Warning from blast at Belgium nuclear plant:  Implications for India!  

-DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL

http://abdulruff.wordpress.com (abdulruff@gmail.com)

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An electrical fire on November 31 forced the temporary shutdown of a nuclear reactor in Belgium. Elia, the county's transmission system operator, said the fire broke out at Electrabel's high-voltage power station at the site of the Tihange 3 nuclear reactor, one of seven nuclear reactors in Belgium. As a result of the transmission fire, which occurred outside of the nuclear zone, the reactor was put offline—the fourth nuclear reactor now offline in the country.

Fortunately, no one was injured, Belgium's Le Soir reported.

Preliminary investigations indicate it was the result of a technical failure, according to a spokesperson for Electrabel. Eloi Glorieux, Senior Energy Campaigner for Greenpeace Belgium wrote at the organization's blog that this latest incident shows once again that the country's reliance on large centralized nuclear power plants is unwise. Keeping aging reactors online will only result in more forced shutdowns and supply problems, while risking enormous socio-economic costs and the potential of serious accidents.

The new shutdown and the country's reliance on nuclear power could worsen Belgium's energy situation this winter. Reuters reported that Belgium's power supply security became a concern after three reactors, accounting for about half of its nuclear capacity of 5,700 megawatts (MW), were taken offline because of cracks in their steel reactor casings. In their Winter Outlook report released Europe's' Transmission System Operators write: "The situation in winter 14-15 will potentially be very stressed for the Belgian system," due in part to the nuclear reactors being offline. This situation will cause Belgium to be energy import-dependent for the winter, the report states.

Multinational oil and gas companies are moving into increasingly vulnerable countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia where the ecosystems, communities, and authorities are even less able to cope with the impacts of fracking and shale gas extraction, according to a new report from Friends of the Earth Europe.

Human as well as natural climatic conditions are badly affected by not only by nuclear plants but also by other terrible sources that are heavily dangerous to human survival. Like nuclear wastes, even other industrial wastes are causing serious health hazards to public, apart from polluting the atmosphere.

A report, Fracking Frenzy: How the Fracking Industry is threatening the Planet?, shows how the pursuit of fracking in countries such as Mexico, China, Argentina, and South Africa is likely to exacerbate the climate, environment, social, and human rights problems those countries already face. While much has been written about fracking in the United States and the European Union, this study "seeks to provide a global overview of shale gas development in the rest of the world," its authors note, focusing specifically on 11 countries that are leaders in shale development on their respective continents.

From Brazil and Mexico to Algeria and South Africa, this thirsty industry is exploiting weak regulation and causing untold environmental and social damage in the pursuit of profit, said Antoine Simon, shale gas campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe. "The fracking industry needs to be urgently reined in before it's too late for our planet and people across the globe."

Released as United Nations climate talks open in Peru, the report illustrates the variety of dangers posed by the rapidly expanding fracking industry. In Northwest Africa and Mexico, for example, longstanding water scarcity issues will only be exacerbated by fracking operations that require millions of liters of water per project. In the earthquake-prone Sichuan basin in China, the Karoo basin in South Africa, the Himalayas, or the Sumatran basin in Indonesia, drilling around complex underground geologies raises the prospect of increased seismic activity, higher costs, and "incalculable environmental impacts and risks." In Argentina, Brazil, Russia, and South Africa, drilling activity on or near indigenous lands is already leading to conflicts with local communities.

The emerging planned expansion of the shale gas industry outside the EU and North America raises serious concerns because of the almost unavoidable environmental, social, and health impacts already seen at existing fracking sites," reads the report. "Given that these problems have proved difficult to avoid in countries with relatively strong regulations to protect the environment, how can this industry be properly monitored in countries where environmental standards are often lower (and sometimes non-existent), and/or where enforcement capacities are frequently limited and where corruption can be an everyday reality?"

Far greater scrutiny of the industry's climate impacts is warranted, the report concludes, "particularly in countries which are already and will be much more directly affected by the consequences of climate change." Natural gas "is not—and never has been—the clean fuel that the industry has tried to claim," it reads. "In fact it poses an immediate threat to attempts made to fight climate change."

The organization “Friends of the Earth” is urging the 195 nations gathered in Peru to consider these assertions. "Around the world people and communities are already paying the price of the climate crisis with their livelihoods and lives," said Susann Scherbarth, climate justice and energy campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe. "Fracking will only make things worse and has no place in a clean energy future. Europe and other industrialized countries most responsible for the climate crisis need to use the talks in Lima to make genuine commitments to end their reliance on corporate-controlled fossil fuels and embrace clean, citizen energy."

The uncontrolled capitalist profit making efforts at the heavy cost of environment and human health protection have badly affected both environment and human living.

Like other governments, Indian regime also pampers the capitalists and heavy industries in order to generate trillionairs and also help them increase their wealth. While home and business needs can be covered by the electricity generated in India by non-nuclear methods industries require large amount of electricity. But instead of opting for non-nuclear mode of electrify generation, corporatist Indian regime opts for easy and dangerous nuclear mode, putting the people at great risk.

India puts the wealth of the rich in the country above the health of nation and people. 

A government that cares for the safety and security of its people  would  put  people in danger  and trouble. Unfortunately, India is not among  those nations that sincerely wish and care for the people well; it only  makes loud noises only about  those Indians living abroad if they are put to any inconvenience by those reigns or or organisations.