India Nuclear News And Discussion

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 22 Apr 2011 17:24

IAEA will be all over us - intrusive inspections

Yep. The IAEA and US inspectors were supposed to be all over India by now, peering into every nook and cranny.

GuruPrabhu · Post by **GuruPrabhu** » 22 Apr 2011 17:48

ldev wrote: One fundamental factor which will not change is India's population and current low per capita consumption of electricity. Only the Chinese provide a meaningful comparision. And they show no signs of slowing down their enormous drive to increase their nuclear power generation capacity. I feel that 20-30 years from today, the Chinese will have increasingly locked up global uranium supplies, while our "nationalists" will then cry over yet another lost opportunity.

ldev,

Depends on who the "nationalists" are. The Netas and Babus will not cry because they will have constant supply for GOI subsidized electricity. Only mango man will cry. The nationalists will probably write books about how it was all JLN's fault.

negi · Post by **negi** » 22 Apr 2011 19:54

Idev, GP you guys allude to nationalists , who and where are they ? Also where does JLN come into all this ? Looks like a clear case of baggage from other threads being carried into this thread.

For an argument's sake for last 60 or so years JLN and his nati-potas are running the gobmint onlee so what gives ?

GuruPrabhu · Post by **GuruPrabhu** » 22 Apr 2011 20:46

negi,

I have no idea where the term originated. On this thread, it has come to be associated with those who oppose nuclear power plants. By the way, why this additional baggage of nati-pota reference to a much maligned JLN? The man is dead -- can't quite control what nati-pota are doing, can he? FWIW, the two natis are also dead.

[just curious, did he have a pota?]

JwalaMukhi · Post by **JwalaMukhi** » 22 Apr 2011 20:53

Well, looks like US ambassadors do not have any work left to do. Shri. sen is on double duty after retirement doing the work of both the governments.
http://www.rediff.com/news/report/if-us ... 110422.htm

Sen, a key protagonist in the negotiation of the US-India nuclear deal, was participating in a discussion, 'US-India Strategic Dialogue: Priorities and Next Steps', under the auspices of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies.

The US, he said, "has fulfilled each and every obligation. So, India [ Images ] has now to do its part. And, very important, the biggest impediment right now relates to the issue of nuclear liability."

If the US gets a raw deal in this process, he said, "It will not only represent an act of bad faith by India, it will completely turn things on its head."

Meanwhile shri.Godrej chimes...

"I really wonder whether any private sector from anywhere in the world would really be able to come and operate in India. The ways things are at the moment I don't see any American companies coming in, unless something drastically changes. GE, Hitachi, everybody has said very clearly they will not be able to invest under the present circumstances. So, we have to find a solution. I don't know what the solution is," he added.

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 22 Apr 2011 20:58

negi wrote:Idev, GP you guys allude to nationalists , who and where are they ? Also where does JLN come into all this ? Looks like a clear case of baggage from other threads being carried into this thread.

For an argument's sake for last 60 or so years JLN and his nati-potas are running the gobmint onlee so what gives ?

He He. This is known as imagination and creativity. They need somebody to blame and keep blaming.

negi · Post by **negi** » 22 Apr 2011 21:30

GuruPrabhu wrote: On this thread, it has come to be associated with those who oppose nuclear power plants

They are not 'nationalists'

hence my rant. I will desist from derailing this thread anyone who wishes to take this to off-topic thread is welcome to do so. By nati-potas of JLN I meant the 'family' onlee.

GuruPrabhu · Post by **GuruPrabhu** » 22 Apr 2011 21:51

negi wrote:
GuruPrabhu wrote: On this thread, it has come to be associated with those who oppose nuclear power plants
They are not 'nationalists' hence my rant. I will desist from derailing this thread ...

Good idea not to derail. FWIW, I started my post with this:

GuruPrabhu wrote:Depends on who the "nationalists" are.

I have no love for that phrase. I will continue to call anti-nuke folks as simply anti-nuke folks.

The point under discussion, which is lost in all of this, was that China is moving full-steam ahead on reactors. India will be left behind in yet another sector. It is especially ironic because India had a head start in reactor design and operations.

GuruPrabhu · Post by **GuruPrabhu** » 22 Apr 2011 21:55

Acharya wrote: He He. This is known as imagination and creativity. They need somebody to blame and keep blaming.

