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Title
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NUCLEAR ENERGY PUBLIC HEALTH HAZARD
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extracted text
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RF_OH_2_PART_2_SUDHA
Nuclear Estate: A Threat to
Democratic System
In the beginning we shape our technology, but if ive are not careful in the end it
will shape us. It is for the democratic process to operate to see that it does not do
so in a way that damages our central rights and liberties. There is no issue
more urgent than the democratic control of nuclear power.
Tony Benn
(UK Energy Minister 1974-79)
The DAE has become an oligarchic power
system. It is an elitist institution in its valuaStudies released by the DAE speak of the tional approach to socio-economic policy..
great potential benefits of nuclear energy, and Such was the characteristic of most scientific
describe how cheap and safe the nuclear fission organisations when science was conducted in
is. In India, the proponents of nuclear power small rooms and its involvement for public
have paid little attention to unresolved ques affairs was minimal. But where the, atomic
tions, namely, the nuclear waste management energy gets the highest share of developmental
and decommissioning of old and dead reactors. budget and its policy decisions and perfor
For it is claimed that our nuclear programme mance are very much involved with national
has not yet arrived at the level of these pro planning and public welfare, the question must
blems. But the most serious question of be asked who really speaks for nuclear energy,
impact of nuclear technology on social be and whose interests are represented by the
haviour and political institution has even DAE? Who benefit with this'scientific and
greater relevance for emerging democratic secret enterprise of the country? Do the top
system in India. Lovins (1976) has pointed bosses of the DAE speak for the scientific
towards social impact of nuclear and fast community of the country? Do the directors
breeder systems. He has suggested large scale and the secretaries of nuclear establishments
bureaucratic centralisation which is likely to properly constitute representativeness of the
result in the US from a breeder system and working nuclear scientists and engineers of the
R'Wonium economy. These have a special country? These arc important though largely
bearing upon India as the DAE has envisaged neglected issues for the Indian science policy
FBRs for this country's third stage of nuclear analysts. Since the nuclear policy decisions
development. If we arc to encourage greater directly affect internal and external affairs of
reliance on the nuclear power programme for the country with far-reaching consequences
our industrial growth and development, neces for the people of India, they cannot be and
sary safeguards required to maintain safety must not be allowed to be governed by an
and secrecy of vast nuclear facilities spread all undemocratic system. If responsibility entails
over the country would lead to increase in accountability, then' ways must be found
numbers and power of our secret police and for making India's nuclear institutions
governmental agencies which, most likely, will more truly representative and the decision
adverselyjaffcct the country’s already weakened making process more open and demo
cratic.
democratic system.
Social Impact of Nuclear Enterprise
17
To our knowledge there are no dossiers on
individuals who oppose solar and renewable
sources of energy or anti-conservation policy.
But dossiers do exist on critics of nuclear
power in this country and abroad. A study of
Nuclear and Alternative Energy Systems Re
port sponsored by the US National Research
Council disclosed that the Texas State Police
compiled dossiers on the leaders of a local
group opposing nuclear power plants. It has
also been reported that the Virginia Electric
and Power Co. which runs several nuclear
facilities had advocated a bill establishing its
own police force with power to,arrest any
where in the State and to gain access to confi
dential records of citizens who oppose nuclear
power. In July 1976, a joint Energy Research
and Development Administration-Nuclear
Regulatory Commission task force in the US
recommended full security checks on selected
employees of facilities handling nuclear
material. In India, it is reported that the
DAE’s intelligence bureau maintains a list of
undesirable citizens with whom employees of
the DAE are not allowed to associate. Police
clearance is necessary for employment in all
DAE’s facilities.
Kosambi and Jayaraman Episodes
with the Press Trust of India news agency. He
also used to write a regular page “View from
New Delhi” in a national science monthly
Science Today (Bombay). In the June 1979
issue, Jayaraman entitled his despatch “The
Message of Harrisburg” and observed that
following the Three Mile Island incident,
several countries in Asia and Europe were re
assessing safety systems in their nuclear plants.
The US itself closed down eight nuclear plants
on safety grounds and shut down six others
as their locations were close to seismic faults.
Whereas in almost all countries there were
predictable reactions to the Harrisburg acci
dent, in India proponents of atomic power
were nonchalant. With a scientist’s concern
he wrote :
Our Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)
is a sacred cow and any adverse comment
on its activities is tantamount to blasp
hemy. Its work, though avowedly non
military, has always been clothed in
secrecy, so that no intelligent debate dragg
ing in its performance has ever taken place.
Its report on the explosion at the Baroda
heavy water plant was never made public.
A scientist of the Nuclear Fuel Complex
(NFC) in Hyderabad who told a reporter
that wells were polluted by NFC effluents
has been removed and his whereabouts are
not known. A correspondent accredited to
the government was denied entry to the
Baroda plant to report on the situation
after, the explosion. The public was not
told the details of the second explosion
in Baroda or the recent fire that wrecked
a plant at NFC. There had been theft of
contaminated rods from a waste disposal
site, of contaminated gold from the
plutonium plant (PP) and a case of cor'i
lamination of ground due to PP effluents'
*
all of which were DAE’s secrets. Tim
attitude of DAE seem) to be that its rS>
cords and Jog books are not for inspection
by others and that how it handles its wastes
is not the concern of the public. In such
a climate what does one expect DAE to do
if it faces a Harrisburg-like accident?
The successive Chairmen of the Atomic
Energy Commission have used improper
methods to silence critical opinions of inde
pendent scholars. It has been reported that
the late Professor D.D. Kosambi, a great
mathematician, and a Sanskrit scholar, was asenior fellow at the Tata Institute of Funda
mental Research from its very inception in
1945. In early 1962, he delivered a few
lectures advocating greater R & D efforts in
solar energy vis-a-vis the nuclear technology.
Dr. li. Bhabha was displeased by the criticism
and Professor Kosambi’s fellowship was termi
nated without any explanation. Since Dr.
Kosambi, a man of national and international
fame, could be sacked with impunity, .this
worked as a great deterrent against simmering
criticism within the DAE.
In the recent times, Dr. Jayaraman episode
will go down in the history of DAE as the
most "ignominious of its intolerance to free
The scientist, Dr. Jayaraman, raised perti
national debate. Dr. K. S. Jayaraman, a Ph. nent questions whether the DAE had an
D. in nuclear physics, is one of the most out emergency plan and if it would keep the
standing science journalists in India and the
accident a secret to itself ? He echoed the late
Third World. He is the science correspondent Dr. Meghnad Saha in his argument, "Is.the
secrcey at all necessary when DAE is supposed of the benefit of investigative commentary by
to be engaged in peaceful power generation?”
one of India’s courageous science correspon
Dr. Jayaraman also pointed out that in dents. It was a clear denial of free flow of
every democratic nation separate agencies were information and violation of democratic pro
invested with responsibilities of different func cess in which the citizens should be freely
tions. But in India all the jobs—site selection, involved. Scientists working in BARC, TIFR,
and other nuclear utilities are not allowed to
construction, operation of nuclear plants and participate
a discussion or write or speak
enforcement of environmental standards, etc., critically on in
organisational aspects of the
are sole charge of DAE. Even the anti-pollu DAE and/orthe
on nuclear policy in general,
tion laws enacted by the Centre or the States either
publicly
or
in academic forum, No free
have no control over radiocative pollution, discussion is permitted
inside the portals of
which is strictly the domain of DAE alone. the DAE establishments.
It is like a con
The message of Harrisburg for India, there
camp with the best living conditions
fore, was that it “should have a separate centration
possible in a poor developing country—for
a, hey outside DAE to keep a watch on the those who can excel in the art of sycophancy
safety of nuclear installations”. He also voiced and silence.
the long-felt demands in the country that our
Universities which have for so many years The Role of BARC Officers’ Association
been “shut out”, should be allowed to engage
The BARC Officers’ Association (BARCOA)
in nuclear activities. He rightly concluded that in a Memorandum submitted to the Prime
“it is time for the government to set up an Minister on January, 29, 1980, wrote that the
independent committee to review DAE and to performance of the working scientists have had
organise its set-up in a way that lends itself to little effective say in decision-making in scien
frankness and accountability.”.
tific or personnel matters :
On March 14, 1980, there had occurred a
Too many important facts like those con
leak at Tarapur plant. As usual, the DAE
cerning health hazards, progress of impor
made no announcement. But Dr. Jayaraman
tant projects and service conditions of
flashed the news on the PTI teleprinters. The
individual scientists have been unnecessarily
DAE chief immediately denied its veracity but
kept secret not only from the public but
under the persistent questioning in the Lok
also from the majority of the scientists.
As a result the latter are alienated from
Sabha, on the third day, Mr. Sethna admitted
the management whom they consider
that there was a 'pinhole” leak and accused
solely responsible for all the failures of
the Press of exaggeration. Dr. Jayaraman
the Department. The working scientists
wrote an excellent piece which has become the
do not want to accept the reponsibility for
best indictment of the AEC chief ever made in
these failures without the right to parti
India. He rightly pointed out that the Indian
cipate in decision-making.
Press “has highlighted every' single achieve
ment of the DAE, major or trivial. There will
Due to serious alienation of the working
be -^o exaggerated reports on hazards and scientists and the deep hiatus between the
disorders of‘'Tarapur plant, as alleged by Mr. management and the scientists, India’s nuclear
Sethna, once the DAE lifts the veil of secrecy programme has failed to contribute seriously
su funding peaceful uses of nuclear energy.”
to the national development. Over the last few
Dr. Jayaraman’s independent and authentic years the BARCOA had persistently, tried to
questioning of India’s all-powerful establish open a meaningful dialogue on these issues
ment was unique in its fearless reporting. with the BARC and the DAE managements.
He was asking embarrassing questions. But his “Unfortunately”, the Memorandum’ reported,
columns in Science Today proved a bit too that they
embarrassing for the establishment and even
have grown so used to treating the work
though there existed no emergency then, inter
ing scientists with indifference, if not
departmental pressures were brouht upon the
outright contempt, that they do not seem
PTI chief who forbade Dr. Jayaraman from
even to comprehend the idea of such a
dialogue. Thus, in spite of our repeated
writing for the magazine. The readers of the
national science monthly were thus deprived
requests they have refused to give the
19
working scientists in the sense of
fairness of the authorities is to be
restored.
The scientific leadership which was ex
pected to provide direction and guidance to
the DAE’s management has simply become its
instrument. It failed to encourage develop
ment of a self-confident and fearless commu
The Memorandum further emphasised that nity of scientists with healthy traditions and
the failures of the DAE’s projects which have ethos. Instead, a majority of the scientific
come to light recently could have been foreseen leadership, in the words of the BARCOA :
long ago. For the individual scientists were
has succumbed to the lure of administra
often aware of “the underlying unsound
tive power and position, faltered in its
technical decisions or unjust personnel deci
vision, lost sight of the goals of the deptf)'.sions that have brought about the failures and
ment and contributed to the increasing
the discontent. However, in the environment of
alienation and frustration of the working
fear and secrecy prevailing in BARC and
scientists by a behaviour bordering on the
DAE, they preferred to keep quiet. Occasion
authoritarian, lawless, arbitrary, cynical
ally, when they protested, their protests were
and plainly unscientific. They have arrogat
ignored and steps were taken to silence them
ed to themselves all the freedom and
or destroy their credibility. This state of affairs
autonomy granted to the department for
continues even today and ire are afraid that
unhindered progress of science, centralised
some of our projects may not function properly
the real decision-making power in them
or may run inro difficulties in future unless the
selves and treated the working scientists,
working environment here is drastically changed'
who needed these freedoms most, with
(Emphasis original).
contempt. In the name of secrecy they have
refused to be accountable to the scientific
The BARCOA further informed the Prime
community not only in their treatment of
Minister that “concentration of too’ much power
the individual scientists, but also in deci
in the hands of a few who were practically
sions concerning the structure of the oragaccountable to none" is the major cause of
nisation or choice of projects.
inefficiency and lack of seriousness of purpose
in the DAE.
It is significant to note that BARCOA was
“In the absence of any effective account permitted to be active only during the Janata
ability”, the Memorandum continued, “the Party rule (1977-79) when reforms were
temptation to misuse their powers for building initiated in the DAE. However, soon after
personal empires was simply too strong for Mrs. Gandhi's return to power, the liberalising
most scientist managers to resist. To forestall process, was reversed and the DAE was desthe possibility of any future challenge to their parately trying to curtail the functioninsopf
unquestioned authority they also arranged the BARCOA. According to a BARCsP.tA
things so as to inhibit the emergence of a spokesman, apart from harassment at work,
fearless scientific community.” The Memora- and denial of accommodation and li^c
dum urged the Prime Minister to have an ‘‘which is normal", six committee members of
inquiry into the functioning of the DAE and the BARC union have been transferred since
suggested essential immediate- steps which the formation of the organisation, while the
included :
secretary and vice-president of the association
(a) Full academic freedom and the right at the Nuclear Fuel Complex (Hyderabed)
to air dissenting views in all scientific have been dismissed and the general secretary
matters should be guaranteed to the has been removed from service.
working scientists
There were reports of harassment of acti
(b) Norms of promotion and confirmation vist members of the Atomic Energy Workers
should be made public. This is absolu and Staff Union and victimisation of the joint
tely essential if the confidence of the secretary of the Rajasthan Anushakti Kamgar
Association information even on such
matters as the‘precise framework of rules
and regulations governing the terms of
employment of scientists’ ‘seniority lists’,
and the ‘promotion norms’. Our request to
draw up guidelines for transfer of scientists
from one field to another was termed inter
ference in the management’s prerogatives.
20
Union (Keti). The BARCOA has played a
constructive role and been only necessarily
critical. It pointed out to the fundamental
issues involved in such a complex enterprise
and rightfully drew the attention of the nu
clear brass and the Prime Minister to the
working relation between the nuclear workers
and the administrators. If the scientific workers
remained discontented and the bureaucracy
alienated, the DAE could not hope to maintain
high standard of safety and performance.
The BARCOA has rightly maintained that
the top executives of the DAE, while refusing
to permit investigation and evaluation of their
g£rformance, were publicly attempting to pass
tTe blames for their mismanagement and cor
ruption to “agitational” attitude of the Unions.
The government must realise that in a nuclear
power system a critical situation can easily be
developed through carelessness of the workers
within the establishment and a reactor due to
its poor maintenance, inspitc of its good
design, and fail safe back-up systems, can
easily suffer “a planned failure” or a “careless
accident”. However, it is most unfortunate
that the government did not respond to their
appeal. The DAE has evolved its own methods
to stiffle free debate over the nuclear pro
gramme.
The DAE without Constraints of
Planning Commission
The Planning Commission has over the
years evolved a procedure of assessment,
selection and approval of big funding projects.
All official projects with a financial outlay of
Rs. 20 crores or more go through the process
of scrutiny involving a three-tier system.
concerned department (or ministry) first
submits its proposal to the Planning Comrjf'.sion where it is evaluated by the Projects
Approval Division (PAD). If approved by the
PAD, it is forwarded to the Public Invest
ment Board. In turn, the Board, after having
examined its various economics in terms of
the public financial support, pushes the project
up to the Central Cabinet for its approval and
sanction. Thus, as a rule, all projects of Rs. 20
crores or over get theoretically a good grading
before getting the final approval of the Cabinet
which is presided over by the Prime Minister.
However, since the Prime Minister is also the
Minister of Atomic Energy (and also of
Space) when the demands of the DAE arc
prepared, they arc. not subjected to normal
scrutiny. No project of the DAE, even if it is
of Rs. 100 or 500 or 1,000 ' crores, is ever sub
mitted to the PAD of the Planning Commis
sion. Instead the projects of (he DAE go
directly from the table of the Secretary of the
DAE to the Prime Minister’s personal perusal
who may. or may not diclose the substance of
the project to the Cabinet. Most critical pro
jects are never placed on papers, and decided
upon by direct meeting between the Prime
Minister and the Chairman/Secretary of the
AEC/DAE.
The honourable members of the Central
Cabinet simply grant their consent to the
budgetary demands of the Ministry of Atomic
Energy as "recommended ” by the Prime
Minister. Details for an ambitious N-power
programme of 10,000 MWc for the Sixth FiveYear Plan (1980-85). for example, were never
discussed by the Cabinet. The Plan progr
amme of the DAE falls into three Plan sectors,
namely, R&D, Industry and Minerals, and
Power. In May 1980, the Planning Commssion
initiated action for the formulation of Plan
proposals for the Sixth Plan period by con
stituting working groups for different sectors
including the power sector. The power work
ing group under the Chairmanship of Secret
ary, Ministry of Energy, included N-power
programme of the DAE. The Planning Com
mission also wanted to review the past
performance of the DAE and integrate the Npowcr with the national energy programme.
However, the DAE refused the Planning
Commission’s bid to assess the N-power pro
gramme. Instead, it set up two “internal
working groups”, one for the R&D sector
and the other, for the I & M sector. The DAE
formulated its own independent Five-Year
Plan and presented its N-power plan to the
“working group on power” constituted by the
Planning Commission which considered and
recommended the N-power generation for
1980-85. According to the Performance Budget
of the DAE 1981-82, the Commission, after
holding discussions with the departmental
representatives, “approved” the Plan outlays
under the sectors as “reconmmended” by the
DAE totalling Rs. 1,049.01 crores which
included Rs. 799.05 crores for N-power and
industry and extension.
21
Homi J. Bhabha. Mr. J.R.D. Tata, an uncle
of Bhabha, was made the second most power
ful member of the AEC, as the sole represen
tative of industry.
Perhaps .the Tatas were the only industrial
house in the country at that time which could
claim some knowhow in dealing with heavy
steel technology. But some ‘conflict of interest’
cannot be denied in funding many Tata institu
tions and subsidising its projects by the DAE.
In 1948, Jawaharlal Nehru and the young
nationalist government in New Delhi could
not see the games of “friends” within, whose
sole interest was the greed for the national
resources. At what point in early yearsP^
independence, Tatas became active wwn
Nehru’s inner circle and how far informal
activities proved useful in the forging advan
tageous formal connections is a matter for
further investigations.
But the late Mr. M.O. Mathai, Special
Assistant to Jawaharlal Nehru from 1946 to
1959, the early years of the Nuclear energy
development, has reported in his “Reminiscen
ces of the Nehru Age” about a Director of the
Tatas making informal approaches to the first
Prime Minister of India. Mr. Mathai described
how in 1948, soon after India’s “police action”
in Hyderabad, the Director of Tatas introduced
to Nehru former daughter-in-law of the Nizam
Trans-scientific Considerations : The
Tata Connection
of Hyderabad. A Turkish beauty, named
Niloufer, separated from her husband and
We do not have direct evidence to prove the settled in Paris, was almost brought to
hypothesis that there exists any “conspiray” Jawaharlal Nehru as “the PM’s personal
to capture politico-economic power in India guest”. On the Tata Director’s bidding, the
by two powerful family groups of the country— Prime Minister had pursuaded the Nizam
the Nehrus and the Tatas. But if the political to make reasonable settlement of long overdue
and nuclear-industrial operation is any indica financial claims of Niloufer. The Director of
tion, a potential threat of such an eventuality the Tatas told Nehru that
cannot be ruled out.
