review was held in Vienna. After in 1988 led him to found three weeks of discussion it ended in a stand-off. At the beginning of the this remarkable charity in review conference, amputees presented the delegates with 1.7 million sig- 1990. The group now has a natures from people in 53 countries calling for a complete and total ban. team of over 600 workers Yet the delegates did not concent themselves with the humanitarian cost clearing mines in Kurdistan, Cambodia, Laos, and An- of 100 million landmines contaminating 64 countries around the world. gola. Most of those trained They were more interested in finding exemptions for their mine systems. for this dangerous work are natives of the countries con- States from the South especially India, Pakistan and China would not cerned. One worker has accept the Western technological solution of self-destructing and self-deac- been killed by a mine and tivating mines which would inevitably cost a great deal more than "con- another in northern Iraq ventional" mines. The Western block in turn would not agree to inexpen- murdered But in the five sive transfer of technology needed to manufacture such "smart" mines. years since it was founded, And nobody agreed to a simple suggestion of holding the next review the group has succeeded in removing thousands of meeting in a mine infested territory to gain first-hand experience. mines.

In the three weeks while delegates talked and discussed, more than 1600 Such humanitarian work people around the world were killed or maimed by landmines. is beyond praise. But along- side it must go the effort to build the structure of a genuine global community. greatly strengthened treaty which some of those aims may well be Just-war theorists and promoters of would ban production as well as ex- achieved non-violence can on this issue unite port, cover the civil wars which arc in efforts to make war and its ghastly almost the norm today, and oblige Meanwhile, support is needed for consequences at least less likely. suppliers and users to fund major one very effective non-governmental clearance and recovery programmes. mine clearance operation. The Mines Bruce Kent Granted the increasing disgust at the Advisory Group was founded by The Catholic Radical continuing slaughter of civilians, Rac McGrath, who served as a sol- Dec 1995/January 1996

Are Atomic Bombs Legal?

The International Court of Justice About to Give Its Verdict

Fifty years after atomic bombs This is supported by the World cians for the Prevention of Nuclear devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Court Project, which is an interna- War (IPPNW). the International Court of Justice, is tional alliance of citizens' groups. It preparing to make a landmark, was founded in 1992 with the aim The court is now considering though non-binding, pronounce- of bringing the legality of nuclear whether the use or threat of use of ment on the legality of nuclear weap- weapons before the International nuclear weapons is permitted under ons, as the United Nations' main ju- Court of Justice at The Hague. The international law. It is expected to dicial body, the court has been asked co-founding organisations are the make its ruling early in 1996. by the World Health Organisation International Peace Bureau (IPB), and the U. N. General Assembly to the International Association of Peter Weiss, one of the lawyers deliver an advisory opinion on the is- Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms working for the World Court Pro- sue. (IALANA) and International Physi- ject, believes that nothing but good can come out of this historic hear-

