India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

[chaanakya]

I trust the qualifications of ***, my doctor, and my lawyer.

Yet when they fail you , you change them or consult better ones.

[merlin]

Give me some of what you are smoking saar! Pretty potent stuff

Sure thing!

Check out the following purveyors of real fine quality merchandise. Their stuff is so good that you can smoke it as well as use it for fertilizer.

Gujral and Co.

Devegowda and Sons.

MMS Enterprises.

If they can peddle it, amma can and will do better.

Amma may surprise you yet, not to mention mayavati! They have already submitted viable business plans and are awaiting partners and financing.

It's a seller's market onlee

Just because we have had utter morons and bufoons for PMs doesn't mean we need more of the same. If an amma can place state interests above and at the cost of national interests how is she any different from other separatists.

[PratikDas]

I trust the qualifications of ***, my doctor, and my lawyer.

Yet when they fail you , you change them or consult better ones.

You are implicitly assuming they have failed. This is not how it is with the AEC. They have only failed the PR game, which is an important but secondary task. Their primary task is nuclear safety and there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that their design for Koodankulam is anything but safe.

Indian regulations for public hospitals may not be as stringent or expensive to maintain as US regulations. Pray tell which "better" organisation in India can be "consulted" to circumvent this situation.

Even the World Trade Centre brought down in September 2001 was built to withstand the impact of a 707 flying in poor visibility with very little fuel after a transatlantic flight. In the words of the designers, if they had to design the tower to withstand the impact of a fuel-filled aircraft, it would have simply been too impractical and costly to build. Does that mean building the WTC was a mistake? Not at all.

Similarly one can argue that Koodkankulam would be safer with a million cubic meters of reinforced concrete entombing it from day one. But if AEC has not mandated a million cubic meters of reinforced concrete, it doesn't make Koodankulam an unworthy and monumental risk.

[chaanakya]

Well I didn't assume anything. Just pointed out that your analogy may not be apt.

[chetak]

{quote="merlin"}

Give me some of what you are smoking saar! Pretty potent stuff

Sure thing!

Check out the following purveyors of real fine quality merchandise. Their stuff is so good that you can smoke it as well as use it for fertilizer.

Gujral and Co.

Devegowda and Sons.

MMS Enterprises.

If they can peddle it, amma can and will do better.

Amma may surprise you yet, not to mention mayavati! They have already submitted viable business plans and are awaiting partners and financing.

It's a seller's market onlee

Just because we have had utter morons and bufoons for PMs doesn't mean we need more of the same. If an amma can place state interests above and at the cost of national interests how is she any different from other separatists.

She is not.

When you have a weak centre, this is bound to happen

[kshatriya]

Speaking to the TN youth (non fishermen s ) one this is clear -> most of them are pro- Kudankulam. The snakes have all been smoked out. On a side note, All wetdreams of a separating TN is officially over because of these protests.. Most of the youth have now seen what certain Religious groups stand for, especially the ones behind these protests.

[chetak]

Speaking to the TN youth (non fishermen s ) one this is clear -> most of them are pro- Kudankulam. The snakes have all been smoked out. On a side note, All wetdreams of a separating TN is officially over because of these protests.. Most of the youth have now seen what certain Religious groups stand for, especially the ones behind these protests.

Really?

The wet dreams seem to be alive and well on the BR forum

[kshatriya]

Speaking to the TN youth (non fishermen s ) one this is clear -> most of them are pro- Kudankulam. The snakes have all been smoked out. On a side note, All wetdreams of a separating TN is officially over because of these protests.. Most of the youth have now seen what certain Religious groups stand for, especially the ones behind these protests.

Really?

The wet dreams seem to be alive and well on the BR forum

It will exist only in forums. Wetdreams have to be vented somewhere. IMHO, Its good for India that these protests are continuing. Tamil Hindus/Muslims will now identify with rest of Indians over Tamils who are running these protests on behalf of their foreign paymasters. A few tiny southern districts don't make TN. The protests are now slowly taking a communal angle. There will be long term effects of these protests in TN

And I wonder how many of these turncoats who are advocating separation of TN are in India.