Niloufer was anxious to come to DelhC^to
Official files are not open to us for
thank him personally for his kindness. The
critical scrutiny, but it can be surmised that
Tata Director went to the extent/]^
financial gains and high rates of profits must
suggesting that Niloufer might be put 'up
have been drawn from the nuclear programme
on the Prime Minister’s house.
by those industrial houses which have secured
logistic position in the decision-making However, Mrs. Gandhi’s timely intervention
process. As it is with the country’s political stopped the ill-fated visit of the lady and
culture, family connections of Tata, Bhabha Mr. Mathai told “the Tata Director that
and Sethna must have reaped rich dividents Niloufer’s proposed visit could only do some
for the House of Tatas.
harm to the P.M.”
At the time of reconstitution of the AEC,
It may be sheer coincidence that around
in 1962, Nehru went out of his way to accom the same time Homi Bhabha was trying to
modate wishes of the Parsee child prodigy, establish his power equation with the first
However, on August 20, 1980 when the
Minister of Planning presented the Sixth
Five-Year Plan to the Parliament, it did not
include the DAE’s N-power programme. But
Mr. Sethna, independently of the Planning
Commission, on April 27, 1981, speaking
before the Association of Indian Engineering
Industry's annual meeting in New Delhi,
disclosed that the Planning Commission'has
cleared six Narora-type 210 MWe nuclear
reactors for the Sixth Plan period. It was also
claimed that the DAE planned ten such reac
tors for the next two decades and thereafter
“another 12 reactors of 500 MWe capacity”
would follow. The official volume of the Plan
1980-85, however, contains no reference to the
ambitious N-power plan. It is reported that no
one from the Planning Commission was
permitted to assess or critically examine the
reports and recommendations of the DAE.
But if the Prime Minister wanted to approve a
N-energy plan there existed no regulatory/
formal authority within the government that
could have questioned the demands of the
Department ofAtomic Energy.
The Ministry of Atomic Energy is one of
the sacred ministries whose annual budgets
have never been discussed by the Parliament
of India.
22
nationalist government in New Delhi. Bhabha’s
paternal aunt had married Sir Dorab Tata who
along with Horai’s father wanted him to obtain
an engineering degree “with a view to join
the Tata Iron and Steel Company at Jamshed
pur”. With the financial backing of the
House of the Tatas, he had organised a Tata
Institute of Fundamental Research in Bombay
and was negotiating with the Western nations
for the transfer of nuclear technology which
could have rich dividends for his uncle’s
industrial establishment. It was a new tech
nology and no industrial organisation in the
country could have placed its claim to it. But
for the Tatas, at the right moment had arrived
a'.bright young scientist of the Tata family
w,lo matched the political aspirations of the
Nehrus. He was aggressively ambitious and
succeeded in establishing closer linkages bet
ween the Nehru government and his uncle’s
establishment. It is, therefore, not insigni
ficant that when the Tata Director was
offering Niloufer to the Prime Minister,
Bhabha was busy organising the first Atomic
Energy Commission (1948).
Next to Nehru, Bhabha was the only man
in India who was given so much leverage in
playing with the rules of the Government of
India. He shared with Nehru “the same
patrician backgrounds with proximity to
wealth and political influence, both had been
to Cambridge, lived like bachelors, considered
themselves connoisseurs of art, music, food,
etc. Their mutual attraction enabled them
to speak the same language.”
Certainly, the role of Nehru and Bhabha
in the development of India’s scientific insti
tutions is far greater than a few Niloufers.
But the Tata connection proves that the
powerful industrial houses in the country
have adopted unethical techniques to draw
unrestrained advantages of the nuclear deve
lopment. Mr. Tata was working to take over
the country's N-power programme under his
private sector industry. But due to untimely
death of Bhabha and Nehru, the plan could
not be materialised.
Most often than not trans-scientific consi
derations have forced many nuclear policy
decisions on the DAE. For example, denial
of rightful role to the Saha group of nuclear
physics in the formation and development of
India’s nuclear programme and permitting the
total autocratic and monopolistic authority to
Bhabha in disregard to other senior nuclear
scientists of India by Jawaharlal Nehru were
indicative of substantial bias for which no
apparent scientific justification was establi
shed. Jawaharlal was a great man and his
services to the nation cannot be belittled by
his human considerations. But it is suspected
that the development of an open nuclear
scientific policy was hampered by such per
sonal pressures brought upon the national
leadership at a critical juncture in our nuclear
development.
In 1972, once again the Tata connections
were proved decisive when another “Homi”
Sethna was appointed to the Chairmanship of
the AEC. In 1966, when Homi Bhabha unex
pectedly died in an aircrash, Mrs. Gandhi,
seeking political advantage to upset Morarji
Desai’s'power base in Gujarat, had appointed
Dr. Vikram Sarabhai—a prodigy of a Gujarat
industrial house. However, in ■ choosing
Sarabhai’s successor in 1972 she could not
ignore the wishes of J.R.D. Tata. Out of the
three aspirants, Raja Ramanna, Brahma
Prakash and Homi Sethna, the Prime Minister
favoured Homi. Ramanna who perhaps rightly
claimed the scientific inheritance of Bhabha
received a great setback.
In subsequent years, 1952 and 1953,
Bhabha was having tea or dinner with Nehru
■ almost every two weeks. Bhabha saw to it
that even though he secured the governmental
s<S,port it entailed no governmental control
over him. By making his. programme and
institutions an integral part of the government
® placing the people committed to him as
“the government officials” to control them, he
, secured his personal autonomy.
It is not to deny scientific organisational
acumen to Homi Bhabha but to point out
In early 1981, after an interval of a couple
that trans-scicntific considerations had given
added advantage to Bhabha in turning him of years of Janata rule, Mr. J.R.D. Tata has
into a superman of India’s nuclear develop once again been nominated as a full-time
ment, when the title truly belonged to the .member of the AEC. And the Tatas have
great nationalist scientist, Meghnad Saha who over the years secured the highest financial
was the father of nuclear science in India.
advantages from the DAE. There is no
23
nuclear power project in India in which the politicians become ministers”. He has also
Tatas have not been assisting the country's reiterated his doubts about the effectiveness of
a Westminster-type of parliamentary system
nuclear advancement.
where “the opposition always sought to bring
The Tatas were also involved with cons down” the government, which “led to insta
truction of "‘indoor switchyard” and a complete bility”. and “further impeded economic acti
electrical system at MAPP and RAPP includ vities”. In contrast, he is fond of the Swiss
ing fabrication of fuelling machine. On line system but believes it impracticable in India
refuelling system was also contracted to the and has advanced alternative of “presidential
Tatas. The Tatas were also responsible for form of govenment, which could ensure in
‘carriage designing and fabrication, airlocks duction of required expertise into the govern
and matrification’ of Research Reactor R-5 ment and greater stability” to the country.
at Trombay and of Reactor Researchi
We do not have any literature.on the poli Performance of Larsen & Toubro
tical philosophy of Mr. J.R.D. Tata to know
his approach to the country’s politico-econo
In the name of self-reliance and achieves
mic ills. But we know about his love for import substitute in the country, the Govcrhflying, He has been one of the finest and ment of India adopted a policy of subsidising
earliest flyers of the world and was an" inspira industrial houses for nuclear industrial deve
tion to the late son of Mrs. Gandhi who died lopment. Several big and small companies
in an aircrash in June 1980. But rumours are have come to existence with direct patronage
rife that Mr. Tata is getting closer to Mrs. and. alliances with the bureaucrats within the
Gandhi, perhaps closer than he was to DAE administration. Some private companies,
Jahaharlal Nehru during Bhabha's days. in practical terms, are no more than mere
Specially, since his nomination to the AEC, subsidiary organisations of the DAE. In a
Mr. Tata has voiced his open support for the totally secret goings-on, what share of the
Prime Minister. At this ripe age of 79, he subsidies is returned to the personal coffer of
admits that although he has been aloof from the bureaucrats is anyone's guess. But after
politics, he is willing to be closer to “any the Tatas, the second most important vendor
government which will allow us to come of the DAE is Larsen & Toubro Company
closer”.
Limited which has succeeded in obtaining
Mr. J.R.D. Tata, along with Mr. J.J. Bha major orders from the DAE’s nuclear energy
bha, the younger brother of the late Honti J. projects. L & T received orders for manufactBhabha, were involved in public controversy turing vital equipment for the core sector in
about giving irregular financial support to Mr. the nuclear projects including 11 heavy witter
A.R. Antulay, a political prodigy of Mrs. towers and electronics for the DAE’s plant at
Kota. Its gross sales turnover for the year
Gandhi.
ended in March 1978 was Rs. 140 crores. The
In 1981, on Mrs-. Gandhi's "bidding, growth of L & T over the preceding decade
Antulay was made the Chief Minister of (1967-68 to 1976-78) was “quite extra-ordinMaharashtra, the richest Stale in India. He . ary"’, 400 to 600 per cent. "The Comply
was found guilty of misusing his position and enjoys an enviable reputation in the critical
collecting huge funds for spurious charitable world of Bombay stock exchange because n%Us
foundations, some of which were named after remarkable record of growth”. The LVM
Mrs. Gandhi and her late son Sanjay. The equity share is one of the top five blue chips
Tata Trusts contributed millions of rupees to that arc recommended by the knowledgeable
Antulay's trusts, in exchange of undue favours stock-brokers of Bombay. The fortunes of the
granted to them by the government.
Company evidently rose in the seventies after
Mr. Tata admitted that the Talas have they had secured orders from the DAE.
none closer to Mrs. Gandhi, perhaps at the cost
of other big industrial houses in the country.
According to the official claims of L&T,
But his political ambition now is more it has contributed to the nuclear energy deve
challenging. For, he has voiced his disagree lopment by manufacturing critical equipments
ment with the political system where “only like calandria, steam generators, end shields,
24
end sbielf rings as well as heat transfer equip
ment like moderator heat exchangers, standby
coolers, bleed condensers, bleed coolers, etc.,
for RAPP Unit II and MAPP Unit I and II.
Similar equipments are also under fabrication
for MAPP Unit I and II. L&T has supplied
heat exchangers, distillation trays and cartri
dges for the heavy water plants at Baroda,
Talcher and Kota. The Company has also
secured orders for critical components in
research reactors including manfacturing of
items made in exotic materials involving
dissimilar material welding.
However, it has been reported that major
fa’&D efforts were carried out by the public
sector companies, mainly at BHEL workshops.
BHEL has been the main supplier of nuclearrelated technology to L&T. Knowledgeable
persons at BHEL claimed that R&D in the
critical sectors of the nuclear energy pro
gramme was to the great extent developed
at its floors according to Canadian designs
and specifications and was supplied to
L&T by BHEL. It is admitted, however,
that the BHEL is capable to replace the
Canadians only in "the secondary sys
tems". Otherwise the Indian industry was
not yet ready to replace the foreign
technology.
In spite of the dedicated hard work put in
by the BHEL undertaking, orders for fabri
cation of the critical components were secretly
granted to L&T. It may be a sheer coinci
dence that one Mr. H.C. Sethna, probably a
relation of the then Chairman of the AEC,
has been placed in a high position in L&T
as the "Executive Manager” of the Engi
neering Group II of the Company which looks
;/\er the business with the DAE.
In early 1970s, without public knowledge,
Jjt^.T was awarded contracts to manufacture
nuclear reactor calandria for RAPP II. Since
it was a challenging job involving new technolosy, the Company was given "the most
favoured” subsidies to the tunc that it was
treated as a government agency for all purpo
ses relating to transfer of technology. All nece
ssary knowhow was freely supplied by the
DAE from its R&D units at BARC and the
Company was allowed open imports of all
necessary technology, machinery, spares and
raw material.
Soon the great potential for high profit
became evident and in less than five years, the
Company's activities spanned over the manu
facture of steam generators, end shield rings,
auxiliary heat exchangers for both RAPP and
MAPP I and II. L&T’s public relations
operation proved more effective than BHEL
and other public sector undertakings. Criticism
from private and public companies notwith
standing, L&T was awarded contracts in many
criticial sectors of nuclear^programme, includ
ing construction of the modular laboratory at
Trombay, and supply of equipment for pluto
nium processing plants, fabrication of all the
exchange unit towers including the distillation
trays and heat exchangers for both the Kota
and Talcher heavy water projects.
Nuclear fabrication works with complete
engineering and construction services were
carried out by a subsidiary of L&T, Engineer
ing Construction Corporation Limited (ECCj,
which was responsible for erection of ail the
exchange unit towers at Kota. It also lifted
the 550-tonne tower for the heavy water pro
ject at Baroda. Also for the heavy water plant
at Tuticorin, ECC was credited for successful
erection of the second heaviest isotopic ex
change tower in a single lift, which weighed
353 tonnes and had a height of 41.2 metres.
This was, of course, a technological fiat for the
first lime performed in the country.
EEC was also awarded jobs relating to
construction of the DAE’s N-power projects at
MAPP, Talcher, Kota, Baroda and Trombay.
It is reported that L&T since entering into
business with the DAE has floated a number
of companies solely to handle the nuclear jobs.
Even if Uicy arc formally subsidiaries of L&T,
in their technical operation and financial
balance sheets, they are private workshops run
by the DAE but kept under the umbrella
of L&T.
Thus, to conclude, both industrial houses—
the Tatasand Larsen and Toubro—have receiv
ed official concessions from the DAE in various
ways including free supply of industrial know
how and engineering advice and free import
permits for many critical items which placed
these industrial giants at an advantageous
position vis-a-vis other competing industrial
organisations, particularly the publid sector
ones, like Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited.
25
Many engineers and executives of the Tatas
and Larsen and Toubro have made short and
long engineering study trips abroad for which
the DAE footed the bills. Both the companies
have received handsome orders of critical jobs
relating to N-power projects for which the
know-how was supplied to them freely by the
DAE.
The Story of Nehru Centre
It is now widely acknowledged that the scien
tists cannot be isolated from their social and
political culture. They too like any salesman,
in order to secure big funds and to further
their persona! ambitions, adopt to the public
relations techniques. It is for such vagaries
that the scientists at the DAE have willingly or
unwillingly served the interest of unscrupulous
politicians. Most often the big decisions
taken at the DAE were (are) not basically
scientific, nor were they in the best interst of
the national technological advancement.
under the name of “Development Research
Group”. Our enquiries revealed that there
was no such Research Group in the capital.
Mr. H.N. Sethna and Dr. • Raja Ramamtf
were also associated with a multimillion-rupee
project floated to immortalise the name of
Jawaharlal Nehru. In 1972, a Nehru Centre
was established in Bombay with strong finan
cial backing from the big industrial houses
and supported by the State of Maharashtra
and the Central Government headed by Mrs.
Gandhi. Many Directors of the companies
having direct commercial activities with the
DAE, were closely associated with the fouiwk
ation of the Centre. Mr. H.N. Sethna, tSv
Principal Secretary of the DAE, headed the
Editorial Committee of the Centre. Infamous
Mr. A.R. Antulay who was found guilty of
malpractices by the High Court of Maharashtra
and was subsequently removed from the Chief
Ministership on January 12, 1 982, was the
Chairman of the Centre in 1981, and Dr. Raja
Ramanna was the General Secretary of the
Nehru Centre.
India's political leadership is eager to
match its peers in the advanced nations in fame
and prestige by demonstratively forging the
The late Mr. Rajani Patel, a political bigwig
country's scientific and technological achieve of the Congress Party and the founding Gene
ments to a matching height. This eagerness ral Secretary of the Nehru Centre (1972-1982),
has given impetus to some nuclear scientists once wrote that “the task force (of the Centre)
to aspire for advanced technologies with had the benefit of suggestions and advice from
obvious political backing even at the cost of several eminent scientists and academicians,
general welfare of the people.
including Dr. Homi Sethna, Dr.lRaja Ramanna
and others.”
Mrs. Gandhi is an astute politician who
kept Mr. Sethna (ex-chairman of the AEC)
The Executive Committee of the Nehru
and Dr. Ramanna, the present Chairman of Centre included many prominent industrialists,
the AEC, divided. Personal feuds between the and Mr. H.N. Sethna. It is also reported that
two nuclear chiefs played havoc with India’s many big and not so big firms that received
nuclear programme. But in their in-fighting contracts from the DAE have to make havn'r
both vic desparately to seek political patronage some “voluntary” contributions to the CerfG'c
of Mrs. Gandhi. They did not hesitate to ex and also to the ruling party. Such charges
ploit her weakness for the dynastic aspirations. are not new nor do they refer to only MT?
Gandhi's party. But the fact remains that
In order to reaffirm his loyalty to Mrs. Mrs. Gandhi, by virtue of being the Prime
Gandhi, after a brief spell with Mr. Morarji Minister for the longest period, has drawn the
Desai as Prime Minister (1977-79), Mr. maximum premium from the invisible alliances
Sethna associated himself with various organi between the contractors-vendois and the DAE.
sations set up to foster dynastic glory of the
lady Prime Minister. On November 20, 1980,
Since Mr. Sethna and Dr. Raja Ramanna
he delivered a “Sanjay Gandhi Memorial were on the key positions of the Nehru Centre,
Lecture" on “Energy Strategy for the Eigh it was convenient, particularly in the feudal
ties” in New Delhi which was organised and politico-economic system, to get “philanthro
attended by certain corporate vested interests pic” contributions from the DAE's syndrome
26
of contractors. The scope for such kickback
dividends is very high in a secretive govern
mental programme where the Prime Minister
being the Minister of Atomic Energy also
holds the regulatory powers over the nuclear
energy programme. Even if the activities of
the Centre, named after the great nation-builder
Nehru, were not objectionable, direct involve
ment of the two chiefs of the AEC/DAE and
BARC in the management of the Nehru
Centre is questionable.
scientific policy-making body, was recon
stituted. The single largest group represented
on the Committee belonged to the pro-nuclear
lobby. Twelve out of the original 18 members
were from the nuclear or pro-nuclear establish
ments, including Chairman, AEC; Secretary,
Space; Director, BARC; two Fellows of TIFR/
DAE Secretary, Electronics; Scientific Adviser
to the Ministry of Defence.
India’s top Scientific Policy Committee,
SACC, also included a man who represented a
private consultancy firm having strong political
Dominance of Science by the Nuclear
alliances with the DAE : Dr. M.N. Dastur,
Estate
Chairman-cum-Managing Director, M/s. M.N.
and Co. (Pvt.) Ltd., Calcutta. Pie has
^Almost all research grants and R&D fund-l Dastur
close connections with the families of Mrs.