Sir-jee, There is no blame-shlame. There is full credit onlee. The anti-nuke lobby will ensure India stays nuke-free and buy oil, gas, coal from India Lover countries like Saudi and Australia.

somnath · Post by **somnath** » 23 Apr 2011 09:56

GuruPrabhu wrote:The anti-nuke lobby will ensure India stays nuke-free and buy oil, gas, coal from India Lover countries like Saudi and Australia.

Yeah, I said before, these guys would like to import coal (for "super clean coal" power!) from Australia for ever, but not Uranium!

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 23 Apr 2011 22:58

Pah! Coal can be imported from anywhere. In fact several Australian coal mines are owned by Indian companies.

Try buying an Uranium mine... .. then we will see how nationalism plays out..

Personally I'm not anti-nuke. I detest the nuclear industry and their defenders and they have completely lost my confidence. Not one has made the slightest attempt to be transparent and go beyond the talking points and address the peoples fears. They are not to be trusted and should be barred from any control of our future.

With their present attitude they are selling us a false bill of goods. Nuclear is not 100% safe, can not provide our future energy needs, is not needed for base load and will not keep even a pound of fossil fuel CO2 out of the air. Yet these are what they stand by as their talking points. When challenged, accusations of traitor and desh-drohi are thrown around. The industry is completely unable to prevent constant radiation leaks. In case of acts of god they throw up their hands and run helplessly and then frantically search for robots to go in and take readings. Their entire approach is we know whats best, now gimme more money. Their approach to any problem is to strap backup upon backup like warts onto their musharaff as a form of CYA, kludge upon kludge.

This bunch deserve to lose.

archan · Post by **archan** » 24 Apr 2011 00:08

Moderator note: some gentlemen seem to be under the impression that we have the time to read through all the little quarrels and ego clashes between members. We don't. So when a post gets reported we often act based on the content of that post. That that post was a reaction by member B to some previous offensive comment of member A (which to the horror of member B went unpunished by us unfair mods) is not always obvious to us.
To our simple minds, the way to go is:
Member A posts in an offensive manner.
Member B reports it.
We take action based on that post and our judgment.

However many member Bs want it to go like:
Member A posts in an offensive manner.
Member B: "aah, iski maaki, let me post back in the same language, haha"
Member A (of member C) reports member B's post. Unsuspecting mod sees, and goes "aha, thats a no-no" and boom goes the hellphyrr.
Member B: "how unfair onlee.

I was merely responding to his earlier post which was in similar language. Howcome A gets away with it and I don't. You are unfair."

Regardless, even if you were responding to an offensive post, it does not give you an excuse to be offensive. I believe we are all samajhdaar enough to realize this.

GuruPrabhu · Post by **GuruPrabhu** » 24 Apr 2011 02:22

How does one "report" a post? I don't see a button for it.

negi · Post by **negi** » 24 Apr 2011 02:26

^ Press the red exclamation mark at the bottom right corner of the post in question.

negi · Post by **negi** » 24 Apr 2011 02:33

Theo_Fidel wrote: Personally I'm not anti-nuke. I detest the nuclear industry and their defenders and they have completely lost my confidence. Not one has made the slightest attempt to be transparent and go beyond the talking points and address the peoples fears. They are not to be trusted and should be barred from any control of our future.

Theo boss I am surprised that this comes from you; anyways what is the reason for your angst ? Chernobyl, 3-mile and this Fukushima disaster ? I don't wish to do an equal equal here but generally speaking truth/transparency are the first casualties during an industrial accident it is not something specific to N industry only take for eg. the Bhopal gas tragedy . At least as far as India is concerned NPCIL fares a lot better in this regards any mishap whether it be contamination of drinking water or shut down of the Kaiga due to a smoke alarm do make it to the newspapers in time.

GuruPrabhu · Post by **GuruPrabhu** » 24 Apr 2011 04:09

negi wrote:
Theo_Fidel wrote:At least as far as India is concerned NPCIL fares a lot better in this regards any mishap whether it be contamination of drinking water or shut down of the Kaiga due to a smoke alarm do make it to the newspapers in time.

yes, and the TV channels go nuts over such news. In comparison, a train accident that killed a 100 or so people goes off the front page after a day or two and things return to "chalta hai" mode.

Ask the railways about a "transparent disclosure" of why anti-collision devices have not yet been installed after a decade of "investigation and recommendations". That "lack of transparency" has killed a lot of people in India. Nuclear has killed zero.