[chetak]

{quote="kshatriya"}Speaking to the TN youth (non fishermen s ) one this is clear -> most of them are pro- Kudankulam. The snakes have all been smoked out. On a side note, All wetdreams of a separating TN is officially over because of these protests.. Most of the youth have now seen what certain Religious groups stand for, especially the ones behind these protests.

Really?

The wet dreams seem to be alive and well on the BR forum

It will exist only in forums. Wetdreams have to be vented somewhere. IMHO, Its good for India that these protests are continuing. Tamil Hindus/Muslims will now identify with rest of Indians over Tamils who are running these protests on behalf of their foreign paymasters. A few tiny southern districts don't make TN. The protests are now slowly taking a communal angle. There will be long term effects of these protests in TN

And I wonder how many of these turncoats who are advocating separation of TN are in India.

Some of the vocal ones here seem to be comfortably ensconced in the religious viper's bosom of the US whilst advocating "freedom of speech" and separatism in India.

Hypocrites.

[Pranav]

“The protesters are asking for copies of the inter-governmental agreements between
India and Russia as well as drawings and design details of the 1,000 MW Russian nuclear plant, which is proprietory information and cannot be shared,” Srikumar Banerjee, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) said on the sidelines of the Indian Science Congress here.

This is also no business of any civilian, not matter how much the supposedly downtrodden try to sugar coat things. Motives must be investigated.

I have noticed that the self-assumed freedom warriors have a LOT of trouble answering this question.

Openness is desirable to the extent possible without compromising proprietary secrets.

Authorities should describe safety systems, redundancy etc at a level of technical detail that might be appropriate for say an article in IEEE Spectrum.

[merlin]

She is not.

When you have a weak centre, this is bound to happen

Agree on the weak centre part, but that will never be solved until one single national party gets more than 250 on their own. Otherwise every two bit regional politician can blackmail the centre for any illegitimate demands.

[PratikDas]

Openness is desirable to the extent possible without compromising proprietary secrets.

Authorities should describe safety systems, redundancy etc at a level of technical detail that might be appropriate for say an article in IEEE Spectrum.

Pranav ji, some discourse is always welcome but even then only those who are open to reason and logic will read them. The troublemakers will continue to look for everything that is not written. For example, if an unbiased or neutral individual (read: a caucasian ) didn't write the paper, could it mean the Indian author is only trying to fool the public? (read: because he is a scoundrel with nothing better to do ). His education, qualification and decades of experience be damned.

The public hospital analogy is actually very good.

Could the standards be improved at a higher cost? Yes.
Could the less-than-perfect standards be responsible for higher-than-optimal infection rates? Sure.
Are millions of people experiencing Indian public hospital standards for better or for worse every year? Yes
Are the regulations documented and open for review? Yes
Do you see people obstructing, putting their jobs on hold and protesting, and asking which countries we buy medical supplies from and at what terms? No. Not even when these less-than-perfect standards affect a *lot* more people and every day compared to a once-in-a-lifetime tsunami-induced Fukushima.

When it comes to medical treatment, I think people understand that they get what they pay for. They also want the hospital to be in their neighbourhood.

When it comes to the power plant, like the sewage treatment plant or the landfill, people want it to be as far away from home as possible. Tough. It so happens that power plants, like sewage treatment plants or landfills need a *lot* of land and there is certainly no room in Delhi, Mumbai or Kolkata proper. I might as well mention Chennai last lest I offend some rare and supposedly unique Dravidian sensibility.

In the meanwhile, Kashmiris are crying foul because of a lack of power. Well played, saboteurs.

[kshatriya]

Some of the vocal ones here seem to be comfortably ensconced in the religious viper's bosom of the US whilst advocating "freedom of speech" and separatism in India.

Hypocrites.

One wonders if the some of these vocal ones in BR have the legitimacy or the Balls to "harsh question" the Nuclear Establishment or heck any Govt Establishment in their Current country of Residence.