A * in India come from the Central Govern-1 Gandhi and Mr. Scthna. According to publish
ment and nearly 60 per-cent or more of science! ed reports, Dr. Dastur was the man who
budget is controlled by the Department of I bought the highest number of shares worth Rs.
Atomic Energy and the Department of Space. 1,400,000 in Mrs. Gandhi’s late son’s defunct
In 1981-8?, out of a total S&T Budget of motor enterprise, Maruti. Dr. Dastur is also
Rs. 6,640 million, Atomic Energy received reported to be a relation of Mr. Sethna and
Rs. 3,800 million (60%) and Space received has directlv benefitted from contracts with the
Rs. 1,071 million. Other details were not DAE.
available.
>
At Hyderabad, the DAE established the
In the revised Sixth Five-Year Plan (1980- Nuclear Fuel Complex to manufacture nuclear
uel elements for use in power reactors. Besides
85), for the DAE (R & D only) budget was
troduction facilities for zirconium oxide,
Rs. 533.57 crores and for Space (S&T only)
ponge and fabrication plants, the complex
Rs. 392.73 crores. In contrast, social welfare
received Rs. 2.00 crores. Rural reconstruc ncludes facilities for the production of natural
tion: Rs. 10.05 crores. More than one uranium dioxide, of enriched uranium dioxide
hundred Universities were granted for advance from imported UF6, and the assembly of fuel
ment of science Rs. 142.00 crores, which in elements for the atomic power programme.
cluded fellowship, cost of equipments and M/s. Dastur & Co. were appointed as con
purchase of computers. Renewable energy sultants for this project, and were also con
resources (R&D) were given Rs. 7.6 crores tracted for the design of civil works, electrical
by the DST.
____________-* and ventilation works and other services like
steam, water, cooling water, compressed air,
The nuclear estate, thus, commands enor etc. However, the responsibility for process
mous power of patronage for the scientific selection, and for the design, specifications, and
procurement
of the various equipment and
ccjSnunity in a country where there exists no
other agency or organisation which can offer machinery, and for the commissioning and
fi£%icial support for big research activities. initial operation of the plants which involved
TMs all science in the country has become basic R&D expenditure and scientific inputs
captive of the nuclear estate and the govern rested with the BARC.
ment. Little scope exists for independent and
In reply to a question answered in the Lok
critical scientific work. Practically almost all Sabha on April 2, 1969, it was stated that .“no
S&T organisations including the Pugwash tenders were invited for the appointment of
Committee of India are managed by techno M/s. Dastur and Co”. They were selected
crats and secretaries of the government.
on the basis of their experience in the field of
metallurgical and metal industries. The Fourth
In 1980, when Mrs. Gandhi was returned Lok Sabha Estimates Committee (1969-70), in
» to power in New Delhi, the Science Advisoy Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Report on “De
Committee to the Cabinet (SACC), the highest partment of Atomic Energy” noted that in
27
appointing M/s. M.N. Dastur and Co., the
DAE made an 'ad hoc selection "on the basis
of the adequacy of experience in handling.
similar projects”. But the Committee observed:
stead of providing inspiration to the working
scientific community,the lop scientific adminis
trators have acted without ■ necessary public
policy perspective.
From the sketchy information furnished to
the Committee in January 1970, they
(DAE) are not in a position to comment on
the justification of the terms and conditions
of the agreement entered into with the
consultants and whether the progress so
far made is according to the schedule.
A scientist is expected to have the basic
attitude of open debate before deciding the
policy issues. But the top scientists at the DAE
and BARC have urged a total ban on any
critical examination of the nuclear policy. Dr.
M.R. Srinivasan, formlery the director of the
Power Project Engineering Division, and now
the first chairman of the Atomic Power Board,
has voiced his deep resentment to free debate.
In December 1980, he attempted to boost up
credibility of the nuclear power by issuing_a
few PR statements. He claimed that the eneljf)
issue is one where it is necessary for us to
evolve a consensus to speed up nuclear power
-development. This is possible, however, only
if we cut across the differences between politi
cal parties, amongst administrators, scientists,
technologists, trade union leaders and the
general public. While we cannot insulate our
energy policy from the interplay of internation
al forces, it should at least be possible to in
sulate it from the interplay of internal politics
or needless argumentation.”
The Scientific Leadership with No
‘Rule of Law’
The scientific leadership at the DAE is
basically non-academic if not anti-academic
and is to be differentiated from the working
scientists. Most of them have risen to the top
positions through inner adjustments with the
political and industrial vested interests. No one
among the top tens at the DAE is in this sense
an outsider. But they have lost their innocence
due to their unholy alliance with the politicians
and with the administrative elite. Consequently
our traditional faith in the objectivity of the
scientists has been falsified and their defence
of the nuclear technology cannot be accepted
at face value for they have been integral com
ponents of the establishment for too long to be
scientifically objective in their assessment of
N-energy. Their first and foremost loyalty rests
with the DAE. But since the consequences of
their scientific enterprises are far-reaching for
the nation at large and they vigorously seek
socio-political support for their big funded
activities, they cannot rightfully claim immunity
from public and academic criticism. It is
regrettable that the scientists occupying the
top positions in the DAE have been alienated
from the working scientists within and without
the BARC and the DAE facilities.
At the DAE/BARC scientists-turn-technocrats seem to have lost their scientific temper
and the public policy perspective. They seem
now to fear “argumentation” and critical
evaluation.
They resemble Heisenberg and Weizsacker
of Germany who, during the rise of totalitarian
government in 1933-45, adopted to what
Joseph Haberer has termed “the politics of
prudential acquiescence” towards the political
power. When confronted with a choice bet
ween conscience and power, nationalism ol
internationalism, justice and repression,'®aemocracy and authoritarianism, they invariably
gravitated towards power and parochialtt.71,
repression and dictatorship. With “martyr
A BARCOA memorandum to the Kuppu- dom” categorically rejected as an absurdity,
swamy Committee (1979) has asserted that the . the only reasonable choice open to them was
top scientists cannot be totally free from the that of acquiescence and open support for
blemishes which have led to miserable state of unjust industrial-economic system and inept
affairs at the DAE. For those top-ranking political leadership, not resistance or oppo
scientists who were expected to provide necess sition.
ary leadership have succumbed to "the lure of
administrative power and position." In the
Based on INDIA'S NUCLEAR ESTATE
name of secrecy they asked for freedom of
nepotism, corruption and arbitrariness. In- (1983).
28
The Sunday Observer, May 20, 1984
JNU ‘attacks academic freedom’
by Kuldeep Kumar
New Delhi, May 19 : Authorities of the
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), establish
ed in 1969 to promote the study of the princi
ples for which Nehru worked during his life
time, are attacking his most cherished ideal—
a<£iemic freedom— in a most arbitrary man
ner/ They have transferred Dr. Dhirendra
Sharma, an Associate Professor at the Centre
for Studies in Science Policy (CSSP) for about
10 years, to the School of Languages without
assigning any reason.
cellor, Prof P.N. Srivastava, was systematically
decimating the students’ union and the staff
association by expelling students and suspen
ding employees.
<
“For ten years”, says Dr Sharma, “the
university went on giving me facilities for con
ducting research in my field and sponsoring
my participation in various seminars and
symposia in India and abroad. My creden
tials were never questioned. My articles were
widely appreciated. Now, when my book
Had it been a simple transfer of an acade ‘India’s Nuclear Estate’ came out a few months
mician from one department to another, there ago criticising the nuclear establishment, they
would have been no cause for concern. But have suddenly decided to strip me of all facili
the fact that a battery of international lumi ties necessary to carry on my work in the field
naries—Prof Noam Chomsky of the Massa of science policy. Violation of so many rules
chusetts Institute of Technology, Tony Benn, and regulations indicates that the JNU auth
famous British Labour member of parliament, orities are working under some kind of pres
Dr Philip Gummett of the deptt. of science- sure. If there is none, then either the viceand technology, University of Manchester, chancellor is naive or a knave.”.
Prof. Harry Rothman, director, technology
policy unit, University of Aston in Birming
How have the rules and regulations been
ham, and Les Lcvidow and Robert M. Young violated ? He produces his appointment letter
of the Science in Society Unit, London—have dated January 18, 1975 employing him as
taken up cudgels in support of Dr Sharma, is Associate Professor at the Centre for Studies in
an indication of the gravity of the issue.
Science Policy, School of Social Sciences, with
effect from December 31, 1974. An order
What emerged after a conversation this issued by the university on March 9, 1976
correspondent had with Dr Sharma and a says he was confirmed in the same post on the
scr^iy of documents is simple — Dr Dhiren- expiry of the probation period.
dra^liarma is being hounded out of the CSSP
forXs critical views on India's nuclear pro
Further, the executive council of the uni
gramme, his criticism of the role played by the versity on September 17, 1979 adopted a reso
house of Talas, represented by J.R.D Tata and lution which said that prior written consent of
Homi J. Bhabha, in shaping up the whole a faculty member was essential for his
exercise and the huge profits amassed by transfer.
certain private firms in the contracts given by
the Department of Atomic Energy.
“The University was in such a hurry that
the order for my transfer was delivered by a
From the JNU authorities’ point of view. . special messenger at my house. I have since
what came as the proverbial last straw was written a number of times to the vice-chan
Dr Sharma’s espousal of the cause of demo cellor requesting an appointment with him.
cratic freedom at a time when the vice-chan He docs not even reply. Now, the registrar
29
ards at various nurlear plants, Ramanna called
a press conference to denounce the exercise as
‘unpatriotic’.
Interestingly, Sharma finds himself isolated
within the university. No senior faculty
members came to his support, not did the
teachers" association lodge any protest at the
violation of principle that ‘the transfer of a
faculty member from one Centre to another
may only be made with the written concur
rence of both the Centre as well as the faculty
member concerned.
(though few criticise Mrs. Gandhi’s infringe
ments of civil liberties). Initially the ‘left’
teachers found it easy to turn a blind eye to
Sharma’s discomfiture, because the rumour
mills had branded him a ‘CIA agent’.
It was not until Noam Chomsky and others
openly supported Sharma that many of the
professors felt a twinge of remorse. Still none
of them supported Sharma publicly. If each
university is so dependent upon the State’s
patronage, therefore, can academics ever
pursue critical inquiry?
Jawaharlal Nehru University's teachers like to Courtesy : New Statesman 7 September kQ84,
think of themselves as‘leftist’and‘progressive’ '
pp. 21-22
“
Selected Bibliography
Anderson, Robert, S. BUILDING SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS IN INDIA : SAHA and
BHABHA (Montreal : McGill University, Center for Developing Area Studies, 1975).
Duayer de Souza, Merco. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NUCLEAR INDUSTRY IN
LDCs : the Cases of Argentina, Brazil and India. (Thesis submitted to the University
of Manchester for Ph.D., 1979. Unpublished).
Lilienthal, David, E'. ATOMIC ENERGY : A New Start. (New York : Harper & Row, 1980).
Lovins, Amory, B. and Price, John, H. NON-NUCLEAR FUTURE : The ease for an ethical
energy strategy. (Cambridge, Mass. Ballinger and Friends of Earth International, 1975).
Sharma, Dhirendra. INDIA’S NUCLEAR ESTATE (New Delhi : Lancers International, 1983).
Walker, William & Lonnroth, NUCLEAR POWER STRUGGLES : Industrial Compson
and Proliferation Control. (London ■ George Allen & Unwin, 1983).
THE NUCLEAR FIX : A Guide to Nuclear Activities in the Third World, eds.
Court, Pick and Nordquist. (A WISE Publication, 1983).
Thijs de la
NO CLEAR REASON : Nuclear Power Politics. Edited by the Radical Science Collective.
(London : Free Association Books, 26 Freegrovc Road, London N. 7 1984.)
w
COMMUNITY HEALTH CELL
REFERENCT. 'ATERIALS ON NUCLEAR ISSUES
«7/1. (First Floor)St. Marks Hoad
BANGALORE-S60 001
1,
The Only Way out of the Nuclear Nightmare
By George Kennan
Nuclear Bulletin No. 3. Health And Society Group
2.
The Insanity of Nuclear Power
Nuclear Bulletin No. 4, Health and Society Group
3.
Karen Silkwoodt Victim of the Nuclear Police state
Nuclear Bulletin No. 5. Health And Society Group
4.
A Short History of the Anti-Nuclear Movement
Nuclear Bulletin No. 6, Health And Society Group
5.
The Worldwide Threat of Nuclear Technology
Nuclear Bulletin No. 1. Health And Society Group
6.
Radiation, The Greatest Public Health Threat of All Time
Nuclear Bulletin No. 2, Health And Society Group
7.
The *
s
Underdog
bensepack.
Article in The Illustrated Weekly of India by O V
8.
"In a Nuclear War, It Is Better to be Victims Than
VIJAYAN
Criminals"
Article in The Illustrated Weekly of India by GERT BASTIAN
9.
The Politics of Nuclear Energy
10.
The Peace Movement and the Third world
11.
The Arms kace.
By Alan Roberts
By Eboe Hutchful
Reprinted From UNESCO Courier, November 1970
12.
The *
inal
Epidemic
The Medical Consequences of Nuclear War
By p S Kanath
13.
a
Nuclear War And India.
„1_
qV
V
COMMUNITY il-ALTH CELL
47/1,(First FloorjSt. Marks rtoa^
'
BANGALORE-560 001
»*»»«•»«#«.<
#
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*«
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**
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J1 2? A LT Jf
T H E MgfhiiA rL THH » A N G E K a> U F N U.C L g A R
.**
**
,(
P 0 W E R
»!r, Kusutna.R.N, ,K.M» .M.B.B.S . .M.S.(Bomb)
The Hature has its wonderful echo system through which it maintain;
its equilibrium.The changes and pollution of air water and land is
bain;; continuously nullified or minimised by tills mechanism
*
Thus
the nature undisturbed maintains tho health of Xavory living creat
ure. But when the changes and the pointion crosses the cap isity of
ochosystem it becomes dangerous to the health.Thus tho environment
al dangers have direct impact on every living creature including mnn;
who is an insoperablo element of Nature.
In tho name of development we uro stepping towards seif dis—
truction the distraction of this globo.All the so called develop
mental projects are always planed and executed by the government.
People are least conccmod.lt id high time for the people of our
country and all over the world to unite ana think about the policies
of tiie government.
Nueliar energy has created erase in all tho governments in Si
the world. So is our government, Tho department atomic energy was
established in August 1954.Homi Bhabha became tho first chnlrtnan
of this uepartiaont and the research started on nucloat energy at
Bhabha Atomic nuclear center, (BARS) in Bombay .Bl laid folded towards
the health dangers of nuclear jiower research continued for peaceful
uses of this energy.But in 19 7Indies first atom bomb explosion
at Ponhamn, created restlessness not only in tho subcontinent but.
also in tho minds of tho people of our country.
India's nucltLw energy comission never tried toeducate tho
people about tho health hazards duo to nucliar raaiatlon. On tho
Grcat scientists like Dr.Rajarumaana eri
s
*
’ ' It is the safeet.cieanesut
and cnenpsttway of getting ©loctrisfty.''On the contrary school text
boons discribe the advantage of nuclear power but not a single word
about tho health dangers due to radiation. Gut: scientists claim that
our technolgy is too good to cause any accident or health dangers.
But so far more tnan J Ou accidents that have oecured in the atomic
plants in our country is a national secret.No proper safty measures
have been given to th© workers, or in tho campus ansi around to safe
gaurd the people.atomic Energy Conr-ission has not produced a single
health report so far, since its establishment in 1904
*
Today all the
atomic plants in India are out of function, but tho low level radi
ation from the plant is continuing.
Tho health dangers from t'.o raoiactivo material is inseparable
from the environmental dangers ,«mi the health hazards aue to radiation
has built tho history since professor u'ilheum Roentgen discovered
..-Ray in 18y5 xn nis laboratory in Bovaria and since Thomas Edison
showed his ..a;;ay floroscopy AAx at Newyorlc city electrical cnppsitxon
in May layo. After realising the dangers due to rauintionin 195ua
the non ru«dical use of X-Ray floroscupi stopped,in United states.
In IgObElinu Thomson maue tne following observations on Radiation
oi'foct which hold true even today.
* X—Raya can damage human tissues.
* The amount of damage was related to the amount of exposure.
• Thore in evidently a point neyond which exposure could not go
withuutt causing serious trouble.
* Several snort exposures would have the same offoct if made with
a fow days as tho same offset doso given at one time. In other
words spreading the dose over a longer period of time would not n
necossorily reduce the damage caused.
« The intensity of the raye dcreawe as the square of tho distance
from the X-Eay source,
« There wa» an incubation period, effects would not appear iramddi tely
k-«Uiy
hicn are relatively weak rays axxxeuHHQ ejeat such
havoc what about thrr Atomic plants which emit low level radiation every
moment in the fern of alpha, beta particles, gama rays,and the fission
products like strontium 90, Udine 129 andljl which are much more dan
gerous to the life?
Eldhus observations wore not given much importance. As a result
by 1922, 1U0 early radiologists died from over exposure to radiation.
Mario and gierre curie wore exposed to radiation during their
experiments with xeixxraaiaibXaH radium.Mario died of cancer where as Rlarxc
an accident death saved him from cancer sufferings.
In 193^ Marie Curie's daughter Irene arm her huaband Frederic
Joliot discovered Radioactive isotopes. Sho died of radiation indused
leukaemia.
Ionising Radiation; Four typos of radiations are given out by radio active
atoms when they uecay. They are alpha and beta particles,X-Ray and gamma
rays anu nutrones which are uncharged particles.Radiation causes ionisation
in the tissue, disturbing ana injuring the cellular atoms and disrupts
the cellular life process.
Alpha and beta radiation are much more dangerous fchrirt because these
radioactive particles deposit on ground, plants and in water, enter the
boay and throw radiation! inside the body.The body treats the radiactive
rassiaiiun material as ordinary chemicals which therefore gets incorporated
into the tissue.Most frequently affected organs are lungs,stoch,thyroid
bones, liver and sex organs.These particles when deposit on the skin
cause skin causer,
Nuclear plants throw their waste into the the environment continuously
Few of them I would like to metion are stontium 90,Iodine 127,131.IS?
cocium 137 etc.These nuclear plant wastes are known as Radiactive nucliaes
They are nuclear fission products.
Iodine IJl enter the thyrriiia aim cause Hyperthyroidism.
Srtontiuhi 90 competes with the calcium enters the bonemutrow causing
leukaemia.These particles dntaxxtn deposit on the land, plants and in
water ana enter the body of cows, through grass and water and through x
milk enter the human boay.As infants and childern are the heavy consumers
of milk they suffer most.
