Indian Nuclear Safety: A question of Rs.500 only

• Subscribe to PCF Networked Blog Daily Updates 
• Subscribe to our Twitter / Google / Yahoo Daily Updates

On August 23, 2012 global nuclear experts went into shock after reading the Indian national auditors’ report on India’s nuclear safety and declared Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), a weak regularity body. Interestingly, the AERB was constituted through an executive order in 1983 and reports to the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). The locals residing in the vicinities of the nuclear plants have demanded the relocation of plants away from the populace area. In this connection they are soon going to launch proper protests against AEC and central government.

He exposed that AERB, which supervises safety issues at India’s 22 running nuclear plants, has no power to make rules for enforcing compliance. It can only impose penalty in the cases of nuclear safety oversight. The penalty would be in the shape of a fine of maximum Rs. 500 as a deterrent in cases. In other words, Indian nuclear safety can be compromised in Rs. 500 only. Indian Comptroller and Auditor General have also confirmed the auditor’s report and warned a Fukushima or Chernobyl-like disaster, if the nuclear safety issue is not addressed by the government.

As one of a good neighbour, I number of times in my articles tried to draw IAEA and Indian nuclear authorities’ attention about the weak and poor safety arrangements at all Indian nuclear plants. Unfortunately, “Mr. B. Raman”, former Additional Sectary of RAW instead of further advising its government to improve upon the security and safety arrangement, declared my article, “Credibility of Indian Nuclear Programme” as a classic example of propaganda against Indian Nuclear Programme. Hope, this time my brother is not going to declare the Indian auditor report fabricated one.

It is mentionable here that AERB was constituted through an executive order in 1983 and present report to the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Therefore, “The legal status of the AERB continued to be that of an authority subordinate to the Central Government, with powers delegated to it by the latter.” Therefore, no subordinate detachment or a body can inspect her parental organization or headquarter in true letter and spirit.

Whereas, according to IAEA, independent regularity authority is one of the needs of the agency to inspect the security and safety arrangements at nuclear plants. In this connection Indian auditor very rightly pointed out that a number of countries such as Australia, Canada, France, Pakistan and the US have conferred legal status to their respective bodies.

Report also mentioned “out of the 168 standards, codes and guides identified by AERB for development under various thematic areas, 27 safety documents still remained to be developed. The report said off-site emergency exercises highlighted the inadequate emergency preparedness to deal with situations involving radiological effects from a nuclear power plant which may extend to public areas. It is also a matter of concern that approach road to the plant site of Tarapur Atomic Power Station was highly congested, which would pose serious problems in dealing with any future emergency.

The current report is not the first one; earlier on February 28, 2012 an expert committee appointed by the Tamil Nadu government on submitted its report on the safety aspects of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNNP) to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, marking a crucial stage in the debate over the project. At the same time, the State government invited the People’s Movement against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) representatives for talks on next day i.e. Feburary29, 2012.

However, on above mentioned report visible clashes has been noticed between government sponsored scientists and private but straight former scientists who were really worried about the lives of the local living around the project. In this regard M.R. Srinivasan, a former chairman of Indian Atomic Energy commission and member of experts committee while talking to the media reporters said that “Let the government have a cool view of the report,” but ” I have not taken back my words on the issue despite that few government officials are satisfied over the issue.”

He further explained that on February 20, after visiting the nuclear plant and holding talks with PMANE representatives in Tirunelveli, Dr. Srinivasan had said the state-of-the-art safety features incorporated in the reactor had made it a ‘third generation plus’ reactor. S. Iniyan, Director of Centre for Energy Studies, Anna University, D. Arivuoli, Professor, Department of Physics, Anna University and former IAS office L.N. Vijayaraghavan are the other members on the committee.

Meanwhile, Mr. Udayakumar has sent a legal notice to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for insinuating that the anti-Kudankulam protests were funded by United States and the Scandinavian non-government organisations. Advocate M. Radhakrishnan, who sent the notice on behalf of Mr. Udayakumar, said the Prime Minister had made a “false statement with an intention to harm his client’s reputation”.

Nevertheless, number of incidents of gas leakages, Uranium theft cases, murder of nuclear staff and scientists have already been reported and registered. Precisely, commenting the major incident in nukes pants, theft cases of enriched Uranium, murdering and harassing of nuclear staff by intelligence agency and leakage of gases are in increase. Reportedly, because of poor safety and security arrangement on May 14 2010, another incident of poor radiation security green place radiation experts have identified eight hotspots in New Delhi Mayapuri area which have 5000 times the natural background radiation defined as safe by the department of atomic energy. In this incident one individual died and eleven others were injured.