[Sanatanan]

From TOI, 8 Jan, 2012
Developed by DRDO:
'Tulsi' to be used for anti-radiation medicine

Added later:
Following is really OT here, but I could not resist the temptation to add these lines here juat as a piece of interesting information:
There is a beautiful composition by Saint Thyagaraja, in Telugu, invoking the devine qualities of Tulasi leaves. The first line (पल्लवि -- Pallavi) goes thus: तुलसि दलमुलचे स्न्तोषमुगा पूजिन्तु . . .

[nawabs]

What about the Government plans to replace AEC with a new authority?
http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column ... el_1624980
Replacing a largely independent authority with a Government controlled one.

Further details about the NSRA Bill:
http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/the-n ... 2011-1980/
What do the Gurus think is the reason behind this?I read somewhere(I don't exactly remember where) that foemer AEC chairman Adinarayan Gopalakrishnan says the new authority was being formed to allow vested interests to control, and profit from, India's nuclear industry.

[chetak]

She is not.

When you have a weak centre, this is bound to happen

Agree on the weak centre part, but that will never be solved until one single national party gets more than 250 on their own. Otherwise every two bit regional politician can blackmail the centre for any illegitimate demands.

Tactically she has played her cards wrong. She is also contemptuous of the PM and the small man that he is, he has reacted the same venomous way he did towards advani. She will not be able to get around the recalcitrant singh this time.

Strategically she has her head screwed on right. She has BR type ideas for the country as some of her speeches seem to suggest.

[Theo_Fidel]

Replacing a largely independent authority with a Government controlled one.

I don't think it is right to say present system is independent. It is an arm of the Atomic agencies that monitors all the other arms of the Atomic agency and reports back to the Atomic agency. But yes the new agency is potentially worse because it reports back to the PMO and Parliament. PMO has the power to appoint and remove members with no questions asked. This is AG's prime concern. He has many others including the quite random and arbitrary decisions that being taken on reactor purchase.

At some point the kickbacks that are involved in this are going to come to light. An cause another 2G type kerfuffle.

AG point is that similar organizations have been set up by dozens of countries around the world, in his opinion France and Canada have the better systems. The Indian one learns very little from these examples.
-----------------------------------------------------------

It is hard to know the full background but MMS has definitely pi$$ed off AMMA big time. She repeatedly made a point of noting that all his letters to her were deliberately leaked to the press first and then sent to her in order to force her hand. She did not take well to such brinksmanship.

Then MMS sent V Narayanaswamy, tru-blu congress wallah to try and patch things up and she simply threw him to the wolves. He made matters worse and crawled back to Dilli.

AMMA is counting on the 3,500 MW of coal power that will be commissioned in TN this year. If MMS wants to play hardball that should be his next play. AMMA reaction will truly be a sight to behold at that point.

[gakakkad]

From TOI, 8 Jan, 2012
Developed by DRDO:
'Tulsi' to be used for anti-radiation medicine

Added later:
Following is really OT here, but I could not resist the temptation to add these lines here juat as a piece of interesting information:
There is a beautiful composition by Saint Thyagaraja, in Telugu, invoking the devine qualities of Tulasi leaves. The first line (पल्लवि -- Pallavi) goes thus: तुलसि दलमुलचे स्न्तोषमुगा पूजिन्तु . . .

Does anyone have technical details or proposed mechanism of action. Present day , we use chelating agents. We use an agent called amifostine to protect against some cases of radiotherapy and chemotherapy . if the product can help there it does have commercial viability . Can anyone get me the contact info of the researchers ? Chacko might be able to help here , I guess?

W.R.T Uday kumar . The chap is in the anti-nookular bijness for a decade now . But interstingly focussed only against Yindia. He has attended CON-ferences at various exotic oiropean destinations over the years. Non of his 'efforts' are directed against west or Panda or TSP. Only agsinst Yindia .

Google timeline for more more details .

[Sanatanan]

Indian Express, 9, Jan 2012:
Nuke energy is safest, NPCIL tells IIT Bombay students

. . .