Back ground Radiation; Radiation that occurs naturally in soil and water
and cosmetic radiation from outer spave are known as background radiation.
Foruns consrened with nuclear energy therefore argue that the nucleat giants
are not the only source of ionising radiation and that the natural radiation
is much more than the radiation emitted by the plants.out they forget
really ot intentionally that the nature has its own mechanism to nutrilise
these effects of pollution in the form of heat, dust dirt and radiation.
That is why the universe exists in healthy form when it is left undisturbed.
But when the pollutionincroases boyound the nutrilising capasity of the
nature it gets stored and waffect the health of the plants,animals and
man.
One more fact well known to our scientists, but on which they
are mum, I woula like to mentionhBxs. hrer is the quantity of background
radiationis increasing bee use of man made pollution, through various x
developmental procedures anti througn increasing number of nuclear plants
and bomb testing.Health dangers can not be avoided when pollutionlevel
goes beyound 5^ of bacicferound radiation.Best example of this sort is fan
found in our own country, i.o. in Kerala.Here the background radiation
is unusually high due to man made pollution and ruthless distraction of
forstd for money making,for growing rubber planttion and in the name of
green revolution.A 1975 study indicates the marked increase in the genetic
damage leading to increased number
*
in mental retardation and mongolism.
(Downs Syndrone).
Observations of Health Effects of Ionising Radiation by Various Scientists;
* DRXSH®B0XI«MIX»K4
*BR.SADO ICHIKAWA
-93-
Obsorvntions of Health effeotg of Ionising Radiation by Various scientists:.1
* UR.SAPG ICHIKAWA:.Japanese Radiologist,
There have boon constant reduction over the years in the amount
on ionising radiation considered'Safe♦’, a 1‘tolerance level’’, below
which there was thought to be no damage.The theory oh which it was decided
was that if you could not see any damage rightaway, there was no danger.
In 1950 s to I960 s this dose was 25 rems. The observations were made only
on experiment; ! animals and in few hamun bodies exposed to more than 25 reci
of radiavion. The truth was that enough an-’ cleanevidence was not available
at that time cosornlng the effects of smaller doses of radiation.
(sadao Xchiwawa, ‘’The spider wart strategy'' fro ma «■ 12 page report 1977.P«2)
* ALBERT SCHWEITZER: «hen heard that experts had determined permissible
doses said '' Who permitted them to permit 1’’.
* uRS« GOFHAW aNo TAMPLIN: All the evidences both from experimental animals
and“f’roTSaiw, lead us to expect that even the smallest quantities of x
ionising radiation produce harm both to this generation of humans and future
generations. Further more, it appears that progressively greater harm acrues
in ditect proportion to the amount of radiation received by the various
body tissues dnrtorgans,(«ofman and Taplin op.cit.pp 92-93).
* CONFEr<EnCE OF CaKCLR RE&EAKCHaRS IN USA , 197-6-1
We are now facing a cancer epidemic. Today one american
in four will get some form of cancer in their life time. 90 7> of present
cancers are indused by chemicals added to our environment through food
additiers, insecticides,and artificial fertilizers,industrials chemicals
like yCIi.s and>epono,dyes and of course by radiation created by the nuclear
power programmes and by fall outs still in circulation from above ground
weapon s testing. Cignrnttc smo xn;; is linked to the increasing as well.
(Nature 249.1? lay 19•'» ,p 2l^r’lV'/^ *
*
ford University:
-
prize winner and professor of genetics at Stand
The present radiation standards in forco now allow a 1O
increase in tho mutation rate. A 1 $ increase should be inaxinun allowed
for radiation and chemicals combined.(Gofman and Tamplin.op. cit,pp.76-77)
* Thc atomij: ener/^r C ouijas 3 ion ron.rt, .1968, (USA):
——a——1 on Gsnetic effects of
Radiation:
A 10
in crease in mutation rate, whatever it might bA bs
mean in personal suffering and public expense is not likely to threaten
the human race with extinction or even serious degradation..... is
bearable if we can convince ourselves that tho alternative of abandoning
radiation technologyaitogether altogether will cause still greater suffefing. If the number of those affected is increased there would conio a cruc
ial point, ot theohhold, where the slack could no longer bo taken up
( by those not affooted).The genetic load might increase to tho point where
the pspecies as a whole would degenerate and fade towards extinctiona sort of 'ratial radiationslcJcness • •
ho are not near this theshhold now, however and can therefore
as a species, absorb a moderate incroase in mutation rate without danger
of extinction.(The genetic ef f. cts of radiation,U .S.AEC ,1’lv. of technology
informationSent.1963pp.44- 5.Reprinted in ECO Stockholm conference Atomic
Reactor safty hearing, Washington !>.C.21 August 1972 Frionds of the Earth)
In twenty years i.e. from 1968 to 1988 the chemical pollution
and the nuclear plants in different countries have increased to a great
extent. So tho amount ofradiation also has increased to a throating love’.
India can not isolate itself ffon the world.The radiation in one corner
of the world will surely affect thc other corner. Churndbil is thc best
example,
From the above statement o<ff the ARC. USA,and the behavior
of AEC, India, ( now AEB), one can immagin how inhuman approch
the atomic forums have towrds the radiation effects on human race.
* Observation of survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings,
RasiieiKxisiandsfxs^ people treated with radiation therapy,
Pasific islanders who were contaminated during 1950 sweapons test
ing,animal experiments, and uranium miners.:
i.
There is no safe dose of radiation,There is no proven threshold
below which biological damage does not occur.
ii.
Radiation causes cancer.leukaemia,and genetiedamage which is
some times seen as birth defects or chonic disease bitt can
go undetected for one or more generations.
iii.
Radiation can also cause heart disease.sterility.premature
a-ing, premturo bitths and miscarraiges.(RosalieJHertel 1
xidiay exposure and premature aging in jounal of surgical onc
ology,?,:) 79-3 91,1977)
td-Tfco#ifSl^'lrP^fa€ionuicidQft and violence amo"
person- exposed
Ihere are some 200 diseases caused by genetic mutation,
diseases like systic fibrosis and dwarfism.
*
Helen Caldicott- PaediatTitian and spcialist in systic fibr
oses and genetic diseases describestho biological prope ties of rdioactive waste and says if a gene which contols the rate of cell div
ision is altered by radiation, the cell may divide in an uncontrolled
fasion to produce cancer and leukaemia, it may take 15 to 20 years
before cancer appeal’s after the cell is exposed to radiation.
if the gene in sperm or in e;.g is altered by rac:ia&iSAi4 active par—
ticlethe young ;j.iy be born either with an inherated disease or the
baby may appear normal but will transmit the damaged gone to th
future generations to become manifest in latex’ years" (Caldicoto • cit
* Pr» John Gofman; We are suffering now fromweapen testing fall out
These tests have put so munh plcutonium in the lungs of residents
of th.; noth homisherc that 116, 00 people in the United state and
about one million people ini th> entire nothernhomispher ■ have been
co .it d to plutonium induced lung cancer.(John Gofman Estimate;
productionof human lung cancers bt plutonium from wo Is wide fall
out’JCo mi-tee for nuclear responsibility report 1975- .summary of
conclusion, 10 July 1975.)
* Environmental protection Keataiitax Agency 1974tThe
st. important
route of contamination of edible herbage-because of l~hg half life
of Iodine 129, plant uptake of this radio nstnldda nuclide from the
soil should also be considered..
LOW LEVEL RADIATION; This has been neglected by the nuclear forms
fixing a safe dose" dose.We have now realised that the minimum dose
also can cause the same effects as big dose afte a litter longer
period..
Several scientists have cocentrated an themselves an
with the effects on any living creature human, animal or plant,
at very low levels of exposure, similar to amounts that the people
living no. t nuclear plants arc exposed to.
* Dr.Alice stewat of oxford University-;Stydy done in 1958;
Those mo the s who had been exposed to (radiation
Xarayin the first trimester ran tvzl.ee the risk o’ having their chldren develop leuk emia before the age of ten as these who were not.
(«• Stewart J.Eebb and D.Hewitt','A survey of childho d Malignancies
inBritish medical journal,1;1495, 1958» Refered Ernest J.Sternglass
"Radioactivity " in Environmental r.s che. istri. J .0 .M Bokris.ed I
Newyork plenum press 1977) P.4 4.
* Dr Earnest Sernglass ;iMB pione- ring study r pesonts the first
quantitative evidence that total doses comparable to those receivev
nin one year can produce serious health e
effects.... (I bid,p49‘i
to #//?
4 w i Knealq, :
* i wo follow up studies by a Stewart and G.W.Kneale 8 Were done with iasge
wi th large number < i' children who wer<T’exposed to radiation(X-RAy e )
in utero,BMacMah n,"Prenatal XKay exposure and child Rood cancer".in
Journel of National Cancer nstitute, 28, lll?3,1962, ) This study was
bases on hospital records of about 80<-,000 children born in Newyork and
Now England.A followup study of Dr. 8towart was based on 10 million
childern born in England ana Wales between 19'13 and 1965. The conclusion
was (’Radiationdose effects in relation to obstetric X-Rays and childhood
cancers (i-ancetl IS 1115,1970) that the children exposed to radiation
in prenatal condition have twice the risk of having cancer development
and leukaemia below the age of ton.
*The first official survay report requested by the Canadian Minister
for health for province of Alberta in 19.60 on the effects of low level
radiation:A comparison of birth defects in Alberta in 1959 and 1962 sh
showed a rise of almost 78 £ in two years! The increase was largely at-.
tributed to Soviet bomb testing near the Arie cirle in 1958 followed b
heavy rain fall in i960 and I96I which brought the fall out to ground.
( L.T.Jevann"ccngenital abnormalities in children horn in Alberta during
1961" in Canadian Medical
Association journel 80s 120,1963.)
* Dr Earnest Stern .lass, Professor of radiation physics of "nive rsity
of Pittsburg- His study proved - The infant mortality which hadtdecrea
sed in US. during 1930 s and 1940 s due to better medical care, began
to rise in 1950s due to bomb testing fallouts. In 196- the rate declined
after the tests stoped only to rise once more. The rise of infant mort
ality was observed in tho vicinity of nuclear plan ts, Tho plants were
releasing low level radiation enought to cause a statistic.?,.! increase
in the infant deaths(''-^ow level rudiarion" book published in 1971)
Earnest sternggiilasst Found excessive infant mo tality fate after 1970
li.e.after the establishment of Millstone I nuclear plant ( Haddam ^eck,
Connecticut),in both Rhode island ( close to plant to east) and in Con ecticut as conparod to New Hanis ire.
* Earnest Sterngiass: 1975j"Thc increase in cancer deaths"
Over all cancer deaths rates in connectcut wore highest
in three towns within 30 miles of Millstone I pl ,nt. He presented his p
paper on "Strontium 90 1 vels in the milk and diet near Conne tout
near nuclear planr.sdraft of report to congressman D.J.DUDl) on Conne
cticut, 27, October 1977» Table of cancer mortality rates in Connecticut
and New England
afore and after start up of the Millstone nuclear plant
in waterford,ct. Connecticut health department Registration reports U,S>f
Monthly vital statistics report)
*Spldcrwart Strctagy; Sadao Ichikawa; A radiation gonotist , deprt. of a
agriculture , kuptax Kyoto, university n Japan and Motoyuki Nagata
biology teacher;
Researcher on the real dangers of nuclear radiation to
the unsuspecting public- His spider wart strategy proved mutation due
to nuclear plant radiation, Expcrimentsa were carried in 1974-1975 at
the Bamaok.?. nuclear power plant of the Chubu Elect ic power company i
in Hamaoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, a plant whith two G.E boiling water
reacters. One reactor wad of 540 magga watts capacity , th other was
still under construction at tho encl of 197‘ .
* Other researchers carried out si.milair experiments around six more
Japnanes nuclei >1 nt. They demonstrated the extent of genetic damage
from biological constration of low levels of radoattion in living plat
tissue. The increases in pink mutation(from blue to pink) detector in
the spider wart sternen hairs corresponded to that indusea with at least
300 milli rams(Ibid)
* United State Pose vation 8 X-Rftys kill between 1800 and 14,vu'.‘a
American every year and cause 600 to 1 ,00o serious illnesses and dis
abilities.
* ATaft Sanitory Cngenering centre of Public He a 1th Serv ice inCincin.-itto
Estimate
* A Taft Sanitory Engenoring centre of Public Health Setvice in Cincinn tti estimate:
_______________________
Americans receive 89.oO > of their daily intake of the<sr
Strontium 90 fron the food they e.-t. 50.5
fron dairy products and 39.1
from other foods such as wfoeet and vegifables( Prevention magazine Oct
1970 pp 126-7)•
* Linda Cjark-Ilealth writer: Low level radiation seemr. to remove basic
minerals from the body, causing mineral deficiencies that give a variety
of symptoms like constant fatigue, head aches, numbness to bands and feet,
and loss of appetite.
WORKERS COMTAMIMATIGN IM USA :kHga
Legally allowed radiation:
lyOriilli reins
General public receives
500 ,,
,,
Workers receive
5000 ,,
,
This study compilation of radiation exposures to workers in the
nuclear industry pi' pared by citizen activist GErtrude Dixon of Wisconsin
shows that higher levels of exposures have taken pl.ee.
* Xrvin Dross: has challenged the corruntly permitted radiation levels
for workers on the bases of his reseanrch that shows significant genetic
damage at exposures near lrad(
mill! rads).
* H.W.Ibser: Professor of physics at the University of California asks
"Would nuclear industry workers be avoided as marriage partners as the
Hibakusha have been in Japan?. A nucleat worker over 27 years of age is
legally allowed to accumulate the 50,000 mill rens that would double th
genetic risks to his or her progeny.
* Report by Robert Gillette in science magazin <6ct,19?-»- abou t t vans ient
workers--- job that often expose the temporary tvorker to a full quarterly
or yearly dose of radiation in less than a diy, - some times less than
an hour.-ARC had long condoned the use of untrained transient works, s
in potentially hazardous radiation jobs, as long as they receive some
instruction in salty procedure and close supervision.(Science 11 oct 1974)
Inspite of this at Indian point I the reactor.owned by conso
lidated Edison bewyor. city Electric utility Company more th n 1,500
transient workers who receive upto 15 rotas pc hour ev.n afte»' using lead
shielding.
-S records oii health histories of transient workers has never
been kept. Nuclear industries claim "No harm".
FULL TIME WORKERS STUDY - 1975data on workers ar Oak Ridge, Tennessee,
Savnnha river, South Carolina and Hanford, Washington-plutonium conta
mination in 30 workers ( autopsies) , the cancer was detect e- in 11 out
of 30, was twice the rate generally found araoung white males.(David Bur
nham cp cit)
*The Mancuso study; June 19'65, Dr Thomas F Mancuso, the principal resea
rcher in major project to determine the biological effects,if any, of
low level ionising radiation among workers employed in Atomic facilities.
The study examined the death ce tificates of $£$x 3,520 workers
who died between 1944 and 1932, The project has shown that very small
amount of ionising radiation amounts at and below a proved levels s£ for
workers have caused cancers in workers at the Hanford, Washington plants
and nuclear facilities.
The study shows that there is a definate relationship between
low level ionising radiation and development of cancer, Data fron H nford
study ska;; have shown that sensitivity to the cancer is more in the age
group of 25 to 45 years. Bone marrow cancers are more than other neoplasms
arid cancers of the pancreas an. lung more than solid tumores.{Ibid p.4.)
* facility
<-npH1tv mortaxi
mortality
assocAt the Hanford, nucleat
Y rate duely
person's
iated with radiation is 6 to 7 ^.The dose requred to doubt
noi’mal chances of contracting cancer is less than half of the legal dose
allowed for nuclear workers.( Letter to environmentalists and consoned citizens from Bob Alvarez, environmental policy centre, 317 Penn in
Ave S.D. Washington D.C. 20003,22 nov.1977)
Sam Milhatn of the Washington state health department review of a
occupational causes of death in t e State}
Finding:
<.
Too much cunver in Hanford workers.6Willium Hines" Cancer risk
in nuclear plants nil government hushes up alaxmiing study," Chikago Sun
Times" 19 nov,1977«
*
Dr. Edward Radford:? Chairman of the national academy of Sciences
advosory commette.. on t: e biological offeetd of sda radiation are
ten times too high and can lead to a 100 % greater chances over 40
years period (Washington post, 10 i'ebruaru 1977 A
* Pr Thomas Najarian * In december 1977 "There may be as many as 20,000
people who worked radiation during those years. All I can do is open
the door and get some one interested in starting the study".
He became aware of the ship yard exposre question when he treated a
retire nuclear welder who had worked with three other nuclear welders
on the Nautilus in Akron,Ohio, 20 years ago. Hid patient had develops,
hairy cell leukaemia and other three died at an early age.( Ibid)
* A former sholdier claimed for compensation for $is leukaemia from his
presence at a 1957 Neveder bomb test,. This has lead to a study by the
National Cancer Control in Atlanta of other veterns present at the tests
It was estimated that about 3 lakhs people were exposed to radiation
at bomb test sides.
* Pr Jeanne Stellmaja Presidential asst for health and safty of the oil,
chemical and atomic workers union Said- I am very greatly conserned
about the health and safty of our workers, unfortunately the area of
atomic health, is more political than scientific. we have been fighting
a losing bettlte to obtain compensation for exposed workers, who have
developed leukaemia or other forms of cancers--- . The effects on our ;
member are devasting. ( from a letter by Dr.Jeanne Stellinan ,Phd, to
Dr. Gerald Drake, 1st March 197^+ quoted in Dixon's paper op cit p. 15)
* From time
Oct jlst 19'86 :
CHarles Zinser, 38, rented a vegetable guarden neat the
nucliar plant in Cincinnatti, suburb of South green hills, some ten
miles east of department of energy's Fernaid nuclear waepen's plant.
He often took his two young sons to garden during his work . Two years
later both were found to have cancer. Samuel then 8 had leukaemia and
louis, 2 had part of a leg amputated.
Tests of his garden soil showed it was contaminated with
enriched uraniu 235. Add the doctor who tested his soAS amputated leg
told him, it contained ten times more uranium than would be expected
to acculate naturally over a life time.
* Ohio's Senator; John Glenn sommed up the situation with iwonic clarity
"We are poisoning our people in the name of"National Security".
* Steve RitchieA highschool teacher in Idaho falls, who is conserned
about waste piling up at the INEL site mignt affect near by residence.
" I don't think they are ever going to br honoest".
*Brofessor Nickel Blaiy Boise state university: Studied the health
-8-
impact of the Idaho Repository on residents of Clark county near the
site contents thatssnazrcancor deaths and br. ast malignancies there
have fun about twice the normal rate.
