ANUMUKTI A Journal Devoted to Non-Nuclear India Vol. 6 No.2 October/November 1992 What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of diffentices, their atttractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and peculiarities, by eliminating different civilizations and cultures, progress weakens life and favours death. The ideal of a single civilization for everyone, implicit in the cult of progress and technique, impovcrishes and mutilates us. Every view of the world that becomes extinct, every culture that disappears, diminishes a possibility of life. Octavio Paz A Voyage that Diminished the Possibilities of Life cist's physicist and his compatriot Uranium is the heaviest naturally F Leo Szilard—the man who dreamed found element. Nucleus of atoms of irst came the visionaries-the the whole enterprise up and many uranium spontaneously divide into seekers after truth, the people others. And there was Enrico Fermi: smaller bits, nuclei of lighter ele- whose insatiable curiosity and gen- "The Italian navigator who landed ments, and a few (sometimes 2 and ius led them to probe deeper and on the shores of the New World and sometimes 3) neutrons all moving at ever deeper into the mysteries of found that' the natives were great speeds. The trick was to get nature. People like Ernest Ruther- friendly." these neutrons to act as triggers for ford-the giant New Zealander further breaking up of other ura- whose ingenious experiments using That was the encoded message nium nuclei. If this could be done on a little bit of wire and some sealing which announced to the American a suotained basis, then that was the wax were to alter the whole course authorities that a nuclear chain re- key to the vast store of energy. The of scientific development in the action had been established and problem was that most of the neu- twentieth century; there was Niels that it was controllable. On Decem- trons were moving too fast. They Bohr, the Danish mountaineer and ber 2nd, 1942, in a laboratory con- would speed away before they could footballer, who gave us our picture structed underneath the squash hit other atoms and cause fission. of the atom-the most recognisable court of the University of Chicago, Fermi put a piece of parnffin wax in symbol of the modern age; there Fermi and his group of co-workers, the way. The wax was to act like a were the Germans Edwin Sehrodin- forged the key that opened the vast crowded bazaar to the speeding neu- ger and Werner Heisenberg who store of energy locked inside the trons. They slowed down, became gave the theoretical tools-the atom. more amenable to capture by other framework to understanding the se- uranium nuclei and the chain reac- crete of the micro world* there was tion became sustainable. Like an- Paul Dirac the Hungarian physi- other Italian navigator exactly 450 ergy has been put to was in boiling market test and no new power years before him Fermi landed the water and generating electricity. plants have been ordered for the last spaceship earth on the shores of the eighteen years. Neither has nuclear new world. But were the natives But, on this, the fiftieth anniver- energy been as safe and clean as its really friendly? sary of Fermi's forays under the backers had claimed. Catastrophic squash court, nuclear electricity accidents have taken place far too After the dreamers came the faces an uncertain future. It has in frequently and routine emissions schemers. People like General a very deep sense proved itself to be have proved to have been far more Leslie Groves, who made useful "poisoned power". The very process harmful than previous expecta- products out of these discoveries. of fission, leads to the creation of a tions. Like weapons of mass destruction. bewilderingly large variety of poi- Groves wasn't the only one. There sons. Amongst these poisons are But as advocates of 'development' were many others: The political some of the most toxic substances never tire to point out, there is no leaders: The top executives of large known to humanity. Thus for exam- free lunch; somebody has to pay the corporations: The military men. ple, a small spec of plutonium price. The price has been paid dis- And they weren't all just Americans weighing no more than a trillionth proportionately by the voiceless— either. They were to be followed by of a gramme lodged in a person's the yet unborn generations, the the Russians, and the British, and lung can cause cancer. Nuclear indigenous people of remote regions the French, and the Chinese; and power plants produce such poisons where all the uranium mining and the Indians and the Pakistanis and in quantities of hundreds and some- the bomb testing have taken place, the Israelis and the ... times thousands of kilograms. by young children