Bhardwaj {Director Technical, NPCIL} said there continues to be concerns about nuclear energy and resistance to it as things are not clear. “There are concerns about radiation. At Tarapur, where we have had 41 years of reactor operations, people are not worried. People in new areas (where the nuclear reactors are being set up or proposed like Koodankulam and Jaitapur) are worried due to the gap in understanding radiation. This should be addressed and is being addressed,” he said.

He explained to the students that everyone is living in a naturally radioactive world. Citing numbers, Bhardwaj said compared to the average natural radiation background dose of 2,400 microsieverts per year, the radiation dose from the Indian nuclear power plants during 2010 was 0.42 to 39.6 microsieverts to persons near the plant boundaries. “This is insignificant compared to natural background. And this is possible due to layers of security and safety features (at our plants). Nuclear energy is thus the safest (energy source) in India,” he said.
. . .

[svenkat]

OT Alert :Shri V.Narayanaswamy is 'not a true blue congreswallah'.Reply in "Discussion on States"thread.

[Sanatanan]

From a web site called businessgreen.com which I have not come across before:
Post dated 9 Jan, 2012:
India appoints ex-nuclear chief [color=#FF0000][i]{Dr A. Kakodkar}[/i] ... ar Mission[/b]

[Vipul]

Nod for nuclear plant talks.

Talks can be expedited now between the government’s Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) and Westinghouse Electric for the proposed 6,000-Mw atomic power station at Mithi Virdi in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district.

NPC chairman and managing director S K Jain said: “The US nuclear safety regulator has given its certification for the AP1000 reactors of Westinghouse. This paves the way for NPC to pursue techno-commercial talks.”

US companies Westinghouse and GE are supposed to supply equipment for Mithi Virdi. Westinghouse had suggested these reactors.

Jain said the certification was crucial, in the wake of the safety review and tests across nuclear power generators after the Fukushima accident in Japan last year. Balendra Sutharshan, director, India Business Development of Westinghouse, had told this correspondent last year that the AP1000 reactors made the most sense for India, for diverse reasons.

“We are the leading supplier of commercial nuclear technology worldwide and nearly half the world’s 441 nuclear plants are based on our technology. Our AP1000 technology is the most modern and advanced anywhere. It is also a lot simpler to construct, which reduces the construction time and cost, not to mention less maintenance after the plant is up and producing electricity,” he’d said.

The US nuclear regulator has said the AP1000 design contains many features not found in current reactors. "A variety of engineering and operational improvements provide additional safety margins and address the Commission’s severe accident, safety goal, and standardisation policy statements,” it has said. Also, the facility is designed for a 60-year life, which exceeds the projected 40-year combined operating licence period.

[SSridhar]

Kudankulam plant can withstand any natural calamity

The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) has come up with unparalleled safety features and it has been constructed in such a way that it shall withstand any sort of natural calamity, be it earthquake or tsunami.

Also, the fears of radiation and threat to marine life are only hypothetical since the nuclear power plant at Kalpakkam is good evidence to prove that the discharged water does not have any radioactivity as the sea water is used only for cooling the system.

This was the message sent out by a two-member team from KKNPP, who made a presentation for students of Yadava College here on Tuesday to create awareness of the advanced safety features and multiple safety systems that are in place to meet any eventuality.

P.A. Suresh Babu, Additional Chief Engineer (Quality Assurance), along with P. Ganapathy Sundaram, Reactor Physicist, explained the “highly advanced additional safety features” provided for the Kudankulam plant compared to other nuclear plants in the country.

“If we take tsunami, the power plant will not get affected and will remain safe because it is designed with eight feet elevation from main sea level. The Kudankulam plant has a ‘tsunami wall' (26 feet) for protection,” Mr. Suresh Babu said.

Stating that the plant had a first of its kind and more sophisticated Passive Heat Removal System to ensure cooling of the fuel under most-stressed condition, the public awareness material distributed to students and faculty informed that the functioning of this system was demonstrated and validated during hot run of the plant.

Mr. Babu stressed that the Kudankulam plant would be very safe due to passive inbuilt systems and improved technology. “We are now on a mission of conducting awareness programmes in schools and colleges for the younger generation to understand the importance of nuclear power to meet India's needs,” he said.