The nukes experts always have shown strong concern over Indian poor safety and nuke arrangements on the nuke plants and handlers. In this reared New Delhi never paid heed to IAEA concerns over nukes safety and security. Almost 160 cases of theft, loss and misplacement of radioactive source have been registered in the local police. Again recently a radiographer boarding a train in New Delhi carrying an industrial gamma radiography exposure device was stolen from him and never found. In April 2007 a radiography Camera stolen from Jadadishphir near Lucknow could not be found till to date.

In November 2009, fifty five employees consumed radioactive material after titrated founded its way into the drinking water cooler in Kaiga Nuclear plant in Karnataka. The leakage of 4-14 tones of heavy water from the pipes at madras atomic processing plant in Tamil Nadu. Six workers have been exposed to high doses of radioactive radiation.

Indian police found dead body of the nuclear scientist, Lokanathan Mahalingam from Kali River in Jun 2009. The scientist was in possession of highly sensitive / classified information. On 29 December 2009, a fire broke out at the BARC, killing two scientists identified as Umang Singh and Partha Bagga. Anantha Narayanan, a scientific working in the computer department of Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam is missing since Feb 2010. A 48 year old Madhadevan lyer, scientist of the BARC was found dead in his official residence in Feb 2010.

Mr. Thirumala Prasad Thenka, a scientist of Raja Ramanna Centre for Advance Technology (RRCAT) committed suicide by hanging himself on 12 Apr 2010. On 28 April 2010, Delhi Police traces Cobalt – 60 to DU Chemistry Department. Coming back to the current report, the most serious problems relate to ensure the safe use of radiation in medical and industrial facilities across India. In this context, the AERB was ordered by the Supreme Court in 2001 to set up radiation safety directorates in 35 administrative areas, but by July 2012 it had achieved this in only two. The concerned agency had also failed to frame rules for cost recovery from licenses and was therefore bearing almost the entire cost of the consent process for permitting and inspection. The consent system itself has been “weak”, resulting in “a substantial number of radiation facilities operating without licenses.” The report said that 91% of X-ray facilities were not registered with AERB and were therefore unregulated.

The AERB has never set out standard inspection periods for radiation facilities and the comptroller’s report noted an 85% shortfall in inspections at industrial radiography and radiotherapy units, compared to IAEA norms. For diagnostic radiobiology facilities the shortfall was “over 97%”. There is no detailed inventory of radioactive sources to help ensure safe disposal and no “proper mechanism” to check the safe disposal of radioactive waste. It is also worth mentioning here that the Indian state nuclear establishment has not drawn on the services of the IAEA to peer-review its regulatory system and comment on its effectiveness.

In the end, the comptroller very rightly concluded that the government should ensure the regulator is “empowered and independent” and that this is specified in law. Inspection regimes should be set out based on risk analyses and checks should be undertaken either by IAEA or in terms of the norms prescribed by the UN atomic agency. Auditor report also reminded me the unforgettable miseries of Bhopal Union Carbide Pesticide Plant, when over 8000 innocent people killed and more than 5000 suffered with serious injuries as a result of gas leakage in 1984. The affected individuals of Bhopal have still not been compensated and keep on crying for their rights even in the highest courts.

In short, auditor report confirms that Indian government particular Chairman Atomic Energy Commission has never been serious in removing bugs of safety at nuclear plants .Moreover, Indian scientists and authorities are lacking expertise in handling sensitive and dangerous material related to nukes and gases. World community should ask India to stop further expansion of their nuclear and Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) programme.

(Note; Major part of Indian auditor’s report has been incorporated in unique form with a view to present the facts in original shape)

By Zaheer-ul-Hasan
The writer can be approached through zameer36@gmail.com

-----------------------------

Read More on Indian Nude Nukes

• Security of Pak Nukes beyond American Fabricated Report
• Indian Nude Nukes; A matter of MORE Concern than Pakistani Nukes

Pakistan Cyber Force

Follow PCF on Facebook

Follow PCF on Twitter

Security of Pak Nukes beyond American Fabricated Report

• Subscribe to PCF Networked Blog Daily Updates 
• Subscribe to our Twitter / Google / Yahoo Daily Updates

Overtly, US high officials state that they seek stability in Pakistan, but covertly, they continue to destabilise this country through multi-faceted subversive activities of the American CIA, Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad. With the assistance of these secret agencies, Indo-Israeli lobbies which are working in Europe, and especially, penetrated in the US administration including their media manipulate any major terror event of Pakistan in order to show to the international community that this country’s nuclear weapons are not safe as militants can possess them.