Volume 9 Number 1 10 August / September 1995 in "If a majority of the court says derway concern the Comprehensive Japan, in spite of heavy US pres- that nuclear weapons are legal, there Test Ban Treaty and control of fissile sure, argued that nuclear weapons will be a tremendous push to get a materials, it is difficult to see how are clearly contrary to the spirit of convention outlawing them like the this argument applies. humanity that gives international law treaties abolishing biological and its philosophical foundation, but chemical weapons. If a majority says Russia followed the line of other stopped short of concluding that the that they are totally illegal, that will nuclear weapons state, arguing that weapons are illegal. The ambassador give a strong impetus to the move- there are no specific treaties on nu- then presented the mayors of Hi- ment to implement the court's deci- clear weapons and that humanitarian roshima and Nagasaki emphasising sion. law does not apply in this case. that their testimony was inde- pendent of the government's view. The World Court Project believes However, Egypt, Mexico, Iran, In- The mayors reminded the court the that clarification of the law by the donesia, The Solomon Islands, Sa- mind-numbing damage these weap- International Court of Justice is a vi- moa, Australia, New Zealand, San ons brought to their cities. tal step towards the global abolition Marino, The Marshall Islands, Qatar, of nuclear weapons. Malaysia, Costa Rica, The Philip- Co-ordinating their presentations, pines and Zimbabwe produced Samoa, and the Marshall and Solo- 43 states, a record number, have strong antinuclear arguments, pre- mon Islands, expressed their outrage made written submissions to the sented with great coherence. Mexico at nuclear testing and the suffering it World Court on the question of and Iran warned of their potential had caused. whether the threat or use of nuclear withdrawal from Nuclear Non-pro- weapons violates international law. liferation Treaty should the nuclear On the final day, UK and USA in- Oral proceedings were held from 30 weapons states fail to fulfil their dis- sisted that the court should refuse to October, to 15 November, 1995 armament objections. Malaysiacalled give a ruling. United States defended which were open to the public. on the court to reject the nuclear nuclear deterrence by claiming that it domination of the big five and rule had preserved peace for the last fifty The advocate for World Health in favour of the vast majority of years and the UK said that calling it Organisation gave a sober and de- countries supporting the illegality of into question would be profoundly tailed account of the special nature nuclear weapons. Australia, in a destabilising. Both states argued that of nuclear weapons, stressing their stunning reversal of its previous sup- since the nuclear states have built up radiological effects which are impos- port to US nuclear policy, argued large arsenals and no treaty specifi- sible to contain either in space or that self-defence is not a justification cally prohibits nuclear weapons, the time. for genocide or for indiscriminate at- court cannot rely on an international tacks on the civilian population. For- consensus of illegality. France argued that nuclear weap- eign minister, Gareth Evans con- ons are not fundamentally different cluded that "it is illegal not only to Besides the government presenta- from other weapons. When the use use or threaten to use nuclear weap- tions, the court received over 3 mil- of armed force is legal, there ought ons, but to acquire, develop, test or lion declarations, which citizens all not to be any prohibition on nuclear possess them.'' In a direct challenge over the world had sent in against weapons. Germany and Italy, both to the nuclear weapons states he de- nuclear weapons. members of the NATO nuclear alli- clared that they must "within a rea- ance, supported nuclear legality, ar- sonable period of time, take system- Colin Archer guing that disarmament negotiations atic action to eliminate completely WISE News Communiqui 443 might be endangered by a Court rul- all nuclear weapons. ing. Since the only negotiations un-