Apart from being safe from tsunami, the KKNPP was designed to withstand earthquake because the installed seismic sensors would automatically initiate the stoppage of reactor. “It is a generation next plant. Every minute detail has been taken care of — be it in selection of location, design, equipment, construction and operation. Technically, we can assure that it is a safe nuclear plant and this is what we are trying to explain to remove people's apprehensions,” the Additional Chief Engineer said.

The Kudankulam plant officials also dismissed the talk about radiation chances because the radiation level was being monitored continuously around the plant.

[member_21708]

Tata Centre to set up cancer registries in all nuclear plants

In the wake of heightened concerns on nuclear safety following the Fukushima accident, India’s topmost cancer hospital plans to set up a series of cancer registries around nuclear power plants, first of which will come up in Kaiga.

The cancer registry will undertake door-to-door surveys outside the exclusion zone of nuclear power plants to check if there are any unusual increase in the number of cancer cases. In case a spike is found, doctors of Tata Memorial Centre (TMC) will check if it is linked to radiation.

Though existing scientific evidence shows no link between increase in cancer prevalence and nuclear radiation anywhere around the 435 nuclear power plants in the world, the TMC’s effort is the first one of Indian origin to establish an independent database.

“The first three registries will come up in Kaiga, Kakrapar (Gujarat) and Rawatbhatta (Rajasthan). We have submitted a proposal to the Planning Commission,” K M Mohandas who heads the Centre for Cancer Epidemiology at TMC told Deccan Herald.

The proposal worth more than Rs 100 crore envisages the recruitment of 120 technical staff and 30 scientists at the TMC to manage all the registries. In case of deaths, verbal autopsies will be conducted to find out its cause and check any radiation linkage.

The registries, Mohandas said, were meant for only data collection and would not offer any health care service.

Operational nuclear power plants are in Tarapur, Rawatbhatta, Narora, Kakrapar,Chennai and Kaiga while the two 1000 MW units at Kudankulam are stuck due to public agitation. Studies carried out in other locations suggest that cancer rates have not increased in people living around nuclear power plants.

A senior official from Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd admitted over the years that NPCIL did very little to ally people’s fear on nuclear safety. “Our presentations used to have only one slide on nuclear safety as a passing reference whereas the rest would be on growth,” said S A Bhardwaj, director (technical) NPCIL.

People friendly step

Smarting from the debacle at Kudankulam and Jaitapur, the nuclear establishment is about to take yet another people-friendly step in which 120 of its environment safety laboratories will release the background radiation level of major cities and localities – similar to roadside weather boards – to convey to the public that radiation is always present in nature and there is nothing unusual or scary about it.

“We have asked the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre to make the radiation information available to the public in the next few months,” Bhardwaj said.

NPCIL talks to restart

The stalled negotiation between India and France on the purchase of first two 1650 MW reactors for Jaitapur is set to restart soon with the French nuclear regulatory authority certifying the EPR reactor to be installed in Jaitapur on the Maharashtra coast, reports DHNS from New Delhi.

Following Fukushima nuclear accident in March, the commercial talks between NPCIL and French energy major Areva came to a standstill.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/217 ... ancer.html

[member_20067]

http://www.ntiindex.org/countries/india/

Browse overall country scores or explore the data by category and indicator on the map below. Switch between the two tabs to see the results for countries with weapons-usable nuclear materials and countries without. The "=" denotes a tie between or among countries.

India ranked 28

[chetak]

From a web site called businessgreen.com which I have not come across before:
Post dated 9 Jan, 2012:
India appoints ex-nuclear chief [color=#FF0000][i]{Dr A. Kakodkar}[/i] ... ar Mission[/b]

just biding his time before he tales over as the Scientific Adviser to the PM when the present incumbent retires soon.

[chetak]

Even though adequate compensation was paid to the displaced land holders many years ago, udaykumar is promising to get them additional compensation of 5-6 lakhs per acre. So the whole thing simply boils down to a land dispute of the common or kitchen variety

I have additional info but don’t know how to post it.