Although recent terrorists’ assault on Kamra Base was successfully foiled by the personnel of Pakistan Air Force, yet a baseless report, published in the New York Times on the same day said that suspected militants attacked a major Pakistani Air Force base where some of the country’s nuclear weapons were considered to be stored in the early hours of the militants’ attack. The report also presumed, “The base is part of Pakistan s nuclear stockpile, estimated to include at least 100 warheads.”

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta also stated on the same day, “There is a danger of nuclear weapons of Pakistan, falling into hands of terrorists.” Notably when militants had attacked on Pakistan’s Naval Airbase in Karachi on May 23, 2011, US-led some western countries including India and Israel, while exploiting the situation had accelerated their campaign against the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. Particularly, on May 25, last year, Indian Defence Minister AK Antony misperceived that India was concerned about the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal after a group of terrorists laid siege to a heavily guarded naval air base.” He explained, “Naturally it is a concern not only for us but for everybody.”

In fact, US and other hostile countries which feel jealousy in relation to Pakistan’s atomic assets, should better have concerns about India’s nuclear weapons which are quite insecure.Indian past record proves various kinds of  security lapses regarding various nuclear plants and the related sensitive materials.

In July 1998, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seized eight Kg. of nuclear material from three engineers in Chennai. It was reported that the uranium was stolen from an atomic research center. On November 7, 2000, International Atomic Agency (IAEA) disclosed that Indian police had seized 57 pounds of uranium and arrested two men for illicit trafficking of radioactive material. IAEA had revealed that Indian civil nuclear facilities were vulnerable to thefts.

On January 26, 2003, CNN pointed out that Indian company, NEC Engineers Private Ltd. shipped 10 consignments to Iraq, containing highly sensitive equipments entailing titanium vessels and centrifugal pumps. In February 2004, India’s Ambassador to Libya, Dinkar Srivastava disclosed that New Delhi was investigating that retired Indian scientists could possibly be engaged in “high technology programs” for financial gains during employment in the Libyan government.

In December 2005, US imposed sanctions on two Indian firms for selling missile goods and chemical arms material to Iran in violation of India’s commitment to prevent proliferation. In the same year, Indian scientists, Dr. Surendar and Y. S. R Prasad had been blacklisted by Washington due to their involvement in nuclear theft.

In December 2006, a container packed with radioactive material had been stolen from an Indian fortified research atomic facility near Mumbai. In June 2009, India’s nuclear scientist, Lokanathan Mahalingam missed from the scenario and after a couple of days; his dead body was recovered from the Kali River. Indian police concocted a story that Mahalingam had committed suicide by jumping into the river. It is a big joke to hide some real facts behind his death because wisdom proves that if an educated person decides to commit suicide, he will definitely adopt a soft way to eliminate his life. Afterwards, Dr. Haleema Saadia said that death of the scientist is a conspiracy.

However, events of nuclear theft, smuggling and killing have become a regular feature of Indian atomic plants which still continue in one or the other way.
It is regrettable that by setting aside the Indian irresponsible record of proliferation, the US signed defence agreement with India on July 20, 2009 as part of the deal about civil nuclear technology, agreed upon by the two countries in 2008.

Thus, New Delhi is officially allowed to obtain the US sophisticated arms and nuclear weapons for its armed forces. In this regard, America had also pressurised IAEA to sign an accord of specific safeguards with India. It permits New Delhi a broad atomic cooperation, while superseding the IAEA in relation to transfer of nuclear equipments and technologies. These arrangements also entail enrichment and reprocessing items under the so-called cover of IAEA. For this purpose, Washington also contacted the Nuclear Suppliers Group in order to grant a waiver to India for starting civil nuclear trade on larger scale, while New Delhi has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). And India has already been getting nuclear material and arms of all kinds from Israel, Russia, and other European countries.

It is mentionable that while acting upon their unilateral approach, US-led west is displaying pin-drop silence over the continued wave of separatism and insurgency in India’s more than seven states including terror acts at other places. In case of Maoist insurgency, it has increased to a greater extent. On September 21, 2009, even Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had admitted that the Maoist “insurgency is the single biggest threat to India’s security.

On the other side, despite the repeated assurances of Pakistan’s military and civil leadership that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are well-protected and are under tight security arrangements, having well-coordinated command and control system, a deliberate propaganda campaign against the safety of these weapons keeps on going particularly by the US and India. Besides, some European countries also make much hue and cry regarding the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear assets by ignoring Indian illegal proliferation. It indicates their double standards in the Sub-continent. Nonetheless, Pak ‘nukes’ are more secure than those of India.