* A newly arrosed DOE( Department of Energy) bureaucracy struggle with
massive task of trying to clean up improperly stored radio active wastes
from 40 years of bomb making. Mo solution is in sight for a demonstrably
safe permanant disposal system that will last for the ecuired Millenniums.
At just two facilities Hanford and Savannah river nearly 100 million
galon of highly radiactiven waste have been generated.
♦Idaho governex- Cecil Andrus
a former secretory of the interior say,
" If ysst we can't resolve what we are going to do with the waste then
we have no business generating it.”
* Documents sefured in the past three years by a spokane environmental
group under the Freedom of Information act revealed that between 1944
and 1956 a sixnfc&ng startling 530,000 Curies, a measure of emitted
radioactivity of iodine were released int the air by the facility an amount greater than any ever recorded At a United State nuclear p
plant. In 1053 and 1954 a larege quantity of radioactive material was
emitted, depositing particle near the ranching town of Mase about 15
miles from Hamfors boundry.
The revelations loft local residents badly shaken. Some
refered to on stretch near hamford as " death Mile", where thay
claim to have counted an unusually high number of nanstrx cancer deaths.
Other point to this " down winder" neck scars as evidence of thyroid
operations that they blew on radioactive iodine releasedfs from the
weapen plants. Robert Perks, a farmer near Mesa, his wife and three
of daugher, all take medicine for under active thyroid glands.
" They did 'nt tell us the things thatn wore going on ", Parkes comi
plains " They were istiinjcxii: letting it all fall on us. They used
us as guinae pigs". (Time, Oct.1988).
Torn Bailie, born in 194? is strile and has lung disease,
his father had srugery for cancer of colon when he was 39.His mother
had skin cancer. His two sisters had partial colectomy due to cancer.
They stay near Hanford nuclear plant•
The federal centres for disease control in Atlanta plan
to study the effect of radiation on individuals staying near wanford
plant.In preliminary estimate COG researchers suggsted that about
20,000 children in easten Washington may have been exposed ton
unhealthy levels of radioactive iodine by drinking milk from cows
gracing in contaminated grasslands, Other scientists are already at
tempting to determine the actual doses of radiation rfeieved by
the residents, that may take 5 years and cost upto si 10 tnilliom.
RECHARD SHANK, clink direcotr of Ohio's environmental
protection agency estimates that the Fernaid operation has realised
205,000 lbs waste into the air, since the plant started , and delib
erately it has released 167,000 lbs waste into the Great Maiuii River
over 37 yearAdditional 12.7 million lbs waste have been dumped into
pits,which may leak into underground water.
The DOE has admitted that the government is fully
aware of all these facts and is inactive and ipurt on this vital
problem.lt is also innert to tje suits in the supreme court.
Ohio Governer Richard Celeste charges" The United State
is thr biggest polluter in kill 4 Ohio and probebly in the Nation'.'
The the umbrella of thr government the Richard Heckert
chairman of DU point says of his company's operation of plant"
"No body was ever injured or kiled".
-
O
-
Charles Zinsers correcly says that "If you have a government
that is not accoutable to its citizens, then you do not have a republic".
Now my question is"Do we have Republic in our Nation ?"
Development in our country is being- concentrated on big cities and
on big industries, under which normal life of 80 ‘s of the the people
living in villages As on normal resources is being disturbed arid
distroyed totally.Do the planners ever experience the burning sun,the
draught and the hunger created in the name of science and development,
through immoral attacks on the nature?Have they ever given a thought
to the fact they in the name of "creating job oportunity " are making
crores of hands unemployed to which the nature has given self employment?"
Do they realise that any living creature can survive in nature and H not
on nation. Have they ever studied the Rural national economy, ocoloy and
plant, animal and human life chain ?. They are well versed only with
Nuclear Chain, and are blind towards the hazards. Our Government is
concerned only in making our country Capitalists Country and least botherd
about the safty and happiness of the people.
My question is how honest our GoVermont and Scientists are?. What
education have given to the people of India about Nuclear energy?. Despite
all the above facte in the world Dr. Rajaramanna says " It is the cleanest
saftest and cheapest energy source " and our honourable prime Minister
Shri Rajiv Gandhi says that there can never be an accidnt like Churchy!
in India, because over technology is far superior! . And we are
purchasing nuclenr plants from USSR and that too of Churnobyl model,
to establish in Kaija which is within 50kms of Supa dam where there
is big fracture in earth prove that it is a siesme region.
^Jjarera-Plant—is 54mils avay from the active Moradabad(/W&ich trigger
®<f 1956 EartVigjf’ftJh was established inspite of the Vengurlekar
Committee’s report that Nar ora.’unsutablo and dangerous site for nuclear
plant as this 'in seisi;nc
In our country people have rights to die but norights to
question the Atomic energy.
Facts like leak in the coolant tube
in Tarapur nuclear plant is an "incidence" and not laceident!
to our Scientists because "Road accidents and Air accidents are much
more and kill the persons immediatly•
Where as nuclaar ’incidences’
do not do so !.
We understand that there are nearly JOO such
accidents have happened in India, but not even one is being reported
to the people. Do our Scientists feel that people of India are
fit only to understand about a. bicycle accident and a fire to a
hut? or they are afraid of peoples wisdom xvhich might raise the voice
againste their Claverness? The DAN keeps no records of the
exposed radiation either of the workers permanent and transient
or of the people around the plants.
On October 2Jre 1984 the heavy water plant at RAPS Kota
was again shut down after leakage of Hydrogen Sulphide
resulting in the death of an engineer and injured throe workers
(Indian Express December 2 1984). Today almost all the nuclear
plants in India are nonfunctioning duo to repeated katnch technogloal
faults in plants continuous repair process is going on leading
to serious radiation leaks and accidents.
Still, the chief executive
of DAE’s heavy water project(N. Srinivasan) claixas "The highest
safty standards being maintained". Yes due to Atomic act DAS is in
highest safty and people of India are in highest danger..
The maximum benifit of DAE projects go to two establishments
TATA and Larsen and Tuberos.
L&T in 1978 had a turn over to tne
tune of 140 crores!. The growth rate of L & T over one decade
(1967-68 and 1976-77) was 400to 600 percent.
Where as the
though our
growth rate of people of India is not more than 3
Government claims it to be 6$.
—10—
Our Government Policy in to Punish the Scientists who try
to x educate the people by exposing the •Secrets
*
of Atomic Enargy•
One of such example is that of Dr, Dhirendra Sharma, on Associate
Froffessor at centre for studies in Science Policies (CSSp) for
ten years the University went on giving funds and. facilities to
doctor Dhirendra Sharma conducting research. Hie participation in
'cminars in India and abroad were sponsored. His credentials
were never questioned. His articles rocivod great appriciatien
But when his book 'India’s Nuclear Estate' enmeout all his
facilities were wlthdrown and he was transfured to the school of
lanauuses for away from Nuclear Science! • because thio book
was fir-t eye oponor to the people about the •National Secret( of A
of Atomic Energy.
It is regrotable that the Scientists occupying the top
poositions in DAE & AEG have been alienied from tho working
scientists within and without BARC ft tho DAE facilities ’A BARCOA
memorandum to the Kuppuswaray Committee (1979) has asserted that
the top scientists cannot bo totally free from tho blemishes
whica have led to miserable state of offairs ut the DAE for those top
ranking scientists who were expected to provide necessary leadership
have succumbed to "The lure of administrative power and position"
in the name of secrecy they asked for freedom of nepotism corroiption
and arbitrariness. Instead of providing inspiration fo the
working scientific ComwAnity, the top Scientific administrators have
acted without necessary public policy perspection. (The Indian
Atom Power and proliferation Editor. Dr. Dhirendra Sharma).
BARC, A!.C, DAE end now -VBB are all political rather than
scientific establishments.
That is why the National and
International voice of honest medical scientists and
nuclear scicntis biologists, Ecologists, Environmentalists, econo
mists and other scientists have been supressed under the power and
polities.
TH.
Answers the coiwnon man’s question,■' ^hy inspite of thous
ands of clear evidence of health dangers, enviromiontal dangers and
tno national ooonomlAe dangers the guvenmont of Indina is insisting
on establishing the A a tomAc plants.
Wow the right time for the government of India, and state
goveninents has come to realise that they can now play any mare
ti'icks to blind-fold the people of this Democratic country and.
lead the nation to distraction in the name of development. Let
them realise that this country belongs to the peoixle .ams The pwerholders in the government are the representatives and not the
masters of th© people .Let them SBSflsxsEKasuui remember that India is
a republic country. Our GOVERNMENT IS OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE,
AND FOB. THE PEOPLE.Let the peoples’ honest and sincere voice get
tho regards and the Domocraot suvlvo in our country.
> ! ! »
Documentation & Dissemination Centre for Disarmament Information \V21, Railway Parallel Read, Nehru Nasar, BAMTICRE 560 020
AGREEMENT ON THE PROHIBITION OF ATTACK AGAINST NUCLEAR
INSTALLATIONS AND FACILITIES BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC
OF INDIA AND THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN
The Government of the Republic of India
and the Government of the Islamic Republic
of Pakistan, hereinafter referred to as the Con
tracting Parties,
Reaffirming their commitment to durable
peace and the development of friendly and
harmonious bilateral relations;
Conscious of the role of confidence building
measures in promoting such bilateral relations
based on mutual trust and goodwill;
Have agreed as follows :
any other installations with fresh or irradiated
nuclear fuel and materials in any form and
establishments storing significant quantities of
radio-active materials.
Article II
Each Contracting Party shall inform the
other on 1st January of each calendar year of
the latitude and longitude of its nuclear instal
lations and facilities and whenever there is any
change.
Article I
Article III
1. Each party shall refrain from undertaking,
encouraging or participating in, directly or
indirectly, any action aimed at causing the
destruction of, or damage to, any nuclear
installation or facility in the other country.
2. The term “nuclear installation or facility"
includes nuclear power and research reactors,
fuel fabrication, uranium enrichment, isotopes
separation and reprocessing facilities as well as
This Agreement is subject to ratification. It
shall come into force with effect from the date
on which the Instruments of Ratification are
exchanged.
Done at Islamabad on this Thirty-First day
of December 1988, in two copies each in
Hindi, Urdu and English, the English Text
being authentic in case of any difference
or dispute of interpretation.
(K..P.S. Menon)
Foreign Secretary
For 1116 Government of the
Republic of India
(Humayun Khan)
Foreign Secretary
For the Government of the Islamic
Republic of Pakistan
Dear Friends
Greetings.
The Instruments of Ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition
of
attack against Nuclear installations and facilities, is to be signed
shortly.
This Treaty, however does not prohibit any covert nuclear weapons
programme, nor does it allow for the inspection of each others'
nuclear facilities-areas of mutual suspicion.
We must assess this Treaty in relation to the United Nation's Non
proliferation Treaty (Fourth and last review Conference scheduled
for 20 Aug.-14 Sept. 1990), which has not been signed by both
countries-thereby enabling them to keep their nuclear weapons option open.
May we request you to welcome the Ratification, but express our
concerns at the shortcomings of this Treaty-which may continue
to hinder true normalisation of. relations between India and Pakistan.
Address your letters to Shri V.P. Singh, the Prime Minister, Shri
K.
I.
Gujral the Minister of External Affairs (South Block, New
Delhi 110 Oil) and Prof. M.G.K. Menon, Minister of State for Science
and Technology and Atomic Energy (Anusandhan Bhavan, Rafi Marg,
New Delhi 110 001). Also write to the High Commissioner of Pakistan
to India (Shantipath, Chanakayapuri, New Delhi 110 021).
Kindly make
copies of this letter and send to other concerned
friends and to your local press.
Let's__hsar_from you as to what action you have taken.
With warm regards
Bangalore
16th January 1990
Yours sincerely
HEMACHANDRA BASAPPA
Documentation & Dissemination Centre lor Disarmament Information
PRESS RELEASE
21, Railway Parallel Road,
Nehru Nagar,
D=.ar F rie n d s
Warm New Y ear
G r e e tin g s ^ P le a s e w r ite to th e P rim e M in is te r an d E x te rn a l A f f a ir s
M in is te r (S o u th B lo ck , New D e lh i 110 O il) y o u r c o n c e rn s an d v ie w s. L et u s know w hat
a c tio n you ta k e . T h an k s.
UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL CONFERENCE
CONFIDENCE BUILDINS
ON
Bangalore-560 020,
INDIA
Phone : 364689
We are encouraged at the rapid and immediate steps taken by the National Front
Government to improve and normalise our relations with our neighbours. This is
evident with the quick visits of the Foreign Ministers of Nepal and Sri Lanka ,
followed by the King of Bhutan and the special envoy of the Pakistani
Prime Minister, to the Capital. To be followed by the visit of the Foreign
Minister Shri I.K. Gujral to the Maldives.
We hope that these talks will have established a permanent rapport based on
true friendship, peace and cooperation in South Asia. The opportunity to
express their determination, should be at the forthcoming United Nations
Regional Conference on Confidence Building Measures, at Kathmandu, Nepal.
The aspirations and hopes of the peoples of South Asia have been dashed from
time to time by short-sighted politicians. The peoples of South Asia who share
a coirmon heritage and background have been kept apart for too long.
To express their true concern to their peoples, the Kathmandu, U.N. Conference
on Confidence Building Measures, should be the platform where they re-dedicate
themselves to the objectives to the Charter of the SAARC:
" to promote the welfare of the peoples of SOUTH ASIA and to improve their
quality of life,
to promote and strengthen collective self reliance among the countries
of SOUTH ASIA."
We call on the Government of India, being the largest in the Region and who
besides has the fourth largest army in the world to:
1.
An immediate moratorium
including nuclear.
on
all
new
Defence Industries/Weapons
systems,
2.
To immediately freeze and gradually reduce the military budget
3.
To work towards removing travel restrictions to enable the people of South
Asia to move freely (SAARC Declaration of Bangalore)
4.
To encourage the formation of Peoples Forums
5.
To resolve all outstanding bilateral issues without the use or threat to
use arms.
6.
To strive to propose connion SAARC statements in future international
Forums like the United Nations, Non-aligned Summits and at the
Commonwealth Meetings.
We also call on the Government of Pakistan to take similar steps. The visit of
the Prime Minister of Pakistan to India as Chairperson of SAARC should
usher in a new era of friendship and cooperation.
10 January, 1990
Bangalore.
HEMACHANDRA BASAPPA
COCRDINATCR
Documentation & Dissemination Centre tor Disarmament Information
21, Railway Parallel Read, Nehru Nagar, BAbGALCRE 560 020
AGREEMENT ON THE PROHIBITION OF ATTACK AGAINST NUCLEAR
INSTALLATIONS AND FACILITIES BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC
OF INDIA AND THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN
The Government of the Republic of India
and the Government of the Islamic Republic
of Pakistan, hereinafter referred to as the Con
tracting Parties,
Reaffirming their commitment to durable
peace and the development of friendly and
harmonious bilateral relations;
Conscious of the role of confidence building
measures in promoting such bilateral relations
based on mutual trust and-goodwill;
Have agreed as follows :
any other installations with fresh or irradiated
nuclear fuel and materials in any form and
establishments storing significant quantities of
radio-active materials.
Article II
Each Contracting Party shall inform the •
other on 1st January of each calendar year of
the latitude and longitude of its nuclear instal
lations and facilities and whenever there is any
change.
Article I
Article III
1. Each party shall refrain from undertaking,
encouraging or participating in, directly or
indirectly, any action aimed at causing the
destruction of, or damage to, any nuclear
installation or facility in the other country.
2. The term “nuclear installation or facility’’
includes nuclear power and research reactors,
feel fabrication, uranium enrichment, isotopes
separation and reprocessing facilities as well as
This Agreement is subject to ratification. It
shall come into force with effect from the date
on which the Instruments of Ratification are
exchanged.
Done at Islamabad on this Thirty-First day
of December 1988, in two copies each in
Hindi, Urdu and English, the English Text
being authentic in case of any difference
or dispute of interpretation.
(K..P.S. Menon)
Foreign Secretary
For the Government of the
Republic of India
(Humayun Khan)
Foreign Secretary
For the Government of the Islamic
Republic of Pakistan
Dear Friends
Greetings.
The Instruments of Ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition
of
attack against Nuclear installations and facilities, is to be signed
shortly.
This Treaty, however does not prohibit any covert nuclear weapons
programme, nor does it allow for the inspection of each others'
nuclear facilities-areas of mutual suspicion.
We must assess this Treaty in relation to the United Nation's Non
proliferation Treaty (Fourth and last review Conference scheduled
for 20 Aug.-14 Sept. 1990), which has not been signed by both
countries-thereby enabling them to keep their nuclear weapons option open.
May we request you to welcome the Ratification, but express our
concerns at the shortcomings of this Treaty-which may continue
to hinder true normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan.
Address your letters to Shri V.P. Singh, the Prime Minister, Shri
K.
I.
Gujral the Minister of External Affairs (South Block, New
Delhi 110 Oil) and Prof. M.G.K. Menon, Minister of State for Science
and Technology and Atomic Energy (Anusandhan Bhavan, Rafi Marg,
New Delhi 110 001). Also write to the High Commissioner of Pakistan
to India (Shantipath, Chanakayapuri, New Delhi 110 021).
Kindly make
copies of this letter and send to other concerned
friends and to your local press.
Let's-hear, from you as to what action you have taken.
With verm regards
Bangalore
16th January 1990
Yours sincerely
HEMACHANDRA BASAPPA
Documentation & Dissemination Centre lor Disarmament Information
PRESS RELEASE
21, Railway Parallel Road.
Nehru Nagar,
UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL CONFERENCE
CONFIDENCE BUILDING
ON
Bangalore-560 020,
INDIA.
Phone : 364689
We are encouraged at the rapid and immediate steps taken by the National Front
Government to improve and normalise our relations with our neighbours. This is
evident with the quick visits of the Foreign Ministers of Nepal and Sri Lanka ,
followed by the King of Bhutan and the special envoy of- the Pakistani
Prime Minister, to the Capital. To be followed by the visit of the Foreign
Minister Shri I.K. Gujral to the Maldives.
We hope that these talks will have established a permanent rapport based on
true friendship, peace and cooperation in South Asia. The opportunity to
express their determination, should be at the forthcoming United Nations
Regional Conference on Confidence Building Measures, at Kathmandu, Nepal.
The aspirations and hopes of the peoples of South Asia have been dashed from
time to time by short-sighted politicians. The peoples of South Asia who share
a coninon heritage and background have been kept apart for too long.
To express their true concern to their peoples, the Kathmandu, U.N. Conference
on Confidence Building Measures, should be the platform where they re-dedicate
themselves to the objectives to the Charter of the SAARC:
" to promote the welfare of the peoples of SOUTH ASIA and to improve their
quality of life,
to promote and strengthen collective self reliance among the countries
Of SOUTH ASIA."