[Sanatanan]

From: The Business Standard, Jan 13,2012
The global anti-nuclear lobby is fuelling protests: S K Jain

. . .

Q: Yes, but how do you propose to deal with the opposition to nuclear power projects going forward?

A: All I can say is that the opposition to nuclear plants is fuelled by the global anti-nuclear lobby, so-called environment activists and local politics. To meet this challenge, NPC has launched a massive campaign to reach out to people and provide them with the factual position on NPC’s capabilities, safety and the economic performance of its plants in the most transparent manner possible.

The situation can be compared to waking people who are already awake but are wearing tinted glasses supplied by vested interests.

NPC has compiled detailed scientific data on radiation, environment impact and safety — these have been released in the public domain. The data are supplemented by national and international statistics. We are confident that the efforts we have put in will pay off in convincing people with regard to safety and livelihood.

Of course, another challenge is the high expectations of populations near upcoming projects of an improvement in the quality of life and the benefits that they will derive from the plants. We are focusing in a big way on corporate social responsibility (CSR) so that people are assured of the credibility of the provisions we have made, the ultimate aim being inclusive growth. {No point in claiming to improve quality of life if people in the sterilised zone are going to be prevented from adding value to their property.}

Q: Did the protests ahead of the commissioning of unit I of Kudankulam come as a surprise?

A: We had established a great rapport and relationship with the neighbourhood population over the years. Not only did the sudden protests surprise us, they were quite demotivating for the engineers and scientists. All the issues and concerned raised by the villagers have been addressed and fears have been allayed even by the expert panel appointed by the central government.

NPC is expected to incur a revenue loss of Rs 1,300 crore on account of a generation loss of 4,800 million units from Kudankulam by the end of the current fiscal. This is due to the delay in starting generation from the first phase, which was originally scheduled for mid-November, and from the second phase (scheduled for March) owing to the agitation by villagers who are demanding that the project be scrapped.

The company will also have to bear a monthly interest payment of Rs 15 crore on a loan of Rs 6,500 crore from the Russian government and a loss of Rs 120 crore per month. So far an investment of Rs 13,171 crore has been made in the project. And additional investment of about Rs 1,500 crore will be required to complete it. Nearly 6,000 contract workers will have to be remobilised.

In the design of the Kudankulam reactor, many advanced safety features have been deployed to tackle a Fukushima type of disaster. These include a passive heat removal system that ensures the fuel is cooled even if power and cooling water are not available, as was the case in Fukushima. Also, 154 passive recombiners have been installed to avoid the formation of the explosive mixtures inside the containment.

. . .

[Sanatanan]

From Express India, 13 Jan 2012
Haryana moots compensation for land being acquired for n-power project

I do not off-hand know whether the quantum of compensation packages to be paid, for different types of land, quoted in the report are fair or not. However, I do foresee that there is likely to be a sudden increase of number of persons claiming to have land in the vicinity of the project sites. NGO activity is also likely to see a spurt.

[gakakkad]

http://www.ntiindex.org/countries/india/

Browse overall country scores or explore the data by category and indicator on the map below. Switch between the two tabs to see the results for countries with weapons-usable nuclear materials and countries without. The "=" denotes a tie between or among countries.

India ranked 28

Good to know that Yindia is a bigger threat to the world than the US . Anyway , it is a nonsense survey .

[SSridhar]

Pro-Kudankulam protestors flay actions of Tirunelveli Collector

Alleging that Collector R. Selvaraj was indirectly helping the anti- Kudankualm Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) protestors, a group of supporters of the upcoming nuclear power project submitted a petition at the Office of the District Collector on Thursday.

In the petition, the KKNPP supporters led by T .K. Sathia Seelan, said the Collector was threatening the KKNPP officials based on a petition submitted by the protestors containing allegations against the Central Government officials.

Moreover, the Village Administrative Officer and a Revenue Inspector were checking the vehicles and even the identity cards of the senior KKNPP officials with the motive of hurting them.

“Hence we suspect that the district administration has joined hands with the anti-nuke groups,” the supporters of KKNPP project alleged.