By Sajjad Shaukat
He writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

---------------------------

• Read more on Indian Nude Nukes

---------------------------

Pakistan Cyber Force

Follow PCF on Facebook

Follow PCF on Twitter

Indian NUDE Nuclear Arsenal - A matter of 'MORE' CONCERN than Pakistan's Nukes

• Subscribe to PCF Networked Blog Daily Updates 
• Subscribe to our Twitter / Google / Yahoo Daily Updates

Seems like the Zionist Barbaric state of India has been obsessed to her very beloved neighbor ever since her creation. Time and again India keeps raising "serious concerns" over several matters pertaining to Pakistan on official level and keep declaring Pakistan as a threat to her existence whereas on the other hand the very hollow claims  of "Aman Ki Asha" run rampant and echo loud when it comes to Hindi dancing.

The back stabber India has just recently questioned Pakistan's ability to secure its nuclear assets from terrorists (again). Indians have been expressing paranoia over “inside threats” that Pakistan’s nuclear facilities face for almost the past 2 years now. But in reality the facts happen to be the other way round.

One argument that the Indians (along with the Americans) give is that if OBL can hide so close to the Pakistan Military Academy, then his men can also get close to Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. However, they are yet to prove the presence of Osama Bin Laden anywhere around PMA or even Abbotabad and give concrete evidence of his killing for the 8th time since the last decade.

This so called claim of concern over Pakistani nuclear arsenal only reflects the hypocrisy of India. The truth is that since the existence of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, there has not been a single incident of successful theft or penetration inside the nuclear facility by the foreign elements. Whereas in India, there have been more than a hundred recorded cases of uranium theft.

Many Indian nuclear scientists were found having contacts with the Naxal insurgency; an insurgency which has been active in India longer than the TTP in Pakistan. There are reports that most top Indian nuclear facilities are located in areas which come inside the “Red Corridor”. The Red Corridor is an area in India that has been labeled unsafe and ungovernable because of it being under heavy influence of insurgencies and rebels. According  to the “Red Corridor” map, there are some 51 districts that are very badly hit by the rebels while the total number of rebel struck districts remains around 164, ranging from Dehradhun to Kerala. The following  are a few nuclear facilities located in Naxal affected areas of Andra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal:

• Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research(AMD),

• Ceramatic Fuel Fabrication Facility(CFFF),

• Electronics Corporation of India Limited(ECIL),

• Mishra Dhalu Nigam Limited(MIDHANI)

• National Centre for Compositional Characterization of Materials(NCCCM)

• New Zirconium Sponge Plant(New ZSP)

• Nuclear Fuel Complex(NFC),

• Special Materials Plant,

• Uranium Fuel Assembly Plant and Zirconium Fabrication Plant

• Seha Institute of Nuclear Physics and Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre(VECC)

Not only this, but there are many other nuclear related facilities that are located in areas which come under immense and direct influence of Hindu extremist groups like Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal, who are known for their hard line policies against the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. It should be noted that these groups are fully capable of penetrating in the Indian nuclear facilities.

The storage sight for Prithvi 1- Ballistic Missile is located in the troubled and disputed area of Jammu, where Muslim insurgents have been fighting for separation, and engaging with the Indian Army for a long time. It should also be critically noted that around 90% of the Red Corridor areas are just a "No Go Zone" for the Indian troops and Air Force. Not only this, but the Naxal occupied "Red Corridor" area inhabitants are hostile towards the Indian Armed Forces and continue carrying out assassinations against the Indian armed personnel time and again. 

The Daily Mail constituted a team of freelance reporters and photographers, based in different parts of India and embarked them on the investigative mission under the command of their  Delhi Bureau Chief Christina Palmer. The team was given the test task of exploring the state of affairs at Jharkand which is considered to be hub of India’s nuclear energy programme. What they discovered was as follows:

EAST Singhbhum district in Jharkhand, bordering West Bengal and Orissa, is the capital of India’s nuclear energy programme. It is rich in uranium that is mined by the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) and converted later into nuclear fuel for the reactors. East Singhbhum is also rich in Naxalites who are active in the area and well aware of the mines that produce uranium. Little to no security separates the uranium ore or the processed yellowcake from the Naxalites, who are currently extending their control, with the local administration officials admitting that it is just a matter of time before they strike the mines.

According to Superintendent of police Navin Kumar Singh, “This district is on the list of Naxalite-affected areas. They are making full efforts to gain control over the Jadugoda region. They already have a very strong presence in the adjoining areas of Potka, Dumaria, Dalbhumgarh and Ghatshila.”