The Cold War's Continuing Casualties

ince the Manhattan Project, the offs, they are concerned that occupa- beth Averill Samaras for the Alice United States has spent more tion-related health problems are a Hamilton College of the Oil, s than $4 trillion and employed low priority for the government Chemical and Atomic Workers In- more than 500,000 workers to de- ternational Union (OCAW) reveal velop and produce nuclear weapons. The preliminary results of health worker concerns about future health As nuclear weapons production assessments of nuclear weapons pro- problems, inadequate health insur- workers confront thousands of lay- duction workers conducted by Eliza- ance and high levels of exposure to substances such as ionising radiation, tite and weight Most CBD victims OCAW also fought to obtain re- beryllium, asbestos and carbon tetra- are able to control these symptoms cords of air sampling conducted by chloride. with drugs , though the disease can the Pennsylvania Department of be fatal without early detection and Health. Some of these records were The US Department of Energy treatment eventually released indicating high (DOE) is spending $6.5' billion levels of exposure to beryllium dust ,, every year "remediating sites con- Air quality standards for beryllium at the Hazelton plant taminated with nuclear waste. Ironi- dust were set by the Atomic Energy cally the department is not spending Commission in 1950, seven years Beryllium reaper anything on remedial activities for before the beryllium plant came to workers who have been contami- Hazelton. In 1993, a local newspa- Former workers and their families nated. These nuclear veterans have a per, Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, un- blame more than 90 deaths on the statutory entitlement to medical sur- covered AEC documents that re- elevated beryllium levels. Jim veillance and exams that have never vealed that a 1958 air sample taken Leonard, son of a former worker been funded. at the Hazelton plant found beryl- and an advocate for their cause con- lium dust levels that were 330 times tacted the OCAW in 1992, in re- the maximum allowed. Air samples Beryllium Boom and Bust sponse to the rising number of ill- were taken at the plant at least twice nesses amongst former plant In the mid-1950s, the Atomic En- a year. These samples exceeded the workers. Leonard's father, Albert, ergy Commission awarded the Beryl- regulatory standard in 15 reports un- worked at the plant from 1960 to lium Corporation of America a five covered by the Times-Leader though 1973. "Almost from the beginning year $23 million contract to produce the company had installed new air of his employment my father was 500,000 tonnes of beryllium — a filtration equipment in 1958. sick," says Leonard. "It started with strong but malleable metal used ex- skin rashes. Then he developed a tensively in nuclear, electronics and AEC's exit cough. As he was coughing, a clear aerospace industries. Beryllium Cor- liquid would come out of his lungs. poration came to Hazelton, Pennsyl- After the expiry of Hazelton He just never felt right or normal af- vania in 1957 and brought with it a Plant's government contract in ter that" Albert Leonard died from welcome economic stimulus and a 1962, the company's chief customers beryllium disease in 1986 at age 58. source of steady employment. More became private industries. As a re- than 1200 people worked in the fac- sult, regulatory responsibility for the Premature deaths of workers could tory till it closed down in 1980 and health and safety of the plant work- and should have been prevented refined thousands of tonnes of beryl- ers shifted from the ABC to the since the government and the doc- lium ore into metal. But now, al- Pennsylvania state Department of tors knew about the hazards of be- most 40 years later, all that remains Health. In the mid-1960s, the ryllium exposure. After exposure, of the enterprise is a legacy of occu- Hazelton beryllium plant was early detection and intervention — pational disease. bought by Kawecki-Beryl-co., which which can often control the symp- sold the plant to the Cabot Corpora- toms of the disease — is vital to the At the time the Hazelton beryllium tion in 1978. lives of remaining workers. Medical plant was designed, scientists already screening — which costs $300 per knew about the dangers posed by ex- In 1970, the workers at the plant worker— can help monitor the posure to beryllium dust. Workers unionised with the Oil, Chemical symptoms of the disease. Once de- confronting high exposure levels and Atomic Workers International tected, treatment can begin. commonly develop acute symptoms Union (OCAW). Company doctors similar to bronchitis or pneumonia. told workers — many of whom had Amongst former Hazelton plant Lower exposure levels can cause previously worked in coal mines — employees facing increased risk of chronic beryllium disease (CBD) — that the symptoms they were de- beryllium exposure disease, nearly characterised by lung inflammation scribing were 'miner's asthma.' 1200 are still alive. Because beryl- and scarring — including granu- Upon learning from the workers lium disease can take 20 years to sur- loma, the growth of tumour like about conditions inside the plant, face, workers often experience the masses of capillaries on the lung sur- the OCAW brought in doctors and health consequences of their jobs face. CBD can sometime take several an industrial hygienist. Independent long after Pennsylvania's six-year decades to develop. When it does medical consultations led to the di- statute of limitations on worker's show up, it can become a seriously agnosis seven cases of beryllium dis- compensation runs out disabling disease with such symp- ease amongst employees who had al- toms as shortness of breath, cough- ready been cleared by company Lawsuits to get medical help to ing, chest pain, fatigue, loss of appe- doctors. workers have failed. The courts have

Volume 9 Number 1 12 August/September 1995 ruled that workers cannot prove that yet they won't spend a few thousand appealed to energy secretary Hazel their employers intentionally injured on the workers," a former worker O'Leary to include them in this gov- them. The corporations have argued said at a meeting organised by ernment programme as well. After that, once excessive exposure levels OCAW. an eight month delay, there appeal were detected, workers were issued was turned down on the ground that respirators. Plant management also "there is no apparent legislative Reluctant DOE took yearly chest X-rays to detect be- authority." However, after intense ryllium disease and installed safety Denied medical assistance by the lobbying by supporters including, members of the House of Repre- equipment in 1970s. owners of the beryllium plant and state workers' compensation pro- sentatives, DOE has indicated that Although the courts have ruled gramme, former Hazelton workers an award of $400,000 will soon be announced to fund a programme of that Cabot Corporation has no legal sought DOE relief. Given that the responsibility for the health of for- beryllium processed at Hazelton sup- beryllium medical research and sur- mer workers, it has also held the plied US nuclear weapons fabrica- veillance. The award is expected to include medical screening of at least plant responsible for environmental tion facility at Rocky Flats and Oak- damage and ordered the corporation ridge, and also the fact that there some former Hazelton workers. to spend $4 million to clean up the already exists health monitoring of Katherins site. "Millions of dollars will be spent past and present workers at both to cover or bury the shit left over, Issac these facilities, The workers' union Multinational Monitor October 1995