Theo, why are you callous about dead Indians killed by the railways? Are you asking for a shut down of the railways?

Sanatanan · Post by **Sanatanan** » 24 Apr 2011 06:56

Activists of anti-nuclear plant yatra detained

TARAPUR (THANE DISTRICT): A three-day Tarapur-Jaitapur anti-nuclear plant yatra was stopped the moment it began and hundreds of activists were detained at Boisar in this district on Saturday.

Activists and supporters, including Justices (retired) B G Kolse-Patil and P.B. Sawant, social activist Vaishali Patil, and Admiral (retd) L Ramdas, were whisked away in police vans from Panchmarg Tarapur, where they had addressed a public meeting in the morning. They were brought to the Boisar police station around 4.30 p.m., along with 135 protesters, and detained under Section 68 of the Bombay Police Act.

. . .

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 24 Apr 2011 07:45

Can anyone assure me that a Fukushima will not happen at Kudankulam under no circumstance. We have just been lucky that a major disaster has not happened yet in India. We are simply gambling.

I watch the long term cordon begin around Fukushima and think there, but for the grace of god, go I. The Nuclear industry swore this could never happen yet here we are. On a clear day Kudankulam is visible right from Kanyakumari, a 10 minute drive from my residence. If some thing happened there...

This tendency of saying the Railways kill so many, so we should be allowed to risk your life as well only convinces me there is bad faith. Come out and tell me how many people are expected to die, how much radiation is realistically released through mishaps, what happens in case an evacuation is required, where do people like me go. Instead all we hear is we are all fools for fearing radiation because you know no one has been conclusively killed by radiation.

Pah! Again.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 24 Apr 2011 08:44

Theo, so far from all NPP accidents to date only large scale evacuation has happened and not large scale death. Nothing even at Bhopal level for sure in terms of suffering. I will agree with you that involuntary evacuation from ones home is traumatic too, but look it happens all the time at the individual level when highways get built or roads are expanded right through the city. It happened to people we know, less than 30 yrs into living in a planned govt employees society in Trivandrum. Even when it is not large scale it is equally traumatic on the individual, there is no denying that.

Here in the US with each job loss follows relocation for many. Trauma is the same even if it is a planned one and not an emergency. Maybe, in India we are too tied to our ancestral lands and such a point of view can cause immense pain. Weren't there protests near M'lore for an power plant which was not nuclear from people rooted in their lands for centuries. So except for the scale of evacuation, the level of pain is same from other projects too.

somnath · Post by **somnath** » 24 Apr 2011 11:31

Theo_Fidel wrote:Pah! Coal can be imported from anywhere. In fact several Australian coal mines are owned by Indian companies.

Really?! And whats the cost of electricity generated in Gujarat with coal imported from Australia?!

Theo_Fidel wrote:Can anyone assure me that a Fukushima will not happen at Kudankulam under no circumstance. We have just been lucky that a major disaster has not happened yet in India. We are simply gambling.

can anyone assure us that the RCF plant in chembur wont go the UCC Bhopal way?

To take the example of Fukushima, where a black swan event caused an accident, which till now has not resulted in a single death, and then say "oh nuke is so dangerous" is a bit disengenuous...

Sanku · Post by **Sanku** » 24 Apr 2011 14:00

Bade wrote:Trauma is the same even if it is a planned one and not an emergency..

Oh no Sir, there is massive difference in trauma's between something you did not expect and one which happens slowly. Do remember "boiling a frog in water, slowly", thats how it works right.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 24 Apr 2011 17:30

^^ There is another fine difference, people at Fukushima has lot ownership of their land, they will likely be able to return in the worst case for the next generation. Permanent loss of ancestral lands to development projects like roads, city encroachment is permanent. There is no going back. The loss is forever, and someone is enjoying the fruits for you to see. In a case like Fukushima, there are other to commiserate with and no one is benefiting unduly at your cost at least in your lifetime, assuming the relocation is semi-permanent ~ 30-50 yrs a lifetime.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 24 Apr 2011 19:38

Bade,

Appreciate the honesty of your statement. I understand people making sacrifices. But others should share in some of it as well. When people are displaced for road/rail projects only a few thousand acres are affected. Many use their compensation to buy land elsewhere. Kanyakumari district alone has 300,000 acres of fertile land. Where would those people go. My Dad's entire native village of 30,000 near Panakudi is just 14 KM's from the NPP. This is 3 crops a year type fertile land. Where do they go.