The raw uranium from the mines is processed by the UCIL in Jadugoda, a small town located at a distance of 30 km from district headquarters Jamshedpur. This entire region is India’s only source of natural uranium to feed the country’s heavy-water nuclear reactors. According to local officials, of India’s annual requirement of 300 tonnes of yellowcake, at present, UCIL in East Singhbhum produces 220 tonnes. Massive expansion is underway in the area to increase the production to the required 300 tonnes.

East Singhbhum has seven uranium mines and two processing mills that function under the UCIL. The UCIL campus serves as the headquarters for the mines, and itself has a processing unit and the oldest mines in the region. The Bhatin and Narwapahar mines are 2 km and 10 km respectively from Jadugoda. Turamdih, which has a mine as well as a processing mill, is 20 km from Jadugoda. The Mohuldih and Banduhurang mines are 5 km away from Turamdih. Bagjata is around 30 km from Jadugoda.

In the words of India’s widely circulated fortnightly magazine The Covert’s correspondent Appu Esthose Suresh “This correspondent travelled on the same route used to ferry uranium ore from the mines to the processing plants in Jadugoda and Turamdih. The absence of policemen along the entire route was striking. There was not a single police picket or post. In Jharia, on the way from Narwapahar to Jadugoda, a large warehouse that is used to store explosives had no guard worth the name. This so-called restricted area located on a small hilltop and surrounded by mountains and dense forests, is guarded by just four policemen in two bunkers. The sole watchtower at the warehouse did not have a single guard on duty. This scribe visited the sport several times on different days, but the watchtower remained vacant, always. This road is routinely used by the trucks that transport uranium ore mined at Narwapahar and Bhatin to the UCIL mill at Jadugoda, and is therefore a vital link to the mines”. [1]

The investigation team further learnt that the radiation was a big problem in the area, yet it was unaddressed by the government. According to their findings, on Aug. 16, 2008, a new tailing pipeline burst near Jaduguda caused a uranium mill tailing spill that reached nearby homes and caused serious hazards for the human and the wild life.

Recently a rumor cum very possible news had been running rampant that on 15th March, an Indian nuclear scientist lost his laptop which had critical data of the Indian nuclear program. The scientist lost the laptop in a train, and he worked for Kaiga atomic power plant in Karnataka, India. This is the height of the safety of the Indian Nuclear Arsenal and the critical data related to the Nuclear safety.

As mentioned before, there hasn’t been a single incident that would create any doubt about the security arrangement for the nuclear installations. It is obvious that these “concerns” that India and US raise through their media are all part of the propaganda to eventually destabilize and denuclearize Pakistan to secure the existence of Israel.

Through covert agents like Raymond Davis, CIA has tried to penetrate in Pakistani nuclear installations to get hold of uranium, which can then be used for false flag attacks that can be blamed on Pakistan. And after blaming Pakistan for these attacks, the US can come in, and “rescue the world” from “nuclear terrorism”. However, the CIA has always faced defeat at the hands of ISI in such operations. More over it should be critically mentioned that the attack on PNS Mehran to which Indians have made the argument of concern was plainly US/India sponsored terrorism against the armed forces of Pakistan.

Their prime agenda for exploiting the Pakistani nuclear program is plain and simple. In fact it is the very first step through which they want to disintegrate Pakistan into tiny pieces based on the Yugoslavia doctrine. They aim at ridiculing and creating a hype over the defense arsenals owned by Pakistan, telling blatant lies to the masses that the Pakistani nukes are unsafe. They would then enter as the "savior of  humanity" and "de-nuclearize" Pakistan for the betterment of the entire humanity. This is exactly what they did with Iraq and later on after destructing Iraq into pieces filled with blood of innocent Iraqis, they came to discover that there were NO "weapons of mass destruction" in reality!

The serious 'concerns' that the extreme hostile and treacherous neighbor keeps raising, should not make her eyes shut down from her own 'concerns' which are far more valid, more vulnerable and more hazardous to her own self rather than the concerns of Pakistan. Time and again India's nuclear safety has caused serious issues for the state itself, yet alone the entire humanity. The barbaric Zionist ruling elite of India should either take assistance from the master Tel Aviv in this regard too or either simply restrain herself to  moronic dances of Bollywood as handling nuclear arsenal is not a few steps of gayish dancing.

[1] Report by Makhdoom Babar in Islamabad & Christina Palmer in New Delhi

Compiled by: Danyal Khan and Xharaf Vsm

Pakistan Cyber Force

Follow PCF on Facebook

Follow PCF on Twitter