Potatoes Were Guarded Better

On November 27,1993, at about The third man behind this opera- material, for which they hoped to re- 1.00 a.m., Capt. Alexei Tikhomirov tion was Dmitry Tikhomirov, Al- ceive $50,000. According to the of- slipped through an unprotected gate exei's younger brother, who at the ficial record of the investigation, and into the Sevmorput shipyard time of the theft was chief of the re- they waited six months before they near Murmansk—one of the Russian fuelling division at the shipyard. He began to search for customers. But Navy's main storage facilities for nu- had briefed his brother about secu- when Dmitry Tikhomirov told a fel- clear fuel. The 35 year-old deputy rity at the site, the holes in the fence, low officer about the theft and asked chief engineer then climbed through and the design of the fuel assembly. for help in selling the stolen mer- one of the main holes in the fence chandise, the conversation was re- surrounding the "Fuel Storage Area None of the conspirators had a ported to authorities. In late June 3-30", sawed through a padlock on prior criminal record. They also 1994, the three conspirators were ar- the back door, and pried open the lacked contacts for selling the stolen door with a metal pole he found next to the building. Once inside, Tikhomirov located the containers of Tempting Targets fresh submarine fuel, lifted the lid off container No. 23, and broke off Enriched uranium is the standard fuel for propulsion reactors used in parts of three assemblies for a VM-4- both Russian submarines and surface ships. The level of enrichment varies AM reactor core. Stuffing the pieces depending upon the type of vessel from 20 per cent to weapon's grade (90 (containing 4.5 kilograms of en- per cent). Soviet Union built over 250 nuclear power vessels. Most of riched uranium) into a bag, he re- these vessels have two pressurised water reactors which, under normal op- traced his steps. erating conditions require refuelling every seven to ten years. The cores of these reactors hold typically between 200 to 300 fuel assemblies, each con- Outside the shipyard he was met taining several fuel rods. If this fuel has been enriched to 90 percent or by an accomplice, former naval offi- higher, about 10 fuel assemblies could supply enough uranium for a cer Oleg Baranov. Baranov dropped bomb. Tikhomirov off at his home, and then drove to the nearby town of Huge stocks of fresh fuel are stored in five main storage sites. Shipyard Polyarny, where he hid the nuclear No. 35 at Sevmorput near Murmansk, the "Sevmash" Shipbuilding Plant material in his garage. at Severodvinsk, the naval base at Zapadnaya Litsa west of Murmansk, and two "technical repair bases" near the Gornyak Shipyard at Krashennikova

Volume 9 Number 1 13 August / September 1995 rested and the stolen goods recov- Kulik reports that some security inability of the state to subsidise pre- ered. improvements were made after the viously privileged workers in the nu- discovery of the theft. The number clear industry and the military—has The theft itself was discovered only of guards were increased and they resulted in tremendous economic 12 hours after it occurred.. Care- were issued walkie-talkie sets. Planks and social upheaval. Moral standards lessly, Alexei Tikhomirov had left the were nailed to cover some of the have eroded. As a result the primary back door of the storage building holes in the fence. More sophisti- threat to nuclear safeguards in Rus- open. Two guards on patrol noticed cated security systems, although pro- sia today is a knowledgeable and cor- the discarded padlock and the bro- posed were not put in place because rupt insider (or group of insiders) ken door seal, and a prompt search of cost. Reportedly, there still are no who have access to nuclear materials revealed the broken fuel assemblies. surveillance cameras around the pe- and may attempt to steal them for rimeter, and the integrity of the fuel profit, for political reasons, or be- containers is checked by sight only. cause they are coerced by a criminal Holes in the fance According to Kulik, the first and last organisation. According to Mikhail Kulik, the time the contents of most of the special investigator for the Northern containers was checked was at the At the time of this writing, Alexei Fleet Military Procuracy—and the fuel-fabrication plant. He believes and Dmitry Tikhomirov and Oleg chief investigator of the Sevmorput the diversion at Sevmorput "could Baranov were standing trial in Mur- diversion—potatoes were guarded have been concealed for 10 years or mansk for their involvement in the better than radioactive materials at longer," had the open door of the theft of naval reactor fuel from the the time of the theft at Murmansk. storage building not attracted the Sevmorput shipyard. The hole in the "On the side of the shipyard facing guards' attention. fence that Alexci climbed through to the Kola Bay, there is no fence at all. gain entry to the storage facility is You could take a dinghy, sail right The case highlights the difficulty of said to be patched shut. But the un- in—especially at night—and do guarding against the "insider threat", derlying gaps in the Russian safe- which is the greatest security danger, whatever you wanted. On the side guards system remain. according to Russian nuclear safe- facing the Murmansk industrial zone guards officials. The current crises in there are holes in the fences every- Edited from an article by Oleg Russia has eroded human reliability. where. And even in those places Bukharin and William Potter in A combination of factors—the end where there aren't any holes, any Bulletin of Atomic Scientists May/June of Cold War, the accident at Cher- child could knock over the half-rot- 1995 nobyl, the contraction of Russian ten wooden fence boards." defence and nuclear sectors, and the