Alright, Which part of India will agree to move over to relocate this 4 million people. I'll take that 5 acre field just East of Vembanad. What! no one wants to sell. You don't say...

So can we draw up a realistic long term evacuation plan with areas located for the displaced to move to and land marked to be acquired from others in India to accommodate them. I'd be willing to settle for 2 acres in compensation for instance somewhere along the western SRK. Addmitedly there is almost no chance this will actually take place, still it would calm a lot of fears...

This is what needs to be done to reassure people, instead we get lathi charges and ridiculous comparisons with railway factories. With this sort of an attitude the Nuclear defenders deserve to lose...

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 24 Apr 2011 19:42

Meanwhile...

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/story ... 36173.html

Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Saturday called for a "pause" on the Jaitapur nuclear plant in Maharashtra till a transparent nuclear policy was formulated.

The minister, in Ludhiana to lay the foundation stone for a bio-remediation project on the Buddha Nallah rivulet, said the people's concern over the nuclear plant was "genuine" after the recent devastation in Japan.

He had already conveyed concern in this regard to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said. "We cannot abandon the project. But I am pleading neither for a reversal nor fast progression as a pause is the best option till a transparent nuclear policy is formulated," Ramesh said. India could not have a secret atomic policy, he added.

He said he was against the use of "brutal force and bullets" on the Jaitapur protesters.

"In a democratic set-up, the lawenforcing agencies must learn to settle the issue amicably," he said, in an apparent reference to the recent death of one of the protesters in Jaitapur.

The Forum Against Disaster Project in Konkan, meanwhile, has dismissed the minister's statement as eyewash. "What transparency can the minister ensure when even the right to peacefully protest against the project is being denied?" forum convener Vaishali Patil asked.

The members of the forum, including former Supreme Court judges and senior defence personnel who took out a rally against the Jaitapur project from Tarapur early on Saturday, were detained by the police a few meters into their protest march. "We have been detained for the past five hours and the police haven't told us the reason," Vaishali said from a detention centre near Tarapur.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 24 Apr 2011 20:28

Also... ..you remember the Kaiga fire alarm 'malfunction', turns out it was a real fire. In the control room no less. This is the bunch we are supposed to trust. Only smoke no fire apparently. Culture of obsessive safety indeed or even truth telling. Bunch of #@$%#!@...

http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/repor ... re_1530607

The Kaiga Generating Station (KGS) that experienced an accidental fire in the control room of its third unit on Friday looks normal in the eyes of the station authorities.

Although they put up a brave face, they were not able to answer why the fire broke out in a sensitive area like control room of a nuclear power-generating station.

At the joint press conference held in the guest house of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, JP Gupta, the site director of KGS, and the offsite director and deputy commissioner of Uttara Kananda BN Krishnaiah gave no conclusive reason for the fire in the control room.

Their view was that KGS was fully normal and was shut down for bi-annual surveillance programme that is a mandatory function for all nuclear power-generating stations.

The fire incident in the control room has advanced the surveillance programme for 2010-2011 by more than a month, as the surveillance programme for this bi-annual block was scheduled to start sometime in May. KGS will be online again on April 17, said Dr Gupta.

DNA learnt from reliable sources in KGS that there were a few sections in the control room that cannot be serviced without shutting off the system fully, but a particular segment in the control room was being serviced without shutting off that segment, which eventually sparked off a short circuit.

Kaiga officials maintained that the fire broke out well out of the safety zone and there was no danger, but the control room in itself was a sensitive area and there was no margin for errors there either. The officials still maintained that it was only smoke and there was no fire.

negi · Post by **negi** » 24 Apr 2011 20:45

Theo da now that you talk about displacing people in event of a nuclear disaster what about acres of land which get submerged when a MP river project like Hirakud or say a Tihri is built; last time when Tihri reservoir crossed the danger mark the water level rose near to flood levels for 1200 villages downstream and all this when project is not yet online ; and if this was not enough the flow in Bhagirathi has reduced after the dam came up.

GuruPrabhu · Post by **GuruPrabhu** » 24 Apr 2011 21:30

Theo_Fidel wrote:This is what needs to be done to reassure people, instead we get lathi charges and ridiculous comparisons with railway factories. With this sort of an attitude the Nuclear defenders deserve to lose...