We call on the Government of India, being the largest in the Region and who
besides has the fourth largest army in the world to:
all
new
Defence
Industries/Weapons systems,
1.
An immediate moratorium
including nuclear.
2.
To immediately freeze and gradually reduce the military budget
3.
To work towards removing travel restrictions to enable the people of South
Asia to move freely (SAARC Declaration of Bangalore)
on
4.
To encourage the formation of Peoples Forums
5.
To resolve all outstanding bilateral issues without the use or threat to
use arms.
6.
To strive to propose conmon SAARC statements in future international
Forums like the United Nations, Non-aligned Summits and at the
Commonwealth Meetings.
We also call on the Government of Pakistan to take similar steps. The visit of
the Prime Minister of Pakistan to India as Chairperson of SAARC should
usher in a new era of friendship and cooperation.
10 January, 1990
Bangalore.
HEMACHANDRA BASAPPA
COCRDINATCR
\l-AO
corteS
WiStssrf^a ^j^ddjsd
ANU-SHAKTI : HATTU KARALA MUKHAGALU, HATTU
VAKRA SATYAGALU (Ten dark aspects of nuclear energy).
Kannada. By NAGESH HEGDE.
Jointly published by Anushakti-Virodhi-Nagarika-Shakti
(AVINASHA: Citizens Against Nuclear Energy), Bangalore,
Mannu Rakshana Koota ('Save Soil' Fourm,) Bangalore, and
Samaja Parivartana Samudaya, Dharwad-580 001 (India)
Pages: 23 1987
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and
nuclear power..
Introduction
Nuclear energy has been used to generate
electricity for the last thirty years, yet no long
term method for the disposal of its waste has
been found. Every year the amount in storage
increases. By the end of the century there will
be the equivalent of 2,500 averaged sized
houses, or about 600,000 cubic metres of
radioactive waste. At the same time there are
plans to build more nuclear power stations
which will in turn produce more waste.
Radioactive waste comes in many forms.
Some wastes lose their potential to cause
cancers and genetic defects in a few years;
others are lethal for thousands of years.
The Sellafield reprocessing plant (formerly
Windscale) produces 69% of all low-level
wastes and 40% of intermediate-level wastes.
Types of Waste
Nuclear waste can be classified according to
how radioactive it is. There are essentially
three types: low, intermediate, and high level.
Intermediate level waste is also divided into
waste which loses its radioactivity over a
relatively short period (between several
decades and a century), and waste which
contains longer-lived radioactive elements
such as plutonium, which must be
permanently isolated from the environment.
Nuclear Waste Transport
radioactive
leaks..
Low Level Waste includes dilute gases and
liquids which may be discharged directly into
the environment; solid wastes such as paper,
plastics, and building materials which may be
buried in shallow trenches on land or dumped
at sea; and some very dilute industrial nuclear
wastes which may be disposed of with
ordinary refuse.
Intermediate short-lived waste is soli^and
semi-solid items such as glove boxes, i^kss
cabinets, sludges, resins and other
contaminated pieces of equipment. In the past
some of this waste was dumped at sea, but the
majority of it is stored on the nuclear power
station sites, or at Sellafield.
Intermediate long-lived waste is mainly
spent fuel cladding - a by-product of fuel
reprocessing and it is stored at Sellafield.
High level waste comes from the nuclear
power stations’ spent fuel. The waste will
either be intact spent fuel rods or liquid
wastes resulting from reprocessing the fuel.
High level waste is intensely radioactive and
generates large quantities of heat, and has to
be continually cooled.
Sellafield
Sources of Nuclear Waste
Nuclear power produced 80% of Britain’s
radioactive waste. From the mining of the
uranium fuel to the reprocessing of used fuel
rods, considerable amounts of nuclear wastes
are produced at all stages. Other, smaller
sources include the nuclear weapons
programme, medical, research and inc^ffrial
uses of radioactive materials.
Mining uranium, the fuel for nuclear power
stations, produces huge amounts of solid and
liquid waste. For every 1,000 tonnes of
uranium fuel 100,000 tonnes of radioactive
solid waste (known as tailings) and 3,500,000
litres of liquid waste are produced. The
radioactivity, carried by wind and water, can
contaminate the environment and increase the
local rate of cancers. For example, an
investigation carried out by the U.S.
dumping...
Sellafield Reprocessing Plant - formerly Windscale
Government estimated that the rate of lung
ca^er within 1.5km of a pile of tailings is
li^B to increase by 14%.
Uranium is mined all over the world.
Although Britain has some low-grade uranium
in the Orkneys, there are no plans at present
to mine it.
In Britain the uranium is processed and
manufactured into fuel. This produces some
low level solid waste. The nuclear power
stations themselves routinely produce small
discharges of both liquid and gaseous wastes,
as well as both low and intermediate solid
wastes.
After 2 or 3 years in the power station, the
fuel is removed and eventually transported to
Sellafield for what is known as reprocessing.
In this process two elements, uranium and
plutonium, are separated out from the large
number of waste products.
Much of the waste from reprocessing fuel is
highly radioactive and is the most dangerous
of all nuclear waste. This waste must be
isolated from the environment for extremely
long periods and in the early years it generates
so much heat that it must be continuously
cooled.
Reprocessing also produces gaseous and
liquid wastes. These are discharged directly
into the air and the Irish Sea,
All reprocessing of spent fuel is carried out at
Sellafield, which is one of only two
commercial reprocessing plants in the world.
The original purpose of reprocessing was to
produce plutonium for Britain’s nuclear
weapons. In theory, the plutonium from
nuclear power stations is kept separate from
military plutonium, and is stored or used for
research and development of a new type of
nuclear reactor - the fast breeder reactor.
At present, only the nuclear fuel from
Britain’s first generation of power stations,
the Magnox reactors, can be reprocessed. In
1973, 35 Sellafield workers were accidentally
contaminated during reprocessing of fuel
from Britain’s Advanced Gas Cooled
Reactors (AGR), permanently halting
reprocessing of this type of fuel. A new plant
is being constructed to process AGR fuel (the
Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant, or
THORP). This plant was the subject of the
1977 Windscale Public Inquiry. The stateowned reprocessing company, British Nuclear
Fuels Ltd, insisted at the time that THORP
was urgently needed, but construction only
began in 1984.
The high-level waste from reprocessing is in
the form of an acid solution which is kept in
specially designed storage tanks. Removal of
the heat is necessary for a few hundred years;
failure to do so would cause the solution to
boil dry and the radioactive materials to
disperse.
There are plans to incorporate the high level
waste into a specially made glass (a process
called vitrification) which would then be
stored for 50 years or so before it is finally
disposed of. In the past there have been
various ‘science fiction’ suggestions for its
disposal, such as sending it into outer space,
and burying it under the Antarctic ice. Today
there are serious proposals to bury it in
suitable rocks, under the sea bed and on the
sea bed. In 1981, the Government had to
disposal...
abandon test drilling on land due to public
opposition. There is likely to be equally strong
international opposition to the other two
proposals.
To date, an estimated '/i of a tonne of
plutonium has been discharged through the
pipeline into the Irish Sea. It was thought that
this plutonium ends up safely on the
sediments on the sea bed, but more recmt
evidence is pointing to significant amt^Bs
being transported back to land. In 1983"
Sellafield became the centre of the media’s
attention when a Yorkshire TV documentary
showed a higher than normal occurrence of
leukaemia amongst local children. A
subsequent inquiry, chaired by Professor
Black, found no clear link between these
cancers and the radioactive emissions from
Sellafield. However, no other cause has been
suggested. It has, therefore, been neither
definitely proved nor disproved that
Sellafield’s pollution is causing these
leukaemias.
In the same year, the beaches near to
Sellafield had to be closed for ten weeks due
to contamination following an accidental
release of higher level waste into the sea which
was subsequently washed ashore. This
accident is just one of about 300 that have
occurred at Sellafield, although not all have
involved radioactivity.
Nuclear Power - Produces 80% of Nuclear Waste
pollution..
health
Sea Dumping
Solutions
Since 1949 Britain has disposed of low and
intermediate level nuclear wastes in the sea. In
the last annual dump, in 1982, nearly three
thousand tonnes were disposed of in this way,
at a site about 500 miles from the northwest
coast of Spain.
disposal of nuclear waste is controlled
nternational agreement, the London
Dumping Convention. Early in 1983 a two
year ban, later to be extended, was agreed,
while scientific investigations were
undertaken. Initially, the 1983 annual British
dump was to go ahead using a new, specially
designed ship. However, action taken by a
number of trade unions prevented it, and
subsequently the Government announced its
intention to abide by the decision of the
London Dumping Convention. The Trade
Union Congress now has a ban on all
dumping of nuclear waste at sea.
In recent years it has been increasingly
recognised that the world’s seas are an
invaluable resource, to be shared by all
nations. It is likely that in the future there will
be continued international opposition,
especially from those countries without
nuclear power, to the use of international
waters for the disposal of radioactive waste.
At home, opposition is growing to a new
proposal that intermediate-level radioactive
wa^ie dumped at sea close to the Orkneys.
Nuclear waste is potentially very dangerous,
and not surprisingly, no-one wants it disposed
of close to their home. The problem of where
to put it will become increasingly serious as
greater volumes are created, especially if more
nuclear power stations are built.
Something must be done with the waste
already created, and further research is
urgently needed to find the safest place to put
it. Experience with leakage of radiation from
Drigg suggests that even low-level waste needs
to be isolated well away from people and
potential drinking water supplies.
Whatever is decided for the final disposal
of radioactive waste, reducing the volume of
waste generated will undoubtedly do a great
deal to reduce the problem. Reprocessing
spent fuel increases the volume of nuclear
waste produced over 150 times. A realistic
alternative to reprocessing is the dry-storage
of intact spent fuel rods for 50-100 years on
the nuclear power station sites. Essentially this
means storing the rods under gas - carbon
dioxide or air - instead of under water which
corrodes the fuel rods, and is therefore only
suitable for a limited time period. Dry-storage
would allow time for research into the best
means for its final disposal.
As reprocessing is an expensive option the
uranium recovered has a very low market
value and there is ample plutonium for the
B
Radioactive Waste Disposal at Sea
Land Disposal
At present, low-level waste is disposed of in a
Volume of spent nuclear fuel before and after
reprocessing.
shallow trench at Drigg, a few miles south of
Sellafield. There are no long-term disposal
sites for intermediate level wastes, only
temporary storage sites, until a long term
solution is found for their disposal.
Since 1982, NIREX (Nuclear Industry
Radioactive Waste Executive) has been
responsible for the disposal of low and
intermediate level radioactive waste. The
following year two sites were announced:
Billingham, in Teeside (for intermediate, longlived, wastes) and Elstow, near Bedford (for
short-lived intermediate and low level waste).
Early in 1985 the Government announced that
the Billingham site was no longer being
considered. A combination of public and
trade union pressure had forced the
withdrawal of the proposal. Five new sites are
now under investigation.
Nuclear waste dumps pose a number of
potential hazards to the public. The
radioactivity may leak from the site and find
its way into rivers and reservoirs used for
drinking water. Half the commercial waste
dumps in the United States have been closed
down due to contamination spreading outside
the site. Even if the radioactivity is safely
contained under normal conditions, the site
may be disturbed by infrequent events such as
earthquakes. These occasionally occur in
Britain. There is also the possibility that, some
time in the future, people either deliberately
or accidentally may interfere with a nuclear
waste site. A dump containing long-lived
radioactivity will have to be isolated for
thousands of years.
sellafield...
fast breeder reactor research and development
programme for at least 30 years. There are no
good reasons to continue reprocessing. There
are very good reasons to stop.
Further Reading:
Radioactive Waste: The Gravediggers
Dilemma, Renee Chudleigh & William a
Cannell, Friends of the Earth, 1984, £4^P'
Nuclear Power, Walter Patterson, Pelican
Books, 1983, £2.95.
Radioactive Waste Management Advisory
Committee Annual Reports, HMSO,
1980-1984, £3.00
What You Can Do
• Join your local Friends of the Earth group
(address from 377 City Road, London EC1V
INA), and help organise exhibitions, publicity
and fundraising events to inform the public of
the dangers of radioactive waste and the need
to protect the environment.
• Encourage your school, college or local
library to mount an exhibition based on this
information sheet.
• Ask your local newspaper to print an
article about nuclear waste.
• Send a donation to Friends of the Earth
Trust to help us in our work to protect the
environment.
Friends of the Earth Trust Ltd
377 City Road, London EC1V INA
Telephone 01 837 0731
Local Group Contact:
Design: Outhouse Graphics. Printed by Robendene on 100% recycled paper. Photos: Martin Bond, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth. Registered Charity No. 281681
ISAHEAVYBIBRDEM
TO LAYOHOUR CHILD
SEN AND THEIR CHILDREN
AIIB THEIR CHILDREN'S CHILD
REN AND THBR CHILDREN S CHILD-
REN S CHILDREN AND THEIR CHILDREN S
CHILDREN'S CHILDREN 5 CHILDREN AND THEIR
THE DARKER SIDE OF
NUCLEAR POWER
THE
DARKER
SIDE OF
NUCLEAR
POWER
Hullo there I We are anti-nuclear activists.
“Nice meeting you. I appreciate your concern for humanity. The
madness of this arms race has brought the entire human race
close to extinction...”
Just a minute please. We are, of course, against the arms build up. But in
India we are
*also
concerned about the so called peaceful uses.
“You mean you are against atomic power stations also ?”
Yes indeed. And so should you be.
“You must be crazy! This is like throwing the baby away with the
j'bath water. Atomic energy is a perfect example of what good
science can do for us. Our scientists have tamed the destructive
power of the atom and harnessed it for our development. We
should all be proud of their achievements.”
We are afraid reality is far more complex than simplistic Ideas of good
science vs. evil. Our nuclear power programme has been a colossal failure
and should be wound up immediately.
“I thinkyou are totally wrong. We should, in fact, build more and
more atomic power stations to augment our sources of electricity.
This is one field in science and technology where we are on par
with the developed nations.”
There are hundreds of reactors all over the developed world which have
been abandoned at different stages of construction. The most illustrious
among them is the Shoreham reactor near New York. This was abandoned
after being completely built at a cost of $5.1 billion (nearly Rs 10,000 crores).
Finally it has been sold to the State of New York for a sum of $1 I
D“You must be exaggerating. Probably there are ten reactors built
for every one that has been given up.”
Most of the developed nations have said a final goodbye to nuclear power
long ago. United States has stopped building nuclear plants since 1975.
Canada has stopped it in 1978. During the 80's many European nations have
either curtailed or altogether abandoned their nuclear projects. In countries
like Sweden, Austria and Yugoslavia public referendums have been held and
the people have voted against nuclear power.
“This is surprising. Were any reasons given for the rejection?
Don’t they need electricity ?”
Of course they do. But they do not want it to come from nuclear plants.
There is a whole range of reasons from radiation hazards, poor performance,
cost overruns, lack of safety assurances to unsolved technological
problems. All over the world nuclear power has been one massive environ
mental disaster.
“But our own scientists say that atomic power plants are a boon
to the environment. They are very clean compared to thermal
power plants because...”
Shall we tell you the rest? A super thermal power plant burns several
thousand tons of coal everyday to produce carbon dioxide, acid rain and
greenhouse effects, hydro electric projects submerge thousands of hec
tares of natural forests and displace people. In contrast, nuclear powei
plants occupy very little space, can be set up anywhere, consume small
quantities of fuel and do not generate any pollutants.
“Yes. That is exactly what they say. Are you telling me that it is
all a bunch of lies ?”
As a rule, our nucleocrats never tell obvious lies. Instead, they make
excellent use of half truths and disinformation. Nuclear power plants pollute
the environment by releasing radioactivty. You must remember that this is
abiological form of pollution and should not be compared with the chemical
pollutants produced by other plants. Radiation is invisible, but it can pollute
our lives with effects far more devastating than any chemical pollutant.
“I have heard of radiation. Is it not present naturally all around
us?”
That is a good example of the disinformation used by our nucleocrats to
mislead people. Technically speaking, radiation is a burst of electromagnetic
energy emitted by unstable atoms in the process of disintegration. Tte.
background radiation present around us is quite different in nature am’
effect. It cannot be compared with the radioactivity released by nuclear
power plants.
Nuclear plants spread their pollution by releasing radioactive substances,
or the radionuclides, into air, water and soil. These enter the natural food
chain and tend to concentrate in the human body. Most of the radionuclides
are chemically similar to the normal elements that the human body requires.
So the body 'accepts' them and tries to assimilate them. Once inside, these
atoms can disintegrate and damage the neaby cells. Many radioactive gases
are also released, which are ultimately inhaled by human beings. In addition,
nuclear power plants also emit radiation continuously all round them. This
radiation can directly attack human beings and cause damage.
The Great Indian Nuclear Scene
“But our scientists have always assured us that radiation
released by them is negligibly small.”
It may be small but certainly not negligible. For half a century nucleocrats
have perpetuated the myth that low level radiation is quite harmless. They
always talk of the high radiation doses sufficient to kill a person and then
claim that the radiation from their plants is a small fraction of the fatal dose.
“Isn’t that safe ?”
One fact that has been established beyond doubt is that there is no ‘safe'
threshold below which radiation can be considered truly harmless. Every
atom has the potential to kill. Very few studies have been conducted on the
long term effects of low level radiation on large population, which is the crux
of the radiation problem. Low level radiation, high level cover up - that is the
nuclear industry practice everywhere.
^“Even in India ?”
In India we have just one group of individuals who decide everything about
radioactivity. They decide what is the ‘permitted’ level of radiation, decide
how much should be released, release it, decide how to measure it, do the
actual measurements, interpret the results and finally blow their own trum
pets in public. People like us who have to absorb this radioactivity and
expose ourselves to risk have no say in the matter.
“But they are our own scientists. Do we have any reason to
disbelieve them ?”
Perhaps we should tell you the story of Hamaoka reactor in Japan. The
authorities there claimed that the radiation released by the plant was only 5
miilirem. This is the same figure given by our nuclear authorities too and
appears quite low compared to the so called natural background level of
about 100 millirem. However, Professor Ichikawa, a radiation geneticist from
Kyoto University conducted a biological experiment to verify the claim. He
planted a species of flower called Spiderwort which is sensitive to radiation.
When its genes are affected by radiation, the colour of its stamen changes
from blue to red. Thousands of Spiderwort saplings were planted all round
the reactor and their mutations studied. From the actual number of geneti
cally damaged flowers, the effective biological radiation absorbed by the
saplings was calculated. It turned out to be 300 millirem, about 60 times the
claimed figure. The experiment has been repeated around other reactors
with similar results.
w
“I feel somewhat uncomfortable about this. Is there no way of
knowing how much radiation is being released by our reactors
?”
in 1962, our Parliament has passed the Atomic Energy Act that forbids the
citizens from acquiring any knowledge whatever related to nuclear activities.