and by women. Dr Keeping these poisons isolated from Rosalie Bertell winner of the Right After Hiroshima, the stream of nu- the environment for essentially Livelihood Award has estimated clear scientists divided into three. eternity has proved to be an insur- this price as the untimely deaths of One channel went on to make bigger mountable task. Far from being "too 32 million people. and better (worse for you and me) cheap to meter", nuclear energy has bombs. These were people like Ed- instead turned out to be too costly to Christopher Colombus had also ward Teller—first rate scientist but continue. Despite huge government found the natives friendly. The na- a paranoid personality. Then there subsidies, (totaling according to the tives paid for their friendliness with was the other stream-a small government's own estimate to more the destruction of their lives and counter current. Scientist who said than $ 40 billion by 1979 in U.S.A. culture. The track record of nuclear enough was enough and who tried to alone, nuclear power has failed the colonialism has been much worse. turn the clock back from the ap- proach of midnight. And there was the mainstream. People who Congratulations Dr Gofman for the Right Livelihood Award thought that nuclear energy was an inexhaustible, clean, cheap and safe Dr John Gofman is one of my heroes. He did his Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry source of energy and a solution to all and then went on to become a medical doctor. Today, at 74 years of age, he the world's ills if only it could be is Professor Emeritus in Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of harnessed and put to peaceful uses. California at Berkeley. Many ingenious peaceful uses of nuclear by-products were found. While a graduate student in 1942, Gofman proved the flssionability of There were the uses in medical di- uranium-233 and developed the process which isolated the first workable agnosis and therapy. There were ag- quantity of plutonium and discovered several radioactive isotopes of ura- ricultural uses, and in food nium and protactinium. His pioneering work on the chemistry of lipoproteins preservation and in all kinds of has received several medical awards. gadgets from radioactive smoke de- tectors to starters in energy efficient But good scientists, though not dime a dozen are still not very rare entities. tube lights, to watch dials that Far more than being merely a good scientist, Dr John Gofman is a man of glowed in the dark. And on and on... scientific integrity and has courage of his convictions. Thus, when he found No doubt there would be many more that the health effects of low, officially 'acceptable' doses were in actuality killing millions of people, he put his entire 'career' and funding on line and in the future. said so. For his outspokeness, he was hounded by the radiation estab- lishment. His books, Radiation and Human Health, X-Ray3: Health Effects But the main use apart of course of Common Exams and Radiation Induced Cancer from Low-Dose Exposure from the weapons that nuclear en- are all classics in the field. Anumukti is eagerly awaiting the yet to be published book on heritable health effects. October/November 1992 2 Anumukti 2 Allaying Public Fears positive and constructive. As you society should also value the opinion I will notice, the safety systems in of such experts before coming to de- n the last issue of Anumukti, we KAPP-1 are supervised by the cisions on the social implications of mentioned that the Kakrapar Atomic Energy Regulatory Board such safety measures. I am sure Atomic Power Plant (KAPP-1) and the expert committees it has set that the Chairman, Atomic Energy started functioning from the 3rd of up to monitor the detailed operation Regulatory Board. Shri S.D.Soman, September, 1992- Shri Narayan De- and testing. I am glad Shri Desai is will be available for anybody who sai had gone on a five day fast in taking such a keen interest in the wishes to get clarified on any prob- protest against the starting of this nuclear power plant. I am certain lem with regard to KAPP-1. unit without the mandatory safety that his misgivings will be allayed With regards, testing. The fast has galvanised by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Yours sincerely, many in the vicinity of the plant to Board. The Chairman of the Atomic P.K.Iyengar become active in their opposition to Energy Regulatory Board, Shri the plant. As part of our campaign, S.D.Soman will be available for any AERB Chief Visits Vedchhl we had informed the local press and further clarifications if required. local and state level politicians of With regards, We received this letter much after Yours sincerely the implications of starting KAPP1 Shri Soman's visit to Vedehhi.