Sticking to your incessant rant and calling others ridiculous is a sure way to lose. Nuclear isn't going away. Learn to live with it or learn to enjoy your paranoia.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 24 Apr 2011 21:32

Just because the Hydel folks get screwed is no reason to screw the NPP folks. Tehri has a surface area of 8000 acres, whole different magnitude. And floods occurred before the dam as well.

If our fears are paranoia, Jaitapur is doomed.

negi · Post by **negi** » 24 Apr 2011 21:37

^ Not in those areas , landslides yes , floods no. Also why should I as a third person compare the surface area shouldn't I compare the two projects by their installed capacity for that is what a power plant is meant for and modern NPPs have a small footprint when compared to the MP hydel projects. NPPs are dangerous in the sense that a huge chunk of land will have to be vacated in event of an accident but big hydel projects do that during the initial construction phase itself when the reservoir is to be filled and the flow of the river diverted.

GuruPrabhu · Post by **GuruPrabhu** » 24 Apr 2011 21:47

Nuclear power sector does not become different from other industrial sectors just by claiming that it is so. Fear of radiation is not sufficient cause for this differentiation.

We are told that death by railways is "different" because one has a choice not to travel by train.

What about drinking water? Will we be told that folks have the choice not to drink the water?

What about food poisoning? Suppose someone goes to a restaurant and dies because of the food served there, will we be told "well, he had the CHOICE not to eat at that restaurant"?

What about deaths cause by drinking hooch? Happens all the time. Yes, you guessed it, they had a choice.

So simply put, folks have the choice to stay paranoid about radiation.

GuruPrabhu · Post by **GuruPrabhu** » 24 Apr 2011 21:48

Theo_Fidel wrote:If our fears are paranoia, Jaitapur is doomed.

Not just Jaitapur, India's development is doomed. Enjoy.

negi · Post by **negi** » 24 Apr 2011 21:49

India needs to plan for NPPs in advance for land allocation will only get trickier going forward; may be a mix of small-medium and large PPs is the way forward. I for am not sure as to how our Hydel projects are going to fare say a couple of decades down the line ; a lot depends on the crazy Chipanda and it's antics in the Glacial region.

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 24 Apr 2011 22:54

The Hydel comments make me wonder if it won't be easier to colocate nuclear and hydel and resettle people just once instead of twice. Some of the site selection work like that for seismic evaluation could be shared between the two, and the dam would provide the water supply needed for cooling the NPP.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 25 Apr 2011 03:12

Despite the doom sayer's, India's development is not linked to Nuclear. We are saving and investing $500 Billion annually and will be relatively prosperous w/ a GDP of $10 Trillion by 2025 before a single MW of power from these nuclear plants comes online. Remember Kundankulam was first supposed to start in 2007 yet here we are in the midst of Agni Nakshatram and apparently it will be 6 more months now.

We don't need them and they know it hence the frantic hard sell to get in the door early.... ..

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 25 Apr 2011 03:58

I don't always agree with SV and the source of his opinions are suspect so make of this what you will...

http://www.hindu.com/2011/04/25/stories ... 931000.htm

Rush in now, repent later

As far as the Indian debate over nuclear energy is concerned, the unfolding Fukushima scenario poses an urgent challenge on three different fronts: estimating the true cost of nuclear power, assigning liability in the event of a nuclear accident in a way that is both equitable and efficient, and ensuring the highest possible standards of safety and regulation. As of today, despite the government's ambitious plans for the construction of 20 or more nuclear reactors across the country, there is little or no clarity or transparency on these vital issues.

The Indo-U.S. nuclear agreement — which paved the way for actualisation of these grand targets — led to intense political divisions at the time it was being negotiated but the debate over the optimum energy mix for India must be conducted independently of those fault lines. The deal may have been sold to the Indian and global public as a cheap and green solution to the country's power shortage but its primary economic utility today lies in presenting our planners with a wider set of energy options. A door has been opened for India to access nuclear material and technology which was unfairly denied to it in the past but any decision to walk through that door and fill our shopping cart must be based on a sound cost-benefit analysis. Post-Fukushima, we now know, for example, that the cost of clean-up in the event of a “low-probability” event must also be factored in to the equation. Once the $12 billion bill the Japanese taxpayers are going to be saddled with to permanently entomb the highly radioactive reactors there is retrospectively fed into the cost of electricity that the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) generated over the years, the true per unit tariff is likely to be much higher than the figure TEPCO worked with when the decision to build the reactors was originally made. Here in India, the Planning Commission should now go back to the drawing board and ask itself whether it still makes financial sense to produce electricity at any given location through large and expensive imported reactors when there may be cheaper options available over the medium term. It may still be that nuclear energy makes economic sense but it is vital that the decision we take be based on a realistic assessment of actual and probabilistic costs over the entire life cycle of a nuclear plant.