The Atomic Energy Commission works under the direct control of the Prime
Minister and is answerable to none, including the Parliament. All documents
relating to nuclear activities, such as the Site Selection Report, Environmen
tal Impact Assessment, Safety Analysis, Emergency Evacuation Plan are
kept away from public view as if they contain military secrets. Our
nucleocrats work behind a thick shroud of secrecy. Considering their
miserable performance so far, they probably need it.
“What doyou mean ‘miserable’ ? Are we not producing electricity
from our reactors ?”
The average plant load factor for all our reactors put together is a mere 43%..
Almost all our reactors suffer from generic problems like faulty fuel rods, futf>
bundle misalignments, rupturing end-shields, bursting pipes and massive
leaks of heavy water etc. Reactors are shut down dozens of times during
the year or, for a change, for years together. The MAPS-II reactor has
established a record of sorts, with 125 outages in the first three years of
operation. Even the 'conventional' components like turbine generators are
more prone to failure in our nuclear power plants.
Instead of improving over the years, more and more reactors are becoming
terminally ill. Of the seven reactors commissioned so far one each in
Tarapur and Rajasthan have been virtually written off. Another one near
Madras is expected to follow them soon.
“This performance is indeed poor.
But there must be some explanation
for it.”
The reason implied by our nucleocrats is
that greater emphasis has been laid on
safety and lower radiation at the cost of
power generation. But the radiation doses
from our reactors to the public are also
quite high, nearly six times more com
pared to Canadian reactors of similar
design. In case of Tarapur, they are twelve
times higher, justifying the dubious distinc
tion of being the world's ‘dirtiest’ reactors.
Radiation in any quantity extracts its price. Independent studies by re
searchers have uncovered massive radiation damage around all our nuclear
installations, whether it is Jaduguda in Bihar, Alwaye in Kerala, Rawatbhata
in Rajasthan or Cherlapally in Andhra.
“What kind of damage ?”
Widespread incidences of cancer, leukemia, thyroid disorders, sterility,
infertility, distorted children with genetic deformities-the list is quite long
and rather technical. Not only humans but animals and plants are also
susceptible to damage by radiation. This is a matter of great concern in Kaiga
where the reactor complex isbeing set up in the midst of a tropical rainforest.
Infants, children, pregnant women and elderly persons, whose immunity
systems are naturally weak are the most vulnerable to damage by radiation.
Researchers working outside the nuclear establishment elsewhere in the
world have shown definite links between radiation and bizarre diseases like
herpes, septicemia, Lyme disease, Epstein Barr Virus and of course, AIDS.
All these are diseases related to immune deficiency and can be traced to
^increased nuclear activities.
“But if the radiation is so dangerous, why is it released at all?
Can’t they neutralise it or make it harmless by some process ?”
That, unfonunately is impossible even in theory We must repeat that
radiation is a different form of pollution and radioactive wastes cannot be
compared with any other kind of industrial waste. This is a fact fully exploited
oy our nucleocrats who insist on comparing the two dissimilar materials to
their own advantage. If you have a bottle of radioactive milk, no matter how
much you pasteurise or boil it, it will never become fit for human consump
tion. The only solution is to bury it deep underground in a concrete.container
and hope for the best. Every year our reactors generate some of the
deadliest wastes ever created by man. We, our children, grandchildren,
great-great- great grandchildren ... all have to learn to live with them. It is a
burden that mankind has to carry for thousands of years."
“Why thousands of years ? What kind of burden are you talking
about ?”
The spent fuel from nuclear reactors is one of the most dangerous wastes
ever known. It remains extremely radioactive for several thousands of years.
Those wastes containing plutonium are active for nearly 2,00,000 years that is 8,000 generations to come. During this entire period they must be
guarded in a safe repository isolated from human environment. The spent
fuel has to be stored in huge containers of steel and concrete and buried
deep in geologically stable locations. The containers themselves have to be
changed every few hundred years. For over two hundred thousand year
the waste site must be continuously monitored for radiation hazards. It is
one of the major unsolved problems of nuclear tecnhology.
“What are pur scientists doing to overcome this problem ?”
To put it bluntly, nothing. They do not even acknowledge that spent fuel is
a serious problem. Instead, they continue to misguide the people by making
irrelevant comparisons between nuclear wastes and other industrial wastes.
Nuclear waste may be very low in volume, yet there is no place on our earth
for storing it. Should we not feel guilty about creating something so
dangerous that we have no control over it ? What justification can we offer
for imposing'a burden on the coming thousands of generations ? Our
nuclear scientists are totally unconcerned with the ethics of the issue and
pretend that there is no such thing as a nuclear waste problem.
Not only the spent fuel, but the spent reactor is also a major problem. It is
not easy to get rid of an atomic power station once its useful life is over.
During its working, a typical reactor accumulates so much radioactivity that
it cannot be left alone. Brick by brick it must be dismantled and buried deep
in the ground. This decommissioning operation can take nearly a centurv
and is an immediate burden on our next four generations. It is one of the
main hidden costs of a nuclear power programme.
“It seems to me that a lot is hidden in nuclear power. But what
do you mean by the ‘hidden’ costs ?”
There is much more to a nuclear power programme than the reactor. The
reactor with its massive dome is only the visible part, like the tip of the
proverbial iceberg. Technologists talk of the Uranium Fuel Cycle. This)
involves mining, milling, processing the ore and fuel fabrication before it is
loaded into the reactor. Separate plants have been set up for these pur
poses. And each one them releases its own radioactivity into the enviroh-
merit causing massive contamination. We also need additional plants for
producing heavy water for our CANDU reactors. All these are in the front
end of the programme.
The back end begins with decommissioning of the reactor. Apart from the
spent fuel every reactor produces several thousand tons of low to medium
level radioactive wastes that have to be stored for periods ranging from a
few years to thousands of years. Then comes the cost ui managing the spent
fuel lor 2,00,000 years.
“But what is the final cost of nuclear electricity at the encl of this
fuel cycle ?”
{ffVio one knows. What kind of cost estimation can be done for a project that
has to-run for thousands of years ? All nuclear activities in our country are
indirectly but heavily subsidised by the government. Our scientists have
made no plans for decommissioning and waste management operations,
so their cost is not accoumed for. In spite of all this, the nucleocrats hav •>
gone to great lengths in manipulating their accounts, just to prove that
nuclear electricity is only marginally cheaper than thermal power.
Once upon a time in the U.S., nuclear scientists had assured the people that
their electricity would be “too cheap to meter". Today, escalating cost is one
of the main reasons for abandoning nuclear projects. Last year electric
power generation was privatised in Britain. But the private industry there
refused to operate any of the nuclear plants. The reason ? Atomic energy is
viable only as a government enterprise - where you have unlimited public
money to squander.
“Well, not all that unlimited. Government accounts are subject
to audit”
It is only from 1988 that the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has
,f>begun to audit the accounts of AEC. This has resulted in the exposure of
■^gross mismanagement, cost overruns and delays that charecterise all our
nuclear projects. For example, the reactors at Kalpakkam have been com
missioned 8 years behind schedule at a cost of Rs 245 crores against the
budgeted Rs 132 crore. The Narora plant is also 8 years behind schedule
and has a 100% cost overrun. But all these costs, whether hidden or
displayed, are valid only if the reactors complete their life without any major
accidents. The impact of an exploding reactor can crush the economy of a
nation as the Soviets have discovered in Chernobyl.
“Why is so much fuss being made about Chernobyl ? After all it
took place in some remote corner of Russia and only 37 people
have died in the accident...”
Whereas more people die everyday in road accidents I Nuclear scientists
have gone out of their way to disseminate disinformation about Chernobyl.
They would like us to believe the myths that Chernobyl was a 'freak, it cannot
happen anywhere else, the reactor there was of poor design and did not
have adequate containment, the operators were too careless and ‘only’ 37
people have died in the accident and so on. The real number of Chernobyl
victims will never be known, though the estimates vary from a hundred
thousand to a million. Many of these victims are not even born today.
“I don’t understand at all. Why such discrepancy in casualty
estimates ? How can an accident claim victims who are not yet
born ?”
That is the bizarre reality of nuclear accidents. It has been said that a nuclea Vi
accident anywhere is a nuclear accident everywhere. When the Chernobyl
reactor exploded, it spewed out tons of deadly fission products into the air.
In the next few days, wherevr it rained in Europe, it poured radionuclides.
Large areas in Poland, Sweden, Hungary, Germany and France are now
contaminated with the Chernobyl fallout. Immediately after the disaster,
thousands of tons of foodgrains, fruits, vegetables and animal produce had
to be destroyed because of the high radioactivity. Even Ireland, 3000 km
away from the disaster was so contaminated that thousands of animals had
to be killed and buried deep underground.
But the long lived radionuclides have already got into the food chain through
soil and water and there is precious little that can be done about it. Because
of the increased contamination it is expected that the incidences of cancer,
genetic distortions, sterility etc., will rise during the coming decades. But no
one is able to predict with any precision the ultimate loss in human terms.
Friends of Earth,.UK, have estimated an extra 1,50,000 deaths in the next
two generations. And these are the casualty figures outside USSR. No one
knows the extent of contamination inside that country. Five years after the
disaster, the authorities there are still discovering new townships that have
to be evacuated because of excessive radiation.
“This is really terrible. Can a Chernobyl-like accident happen
here ?”
The first reaction of nucleocrats all over the world to Chernobyl was that IT
CANNOT HAPPEN HERE. Dr. Raja Ramanna has gone to the extent of
dismissing it as a ‘curious fire accident’. It is true that in Chernobyl, the
operators violated all the safety norms and the reactor itself was of an
unconventional design. Both these factors have been highlighted by the
nucleocrats ad naseum. Butthe real issue is, how safe is nuclear technology
and what is the credibility of nuclear scientists who claim that it is impossible
for their reactors to explode? In the 70’s, a study sponsored by the US
Together, we can destroy this world
Jio)
Atomic Energy Commission claimed that the possibility of an uncontrolled
accident in a nuclear reactor was one in 17,000 years. Within ten years of
the report two such accidents have already happened.
Of the several types of reactors in the world today, our own CANDU designs
are considered the closest operating cousins of Chernobyl. They suffer from
the Positive Coefficient of Void, a characteristic that played a crucial role in
the Chernobyl disaster. But whether it is CANDU or any other kind of design,
the ultimate safety of the reactor is still a question mark.
“And we all have to live under that question mark ! But tell me,
why are we still at it ? Why is there so much enthusiasm for such
a worthless, costly and disastrous power programme ?”
Unfortunately in our country the nuclear power programme has been linked
to the national pride. With thousands of crores being poured into unviable
nuclear projects, a powerful lobby has been built up to perpetuate the
nuclear myths. But whatever the pretensions, the real and unstated reason
^br nuclear power programmes anywhere in the world is same - it gives a
“veneer of respectability to the nuclear weapons programme.
The spent fuel containing plutonium may be an environmental nightmare,
but it is excellent weapons grade material. All the nations who run nuclear
reactors also have secret fuel reprocessing plants to extract the materials
for the bombs. In our own country such a plant exists at Ratnahalli near
Mysore. Our nuclear scientists refuse even to acknowledge its existence in
public. Many of the facilities set up for the so called peaceful nuclear
programmes are also common to the weapons programme. Nuclear power
and nuclear weapons are two sides of the same coin. One cannot exist
without the other.
“But if we stop all the atomic power projects what alternatives
do we have for power generation ?”
Alternatives or no alternatives, don’t you think that our nuclear power
programme must be wound up on its own demerits ?
“Certainly! But people do need electricity.”
What the majority of the people need in our country is not electricity per se
but basic energy in a usable form. Lakhs of poor women in our villages who
have to trudge several kilometers every day for their fuel will not benefit in
any way from nuclear power. What we need are decentralised and localised
projects which fufil local needs. The Department of Non-conventional Ener
gy Sources in the centre has identified 37 such sources which include solar.
wind and tidal power. Even in elecrticity, a 2% improvement in efficiency '
usage or reduction in losses can make atomic energy unnecessary. What
is lacking is funding for research and implementation. With 85% of the
energy budget going down the nuclear drain, such truly environment friendly
and sustainable approaches to development continue to be ignored.
“How do we change this situation ?”
Nuclear power is anti people. It has to be opposed with people’s power. It
is the common people like you and us who have to raise our voice and
demand a sane energy programme. Non violent agitations to register your
opposition to disastrous nuclear projects will also be required. Can we
expect your active participation in our common efforts to rid this country of
the nuclear menace ?
“Certainly you can. I am willing to do everything possible.”
Think again I Our people have been conditioned for the last forty years into
believing that atomic energy is a matter of national pride. You will find it hard
to convince them merely with facts and sensible arguments. Anti nuclear
activists are branded anything from the misguided to anti-national. Many ok
them have been persecuted for their convictions. Are you really willing te
take up the challenge ?
“I will be betraying my own children and grandchildren iff don’t.
They have a right to a radiation free world. Tell me howto start.”
You can start by distributing copies of this booklet I It is important to educate
our people on the true horrors of nuclear power. Make sure that your MLAs
and MPs also get a copy. Demand that they raise questions in the legislature
and the parliament about our nuclear projects. There are probably ot er
people and organisations already active in your area on these issues, 01
hands with them. Remember it is our common future at stake.
NAVA-publishes for'
Citizens for Alternatives to Nuclear Energy (CANE)
809,17th E Main, 5th Block, Rajajinagar
BANGALORE 560 010
You are welcome to reproduce and translate the contents of this booklet.
Please acknowledge the source and send us a copy to the above address
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3
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§ o' §
S) § 6
1.
The following article from the Science Age
Oct-Nov 1983
(Journal)
A Medical Marvel in the making ?: The body's own naturally
Produce drug might tame several diseases
By P.B. Sehgal & M.V.N. shirodkar
Science Age Vol. 1 No.3 & ® Oct-Nov.
1983 ppl9- 24
The foot maker : A surgeon and craftsman give walking on
two feet" a new meaning
By Ritta Kapur
Science Age Vol. 1 No. 3 & 4 1983 pp 41 - 45
PANORAMA
pp 49 to 53
How serious is the plagu Threat in India : If there ate is
rats can plague be fa behind?
By D M Renapurkar. Science Age Vol. 1 No.3 & 4 Oct-Nov.
1983 pp72-74
How can you cope with dehydration ?
By R K Anand
Science Age Vol. 1 No. 3 & 4 Oct-Nov. 1983 pp80-81
NHEXE8EX8ik8KgyxspE!85tdsxfc0XE!8Fiaiaax2
2.
,j'/
SAKXXXXSEfcBlSHXXiaSSxppfij: 7
SANITY for a Nuclear-free world : CUBA 1962 Third world warning
No.10 October 1987
Aricles
Nuclear allergy sn’'pato vanaqa ? p6-7
Tne other side of the summit^ by Dan smith on.the dangers
opportunities of political change pl3-18
CUBA CRISIS
1962: If you read this, then presumable we
are both alive
by Hana Shelley p26-31
Bradwell bombshell hits nuclear industry by Patrick van den
and Cha les searl’e
32-36
3.
Newsweek December 5,
Bluck
1983 tNuclear war ; can the risk be cut ?
Articles
a.
can we cut the risk ?
b.
Who has the bomb
c.
Walled city beyond the law
pp8-16
- pl7-21
p27-31
d.
Nuclear Power on the Run
.
(Typed material)
COMMUNITY HEALTH CELL
, 47/1, (First Floor)3t. Marks Roa
BANGALORE -560 001
medico
160 circle
161 bulletin
February-March 1990
RADIATION AND HEALTH
Anant R. S. Phadke
( A position-paper, based on the background papers
and discussions of the XVIth * Annual MFC—meet on
Radiation and Health. )
It is customary to give a brief report of the
discussion on the theme of the MFC—annual meet
in the MFC Bulletin. But it was felt that these
reports are too brief, hardly do justice to the
various view points and arguments presented.
Many times the report doesnot convey even the
consensus in a clear manner. It was, therefore,
^decided that this time we change this custom and
"publish a position—paper or consensus paper in
the Bulletin to give a clear idea to the readers about
the consensus (alongwith major differences, if any)
emerged and the basis of such a consensus. In
doing so, the paper should draw liberally from the
background—papers so that those who could not
■ attend and, hence did not get these background
. papers would get some idea about them.
The discussion in this meet was divided into
four broad areas :—
i)
Basics of radiation and health and the exp
erience of nuclear power plants;
ii)
Health—hazards of common radiological
investigations;
iii) Food irradiation;
iv) Other sources of radiation from consume
. products—Electronic Display screens. |t ,
Most of the discussion and background
material was focussed on the, first area; a clear
consensus also emerged and hence this paper will
focus mainly on this aspect. In the second topic
there was a clear, balanced presentation and not
much debate took place after it. It would, therefore,
suffice to reproduce this paper alongwith a few
additional comments based on the discussion at
the annual meet. On food irradiation also, there
was a Ione background paper. The author, A.T. Dudani had not, however come and Surendra Gadekar
made a brief extempore presentation. - There, was a
lively debate and issues raised would be reported at
the end of this background paper. Only a few lines
are in order about the fourth subtopic.- I would end
this introduction by reiterating that this position
paper is not a report of the discussions at the
annual meet. But since there were no sharp differ
ences of opinion, none of the deletions are of major
importance.
; ■
HEALTH
HAZARDS
OF
Radiation :
Radiation is the emission and propagation of
energy through space of tissue in the form of
waves I Sub-atomic particles. Radiation is basi
cally of two types—ionizing and non—ionizing.
Ionizing radiation has enouh energy to knockout
an electron out of its normal orbit around the nucl
eus of an atom. This results into two 'ions', i. eelectrically charged particles — one the negatively
charged electron and the other, the rest of the atom
which now has a net positive.electric charge. When
unstable atoms are split in a nuclear reactor or in
atom bomb, the splitting releases in the form of
heat, blast, and radiation. Radiation is in the form
of Alpha, Gamma rays, X—rays, neutrons. These
cause ionization in surronding area and hence are
called ionizing radiations. Visible light, infrared
*
and ultraviolet rays are non-ionizing radiationsChemicals releasing ionizing radiations are called
radio-active and they have deleterions effects on
health on account of their radio-activity.
Effect of radiation at cellular lelel and on
health :
Release of energy through radio-activity
works through two mechanisms : influx of random
energy and ionizations. Dr. Rosalie Bertell in her
book, 'No Immediate Danger' describes briefly
and lucidly the effect of this energy-transfer on
cells and hence on health.