Book Review

With Hiroshima Eyes : Atomic War, Nuclear Extortion and Moral Imagination Joseph Gerson New Society Publishers, 4527 Springfield Ave. Philadelphia PA 19143 USA

First a few quotes to set the scene. "The United States dropped the "The consensus among scholars bomb to end the war against is that the bomb was not "When you have to deal with a Japan and thereby to stop the needed beast, you have to treat him as a Russians in Asia, and to give to avoid an invasion of Japan. It beast." them sober pause in eastern is clear that alternatives to the President Truman in a later to

Council of Churches of Christ in Europe." bomb existed and that Truman America just two days after the atomic William Appleman Williams in and his advisers knew it." bombing of Nagasaki The Tragedy if American Diplomacy The official historian of the US 1962 Nuclear Regulatory Commission, J Samuel Walker

Volume 9 Number 1 14 August / September 1995

"No one expected the invasion of Japan to be anything but a Was Japan Always the Target? slaughter. Before the Japanese O mainland could be secured, American casualties would Urgency to build the atomic bomb was most felt by scientists amount to as many as one who bad fled Europe fearing Hitter. But was Hitter's million men; and the Japanese Germany ever the target? New research suggests otherwise. were expected to sacrifice twice The first targeting discussion—insofar as can be determined that number in defence of their from declassified documents and Manhattan Project histories— homeland. Then on July 16, the seems to have occurred during a meeting of the high-level Mili- bright glow of the Trinity test tary Policy Committee on May 5,1943. According to Gen. Leslie raised hopes that the war could Grove's summary of the meeting: be ended without an invasion. "The point of use of the first bomb was discussed and the gen- American Heritage Junior library eral view appeared to be that its best point of use would be on a Japanese fleet concentration in the Harbour of Truk ( in the Pa- "It is my opinion that the use of cific, north of New Guinea). Gen. Styer suggested Tokyo but it this barbarous weapon at was pointed out that the bomb should be use where, if it failed to Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of go off, it would land in water of sufficient depth to prevent easy no material assistance in our salvage. The Japanese were selected as they would not be so apt war against Japan. The to secure knowledge from it as would the Germans." Japanese were almost defeated "Always the Target" Arjun and ready to surrender In Makbijani being the first to use it, we adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the n August 6th—Hi- Institutions small attempt to educate dark ages." roshima Day—Sang- the public becomes understandable. hamitra was giving a talk Debunking erroneous official ver- Fleet Admiral Willian D. Leahy, on "the implication of the Bomb for sions of history is not an easy task. us today," at a local college. Immedi- Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff for ately after the talk the Principal of It is for this reason, that Joseph US, during the Second World War the college got up. He was livid. Gerson's book "With Hiroshima "You say that the atomic bomb was Eyes" is doubly welcome. The stated We don't know anything about not necessary to end the war! That aim of the book is to emphasise Japan was already willing to surren- three points: my younger brother. He was six der! Well, my information is differ- ent" and he proceeded to harangue * Nuclear weapons have always years old. Even when people were the poor students regarding how the been targeted against human be- burnt to death, you could Bomb helped prevent millions of ings. usually find the bones and at deaths in a prolonged war. least say, this is my house, so this United States practice of nuclear This incident is a small illustration extortion has been an essential must be them, but we found of the pervasive effect of propa- element of the maintenance and nothing. They must have been ganda. Lies about the use of the expansion of its global sphere of blown away somewhere. bomb have been broadcast with influence. atomic force so that today it is diffi- Politically engaged hibakusha are Yasuko Kumura cult to disentangle the truth from an undervalued moral and politi- self-justifying myths. Considering that such is the situation in a small cal exemplars for all people. village in India—effectively a by- stander in the conflict 50 years ago, It is the third point mentioned the strong reaction amongst milita- above which the book brings out rists in the US to the Smithsonian brilliantly. Hibakusha through their