As for liability, the Manmohan Singh government owes a debt of gratitude to those who criticised it during last year's debate over the controversial liability law. If the watered down version had been passed, as the American nuclear industry was insisting, our leaders would be running for political cover today.

...the 16 nuclear scientists, including Anil Kakodkar, former head of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), said in their letter. They added: “It is necessary to ensure that national nuclear safety regulators in all countries are fully independent in their decision-making on nuclear safety and to assure their competence, resources and enforcement authorities.”

Unfortunately, India today has no such body of regulators. Even on paper, the “autonomous” Atomic Energy Regulatory Board cannot remotely be called “fully independent” since it reports eventually to the Atomic Energy Commission, which, in turn, is chaired by the head of the DAE. As Prashant Reddy, a research associate at the National University of Juridical Sciences in Kolkata, has noted, “This is like making the Securities & Exchange Board of India [SEBI] responsible to the Bombay Stock Exchange and then expecting SEBI to function as an independent, autonomous regulator.” The government is understood to be working on a proposal to create a truly independent regulator for the nuclear industry but what eventually emerges from its internal review process is anybody's guess. Meanwhile, the decision to push ahead with construction activity at Jaitapur and other places has evoked a strong negative reaction from local communities. Opposition parties like the Shiv Sena may be trying to exploit people's fears but the government's failure to be open and transparent in its conduct at the grassroots level is what has created fertile ground for protest. Radioactive pollution, in the “low-probability” event of an accident, has a half-life of hundreds of years. Will the skies fall upon us if Jaitapur and other projects are put on hold for a fraction of that time, so that citizens at large — and the concerned local communities — can be convinced through argument and debate that putting up nuclear plants in their backyard is a safe and economical way of generating electricity?

GuruPrabhu · Post by **GuruPrabhu** » 25 Apr 2011 05:48

A $10 trillion economy will need a similar increase in power supply. The year 2025 is not some magic number. Power supply has to be planned for a much longer horizon. People love to quote that NPP take 10 years to build -- well, that is precisely why the planning has to be done for 50 years for something as complex as the 3-phase program. The naysayers will not quit until all of India is covered with coal ash. And no one has an answer for what happens when coal runs out -- or even earlier, when coal becomes prohibitively expensive.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 25 Apr 2011 06:00

How is nuclear going to replace coal. Can anyone answer that. In Europe & US despite Nuclear coal is still being burnt furiously. As far as being covered in coal ash most of our new buildings are covered in fly-ash masonry units. The CO2 is another matter.

GuruPrabhu · Post by **GuruPrabhu** » 25 Apr 2011 06:06

http://www.grist.org/article/2011-02-16 ... -true-cost

What is coal’s true cost?

... economic, health and environmental costs associated with each stage in the life cycle of coal -- extraction, transportation, processing, and combustion. These costs, between a third to over half a trillion dollars annually, are directly passed on to the public.

In terms of human health, the report estimates $74.6 billion a year in public health burdens in Appalachian communities, with a majority of the impact resulting from increased healthcare costs, injury and death

Read the articles linked from the blog. The coal lobby is getting away with murder while there is public hysteria over nuclear. Coal mafia is laughing its way to the bank.

GuruPrabhu · Post by **GuruPrabhu** » 25 Apr 2011 06:08

Theo_Fidel wrote:How is nuclear going to replace coal. Can anyone answer that.

It is not about replacement but growth mix. Nothing will replace coal -- coal will simply run out.

GuruPrabhu · Post by **GuruPrabhu** » 25 Apr 2011 06:29

This is from the coal lobby itself:

http://www.worldcoal.org/coal-society/c ... -security/

The claim is that coal supply is good for 119 years at current production levels. If demand is doubled in 2025, this number reduces to about 65 years from now. If demand is tripled by 2040, there will be 20 more years of coal left. Folks can predict for themselves what will happen to price of coal.

Also, note that Indian reserves are small and of poorer calorific value.