[member_21708]

Jaitapur may face high intensity quake, says U.S. seismologist

Jaitapur may face a threat of a high intensity earthquake as it lies close to the latitude on which Latur and Koyna in Maharashtra lie, American seismologist Roger Bilham said at a press conference organised by Greenpeace here on Thursday. Latur and Koyna have faced strong earthquakes earlier.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a ... 796671.ece

[ramana]

^^^ Yes, but he a anti-nuke GreenPeace guy! When Jaitapur was chosen India must have doen the risk assessment.

Most seismologists understand inter-plate quakes. India has intraplate quakes like Koyna and Latur of which there is little understanding. For example the Wash DC quake last year was an intraplate one.

[Theo_Fidel]

WRT buildings, Moment Magnitude is not really the scale that matters with Earthquakes. What matters is peak ground motion and direction. Vertical/Horizontal split, etc. The MMI scale crudely compasses this by factoring in PGA. For instance the Tangshan quake in China and Kobe in Japan were a XI by the PGA while the Tohoku quake was a VIII at least on land. So Tohoku was much less 'intense' for structures. Yes, for structures, Kobe was much much more severe Earthquake.

Latur was a XI per MMI. Similar to Tohoku. Intra-Plate quakes as identified often happen in un-discovered faults. Though its is not fair to say they are not understood. The real problem is there a literally millions of ancient intra-plate faults. We don't have the resources to map all of them and test to see which ones are experiencing strain. There are faults that may release once in a million years. We can't predict which fault will let go when. This not a function of lack of understanding.

It would be prudent to plan for the worst in Jaitapur, if we proceed.

[Bade]

Ramana, Bilham and Gaur's Current Science article is a must read from a cursory glance at it. There are theories for intra-plate quakes published at least in the Indian context, like the Latur/Koyna ones. Was not aware of it till this Hindu article. Currenct Science article

[Sanatanan]

Dinamalar - Tamil News paper Jan 14, 2012
கூடங்குளம் போராட்டத்தை முடிவுக்கு கொண்டு வர வேண்டும்: அப்துல் கலாம் (The Koodangulam agitation must be brought to an end - Abdul Kalam)

A translation of the first few lines of the news report:
Dr Abdul Kalam writes to the PM - "If the ongoing agitation against the Koodangulam plant is not resolved soon, similar agitations are likely to be begun at other places too. Hence PM must intervene and find political as well as other long-term solutions . . . . "

We know what Dr Kalam says to be true. I would think even PM realises it. Still, coming in black and white from Dr Kalam may make the PM bestir himself a bit more vigorously, unless his perceived inaction is a deliberate strategy.

Added later;
Here is a link to a news report in English from Deccan Herald (14 Jan 2012), which gives a more complete picture of the correspondence including details of his plea for more sops to TN.

Resolve Kudankulam row politically: Kalam to Manmohan

[Philip]

Eventually,it will all boil down to moolah.How much and for whom.The agitation is being spun in amazing ways by vested interests at home and abroad,each with their own or common agenda.The sanctimonious protestations about the dangers of N-power cannot be taken seriously as these protesters have restricted them selves only to KKM ,while the much larger older generation reactors at Kalpakkam scarcely get a footnote in their utterings. The pressure upon the GOI to succumb to the foreign suppliers' demands of lesser liability compensation is at the root of the issue.

[gakakkad]

Can anyone recommend me a decent basic book on geology and earthquakes ? Something for easy reading , yet fairly in depth .

[Gerard]

Nuclear weapons not for war: Army chief Gen. V.K. Singh

[Theo_Fidel]

Can anyone recommend me a decent basic book on geology and earthquakes ? Something for easy reading , yet fairly in depth .

I would recommend, 'Earth Science' by Tarbuck & Lutjens, Get the Ninth edition. It is illustrated even. Not too much math but technical enough for general public. They approach it as a holistic discipline and attack it from all different angles. I have a copy in my library and often pull it out for easy reading.

If you want more detail what you are really looking for is not just Geology but a book on Plate Tectonics. Ask at any book store and they will recommend several to you. My favorite for 'light' reading is 'Dynamic Earth' by Geoffrey Davis.