Volume 9 Number 1 15 August / September 1995 suffering and resilience are indeed Gerson, gives a list of 26 incidents and Tibetan nomads, Kazhakistanis, "testimonies to the possiblities of hu- of nuclear extortion from 1945 to Eskimos of the Soviet Arctic, the man courage, compassion and a life- 1993, the list omits some glaring people around Pokhran—all are affirming future. Fifty years after the instances of nuclear extortion. For hibakushas. In fact, there is no need event, the Hibakusha are slowly dy- instance, the notorious 'tilt' in US to fall into the artificial atoms for ing out. Soon there would be no- policy during the Indi-Pak conflict war atoms for peace divide. The vic- body with a first-hand experience of of 1971 and the sending of the nu- tims of nuclear power madness run nuclear holocaust. The book brings clear armed aircraft carrier "Enter- into millions all over the world. out vividly the urgency in the state- prise" to Indian Ocean is conspicu- ment of Masanori Ichioka, "The ously absent These reservations are mere nit- hibakusha feel that they must not die An important point which the picking on my part. This is a fine until the abolition of nuclear weapons book fails to address deals with the book which needs to be read seri- is realised" feet that all nuclear weapons powers ously in India especially now as we All US administrations since the and even other states which believe too seem inclined to join the gang. Second World War have claimed that in nuclear weapons as a currency of the nuclear arsenal was needed to power, have used the maintain nuclear deterrance. This concept of national book shows that the nuclear um- "sacrifice zones" brella, served an even more impor- whose populations tant function: it allowed the US have been knowing- unhindered access to Third World ly subjected to radio- Su6sctiption resources. However, sections of the active assaults. Na- book dealing with this role of nucle- tive Americans of the Rs. 30/- per year (6 issues) (within India) ar weapons in preserving US hege- Southwest, Pacific mony and control are unfortunately islanders, Australian U.S. $ 15/- per year or equivalent in other not as well delineated. Although aborigines, Algerian currencies for airmail overseas. Rs. 500/- for life (only within India)

Demand drafts should be drawn on the State Bank

of India, Valod (Code: 0531) For cheques and Letter (Box drafts drawn on other banks, please add Rs 10/- A nuclear free India will not materialise out of default, nor will Subscriptions, donations and enquiries regarding it evolve from knee-jerk reactions from activists hungrily await- circulation should be addressed to: ing to pounce on every verbal contradiction of nucleocrats—nor from uncovering reasons proving economic unviability nor the Editor Anumukti hazardous nature of of nuclear pollutants. Sampoorna Kranti Vidyalaya Vedchhi, 394 641 India However sincere the efforts are, unfortunately, they are still in Tel: 02625-2074 the realm of reactions. Historically and logically, these exercises arise AFTER the establishment acts—a dome collapses or Tarapur leaks. Perhaps activists should devote their time to en- Graphics: Sumesh Chandran ergy alternatives that make ecological and economic sense. Anumukti Team: P. Sabadevan, Peter Pa- Here, in the northern hills of Kerala, there are vast areas of lush trao Satyhamitra and Surendra Gadekar greenery and sparkling streams. Electricity, as usual, goes to the urban centres, resulting in voltages as low as 10-15 V in Alakode! Published by S. Gadekar for Sempeerna Kranti Vidyalaya and Amidst these oasis of almost pristine splendour, if a capital inten- Printed by him at The Parijat Printry Ahmedabad. sive, ecologically disastrous project were to arise, funding would flow from "tourism". And, of course, one more protest group, PRINTED MATTER along with its newsletter, will be born. Perhaps, if your journal can devote some space to realistic alter- natives in energy generation, we could send you documented cases of communities attempting to solve their energy needs. In the meanwhile, we are totally with you in your devotion to a nu- clear free India.

Peter Patrao The PEdal & Turbine Energy Research Trust