"The result of cell exposure to these micro
scopic explosions with the resultant sudden influx
of random energy and ionization may be either cell
death or cell alteration. The change or alteration
can be temporary or permanent. It can leave the
cell unable to reproduce ( or replace ) itself. Radi
ation damage can cause the cell to produce a
slightly different hormone or enzyme that was
originally designed to produce, still leaving it able
to reproduce other cells capable of generating this
same altered hormone or enzyme. In time there may
be millions of such altered cells. This latter mecha
nism, called biological magnification, can usually
associate with old age. One very specific mutation
which can occur within the cell is the destruction
of the cell-mechanism for resting which normally
causes it to cease reproductive activities after cell
division. This inability to rest results in a runaway
2
NUCLEAR
POWER
PLANTS
proliferation of cells in one place, which, if not
destroyed, will form a tumour, either benign or
malignant. The abnormal, proliferation of white
blood cells is characteristic of leukaemias; red blood.
cell proliferation results in what is called polycy
themia vera.
■
If the radiation damage occurs in germ cells,
the sperm or ovum, it can cause defective offspring.
The defective offspring will.in turn produce defec
tive sperm or ova, and the genetic 'mistake' will be
passed on to all succeeding generations, reducing
their quality of life until the family line terminates
in sterilisation and 7 or death. A blighted or abnor
mal embrynonic growth can result in what is called
a hydatidiform mole instead of a baby.
Exposure to radiation is also known to re
duce fertility, i. e. women become unable to conc|^
ive or give birth.
Radiation can olso damage an embryo of
foetus while it is developing within the mother's
womb. This is called teratogenic damage, or the
child is said to have a congenital malformation rather
than genetic damage. This means the damage is
not automatically transmitted. For example, a deaf
person, made so by a pre-birth injury may hvae
children with normal hearing..
,
The complex molecules making up living
organisms are composed of long strands of atoms
forming proteins, carbohydrates and fats. They are
held together by chemical bonds involving shared
electrons. If the ionising radiation displaces one
of the electrons in a chemical bond, it can cause
the chain of atoms to break apart splitting the long
molecule into fragments, or changing its sha^hby
elongation. This is an 'ungluing' of the complex
chemical bonds so carefully structured to support.
and perpetuate life. The gradual breakdown of
these molecular bonds destroys the templates used
by the body to make DNA and RNA (the informa
tion — carrying molecules in the cell )' or causes
abnormal cell division. The gradual natural break
down of DNA & RNA is probably the cellular phe
nomenon
associated
with what we know as
'ageing'. It occurs gradually over the' years with
exposure to natural backgrond radiation from the
radioactive substances which have been a part of
the earth for all known ages. There is evidence
that exposure to medical X-rays accelerates this
breakdown process.
There is ample reason to
think that fission products within the body
will cause the same kind of acceleration of ageing.
However, unlike medical X—rays, these radioactive
chemicals damage cells by their chemical toxicity
as well as their radiological properties.
The gradual breakdown of human bio-regula
tory integrity through ionising and breakage of the
DNA & RNA molecules, gradually makes a person
less able to tolerate environmental changes, less
able to recover from diseases or illness, and gener
ally less able to cope physically with habitat varia
tions.
When the DNA of germ plasm is affected
by radiation it can result in chromosomal diseases.
such as trisomy 21. more commonly known as
Down's Syndrome." (1)
" In order to have a quantitative sense of
the frequency of the different cell effects caused by
radiation exposure, imagine a colony of 1000 living
cells exposed to a 1 rad X—ray ( about the dose for
one X—ray spinal examination). There would be
two or three cell deaths, two or three mutations or
irreparable changes in ceil DNA & about 1 lac ioni
sation in the whole colony of cells ranging from 11
to 460 ionisations per cell. While cells can repair
some damage, no one claims that there is perfect
repair even after only one such X—ray." (2)
Radiation and Heredity
" In 1943 Hermann Muller received a Nobel
Prize for his work on the genetic effects of radiation
and was a dominant figure in developing early
radiation exposure recommendations made by the
International Commission on Radiological Protec
tion (ICUP).
" Muller predicted the gradual reduction
of the survival ability of the human species, as sev
eral generations were damaged through exposure
to ionising radiation. This problem of genetic
damage continues to be mentioned in official
radiation-health documents under the heading
" mild mutation " but these matations are not
'counted' as health effects when standards are set
or predictions of health effects of exposure to radia
tions are made. There is a difficulty in distinguish
ing mutations caused artificially by radiation from
nuclear activities from those which occur naturally
from earth or cosmic radiation. A mild mutation
may express itself in humans as an allergy, ashtma,
juvenile diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, high blood
cholesterol level, slight muscular or bone defects, or
other genetic 'mistakes'. (3)
It should be obvious from the above acco
unt that accelerated cancers is only the tip of the
iceberg of health—hazard of radiation. But so far
the debate about radiation—hazards has ’been prim
arily focussed on whethar there has been cancers
or not.
Safe level and Permissible level:
There is in fact, no safe level of of radia
tion. There is always some cellular damage from
any radiation and part of it cannot be repaied. Re
gulatory agencies have therefore set up permissible
levels of radiation for workers in nuclear—industry
and general population. Permissible level is a trade
off between the facilities made possible by nuclearindustry and 'acceptable' level of damage to healthUniformed, helpless citizens give passive consent
to the unnecessary bartering of health for 'progress'
as defined by the powers that be. As scientific kno
wledge of health—hazards of radiation increased
and people's consciousness rose, the permissible
level for workers decreased from 50—70 REM per
year in 1934 to 5 REM per year in 1956 .... (4)
( REM is the measure of radiation absorbed in
human tissue. It may by noted that 5 REM is equi
valent to 170 chest X—rays. ) For the general
people, the permissible' level is one tenth of the
occupational permissible level.
Recently, the
National Research council of the U. S„ the official
research agency in this field, found that the risk of
getting cancer from low levels of radiation appears
to be four times as high as previously estimated.
The permissible level is therefore likely to be reduc
ed from 5 REM to 1—2 REM per year...... (5) Per
missible limits have changed so much that the ■
whole exercise has turned out to be arbitrary and
meaningless.
HEALTH
HAZARDS OF NUCLEAR
FUEL CYCLE
Production of electricity by nuclear power
plants involves a few steps of cycle nature—mining
of uranium ore; its concentration; manufacture of •
fuel-rods; 'burning' of these nuclear-fuel-rods in the
reactor to get heat; treatment and storage of 'spent, .
fuel rods after this burning; disposal of this nuclearwaste or reprocessing of these spent fuel rods to
3
recover adequate concentration of uranium for
reuse; transport of radio-active
material [during
these steps ot the cycle. All these steps together
constitute the Nuclear Fuel Cycle and each step has
its own radiation hazards.
Mining, milling, enrichment:
Uranium mining releases
radio-active
random gas which causes lung cancer. But hardly
any effective protective measures are adopted even
in developed countries.
The mined uranium is broken into smal[
pieces (milling) and this also releases much radon.
The concentration of uranium inthe ores is extre
mely low : 0.07%. This ore is therfeore processed to
increase the concentration of uranium to 3%. This
enriched uranium is then injected into fuel—rods.
Nuclear reactors 'burn' these fuel rods to produce
heat which is used to produce steam to rotate the
turbines. At each of these steps, radio-active ura
nium has to be handled. If there is any laxity in the
necessary precautions, dangerous uranium causes
damage to the workers. This is especially true after
the enrichment of uranium. There are numerous
instances all over the world of this laxity. Potenti
ally the most hazardous of all these steps is the
'burning' of the fuel-rods. This process is the
controlled chain—reaction which produces intense
heat. In case of the major accident or a 'electro
melt down' due to uncontrolled heat, the reactor
can explode and intensely radio-active elements
enter the surrounding area in large proportions.
The Chernobyl accident was not a full blown melt
down, yet lacs of people over hundreds of square
kilometers had to be evacuated and thousands
of tonnes of soil had to be scraped and would have
to be stored separately for hundreds of years till its
radio-activity is exhausted,. The possibility of such
a major accident happening was estimated in 1975
to be in ten thousand reactor-years. With one hun
dred reactors operating then, it meant one accident
in one hundred years. But in reality, the experience
shows that a major accident would occur one in
two thousand reactor-years. There are many minor
accident leaks, giving out radio-activity in small
dosages. It is because of these leaks that higher
rates of blood and other cancers have been found
in clusters, in areas surrounding these plants in
workers employed in them. But the nuclear indu
4
stry has questioned these findings and the debate
is continuing.
Once the fuel is burnt to a specified level,
it is taken out of the reactor and kept in water tanks
to cool down for about 3 to 4 months. After initial
cooling, the spent fuel is reprocessed to separate
unburnt uranium, and a valuable fuel material—plut
onium from fission products. Reprocessing stage
with high degree of remote handling is a chemical
step, and the scale of this remote handling opera
tion is that of a highly
sophisticated chemical
industry. The low level liquid waste from this
industry has to be constantly monitored and acti
vity levels kept under control. The high level liquid
and soild waste is chemically treated, vitrified
( converted in to glass like material ), sealed and
buried at specially designed grave yards, where it will
remain for generations together.
These need
to be kept watch upon for a period of a few hundred
of years, so that the space is not used for any d^kr
purposes. Leakage and seepage in the waste cont
ainments can pose problems any time for future
generations if they fail to take proper precautions
Reprocessing of spent fuel and waste disposal are
the crucial problems faced by the nuclear industry
world over.
Throughout the fuel cycle, transporation
of radioactive material is involved, requiring tremen
dous care, shielding and safety precautions. Any
mishap due to inadequate care can lead to spread
of contamination or avoidable exposure to people.
The limits on personal exposures force the
nuclear managers to employ people on temporory
basis for some specific jobs involving radiation
hazard. Civil workers or workers from forces are used
for risky jobs. These persons remain inexperia^ed
inspite of short training given, if at all. The prdWem
of temporary workers becomes all the more acute
in developing countries, due to compelling unempl
oyment. Fake names, faulty records of doses, and
'otal apathy towards the unskilled temporary work
ers multiply their health problems. These people
being not in the regular service cannot be kept track
of for further check—ups even if it is wished so.
In such circumstances correlation of radiation and
its effects is totally out of question.
The pronuclear lobby has maintained that
the dose of radiation due to tho nuclear power
plants is too small;even less than'natural background
radiation.
Thus in the U. S. the avarage natural
background radiation, is 99 milli REM per years per
person, whereas that due to atmospheric weapons
testing and nuclear industry is 4-5 and 1 milli Rem
per year per person, respectively. (7)
There is a
statistical gimmick in there figures. Whereas every
citizen does receive natural background radiation,
only a miniscule
proportion of the citizens are
employed in the nuclear industry and hence receive
radiation from
this source.
By dividing the
total dose received by all these workers, by total
population of the country (not by number of work
ers employed in the industry ) a misleading averag
ing is done. The fact is that those employed in the
nuclear industry receive a dose far far higher then
natural background radiation. For example, table 1
gives the dose received by different category of
workers.
Table—1 (8)
Radiation received by workers U. S. A., 1975
Sr. No. Occupational
Group
I.
2.
Mean whole body dose
in Milli Rent
Industry
other than power plants
Power reactors
530
760
3.
Fuel fabrication and
reprocessing
560
4.
Nuclear waste
disposal
Uranium mills
Uranium enrichment
700
5.
lb.
60
70
In India, the data a.e scare to come by. In
the absence of crucial information, let us resort to
table—2 which presents the overall view of the
personal dose monitoring services throughout our
country This service covers roughly 94%, 31%,
20% and 20%. of the radiation workers from
DAE, industry, medical and research units. It should
be borne in mind that in the category 'medical', the
patients are not included. The incidences of overexposures in non—DAE are .200 per year.
The
incidences involving exposures more that 10 Rem
are between 25—39 per year. Of these acute over
exposures half the countribution is from the radia
tion workers from medical field. A similar breakup
for DAE workers is not readily available to public.
TABLE-2
(9)
Number of Radiation workers monitored and average dose/
year (in India)
Year
1986
1985
Monitored
Annual Monitored Annual
Persons
Persons
ave.
Ave.
(mRcm)
(rnRem)
DAE.
Industry
Medical
Research
12683
429
12032
456
4898
13480
1803
227
79
22
5255
14292
191
66
26
1992
The above table gives average figures. The
record of some of the plants is extremely bad. For
example, the average dose per employee per year
in the Tarapur plant has increased by 35 times, from
117 m. Rem in 1969 to 4069 m. Rems in 1982Radiation received by Indian workers measured as
human Rems per megawatt, per year has increased
in India from 21.5 m. Rem in 1 969 to 2125 m. rems
in 1980. a level 27% more than that in the U. S.
(10)The exposure to Indian workers is high because
minor leaks due the 'unusual occurance’ are more
common.
Lastly, the problem of Nuclear waste dispo
sal has not been solved at all. There is no foolproof
mechanism yet discovered which will completely
isolate the radio-active waste for thousands of
years. What is more no solution seems to be in
sight.
REFERENCES
1) No Immediate Danger, Rosalie Bartell, the Womens'.
Press, 1985, pp. 27, 29, 30; 2} Rosalie Bartell, op. cit ps
30.37; 3) Rosalie Bartell, op cit p. 43, 44; 4) Radia
tion and Health, Indian Situation, Background paper for
MFC—meet, 1990, p. 5; 5) New York Times, 20-12-89;
6) Radiation and Health — Indian situation, op cit p,6-7;
7) Radiation and Health, op. cit. Table—2 8) Radia
tion and Health, op. cit. Table—7;
9) Radiation and
Health, op. cit. p—II: 10) State of Indian Environment,
Citizens report, 1987 p. 290.
® ®
5
COMMUNiiY ri-ALTH UtLu
47/1 (First HoorfSt. Marks Road
BANGALORE- 5>c0 001
HAZARDS OF COMMON
Il
RADIOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES TO STAFF
AND PATIENTS
Dr. Sham Ashtekar
Thus after an initial threshhold and then steady
rise of dose-severity curve, there is a steep rise
for subsequent dosages till there Is a plateau
of steady rise again. The last segment of
steady rise is accounted for by selective elimi
nation of affected persons due to deaths.
Introduction :
Diagnostic radiographic techniques consti
tute an extremely important tool in the hands of the
physican today all over world. Exposure rates
as 868 exposures per year per thousand population
are prevalent in European countries (1). In deve
loping countries the rate is quite less as compared
to these. However it also constitutes major source
of radiation to mankind only next to N weapons
and Nuclear Energy processors. Precisely there
fore it has to be used with a lot of discretion and
energy since radiation has proved to be a major
determinant of cancers and genetic mutations.
The X—ray Units In India are mainly opera
ted at two levels. The first is the X—ray Units in
hospitals and consultant Radiologists processing a
good number of exposures-even 100 a day-required for a range of diagnostic needs. Such install
ations normally use high output, low time exposure
machines with a resonable safety organisation. The
second level is that of the taluka level nursing
homes / clinics, some urban 'Bazar' X —ray clinics
that operate low output, longer time exposure
machines with poor safety organisation.
The general consensus among experts indi
cates that properly used, the usual diagnostic X-ray
procedures do not cause much harm to the patients/
staff considering the contribution they offer in
patient management. But badly organised units can
harm the population in the long run. This paper
attempts to outline some isssues in this context.
2.
Biologic effects of X-rays :
The biologic effects of X—ray can be summed
up as follows :
i)
ii)
There is no 'tolerance level' for exposure since
even small doses are biologically not 'lost'. As
far as biological effects are concerned there
is no 'adjustment dose' for radiation.
The probability of occurrance of X-ray hazards
shows a linear relationship with exposure. More
the dose proportionately, more shall be the
occjrence of hazardous effects.
iii) There is a [sigmoid relationship between the
exposure dose and the severity of the effects.
iv)
There are some somatic 'certainty effects'like
radiation erythema bone marrow fibrosis, radi
ation ulcers, skin cancers etc. which almost
certainly occur after a latency ^period, provided
the dose is more than 10 and 100 rads for
whole body and partial body irradiation respe
ctively. These show a sigmoid dose-effect
relationship. In the early days of radiodiagnd^p
these were of frequent occurrences because of
poor protection measures. In almost all cases
of such effects, event can be traced back to
some past exposure. These effects are more
severe with time concentrated dose as comp
ared to a time spreaded exposure.
v)
There are some somatic stochastic effects like
organ cancers and leukemias that show a linear
relation as for dose effect. These effects occur
at their respective age profiles, only much more
commonly in the exposed population.
vi)
The genetic effects are always stochastic and
there are two modalities. First the effect is
mostly lethal to gonadal cells so that there
is a lower birth rate in the exposed population.
Second —less frequently there are chromos^^
abnormalities and mutations. Mutations are
recessive that show up in later generations
if the other partner also carries recessive trait.
Such chances increase with accumulation of
abnormal genes in the total genetic pool of the
child bearing ( prospective or current ) age
groups. Older parents carrying such abnormlities do not alter the gene pool. The somatic
expression of these abnormalities can be very
severe and in this sense X—rays are a major
threat to to genetic constitution of the popula
tion if effective gonad protection is not offer
ed. Children/persons below 18 years are 10
times prone to such abnormalities as compared
to the adults. (1)
6
vii)
These biologic risks to patients have tobe
weighed against the possible benefits of radio
diagnosis and those on the staff compared to
level of occupational hazards in other profes
sions to get a balanced picture of the risk
profile.
3.
The dose in Radiodiagnosis .
The dose of the exposure is a function of
many factors. The output of the machine in milli
ampere, the time of exposure, the distance of the
subject from the X—ray tube all decide the dose of
the exposure.
Maximum Permissible Dose ( MPD ) is
defined as : The Permissible dose for an individual
is that dose, accumulated over a long period of time
or resulting from a single exposure, which, in the
lht of the present knowledge, carries a negligible
obability of severe somatic injuries; furthermore
it is such a dose that any effects that ensue more
frequently are of a minor nature that would not be
considered unacceptable by the exposed individual
and by the competent medical authorities (1).
«
It is estimated that in the last two decades
in most countries 75—96% of the exposed staff
did not receive more than one tenth of the MPD.
It is also estimated that in no country the genetic
ally significant dose from this source is more than
1 % of the natural background radiation. However,
the same MPD level can not be accepted for child
ren since children are about 10 times susceptible as
compared to adults. (1)
4.
The variation in risk due to these factors
is quite sizeable as will be evident from the risk
in the appendix.
5.
Gonadal Doee :
Almost every exposure, save dental or
similarly skin close exposures and well limited (col
limated), exposures, result in some irradiation of the
gonads. Appendix II shows the Gonadal dose
grouping and also bone marrow dose grouping (1).
This will underline the need to lead-shield the
gonads whenever possible.
6.
The risk factors, the X-ray machine, design
factors, shielding :
i)
The useful beam size : The X—ray beam direct
ed towards the target I film is known as the
useful (Primary) beam. The useful beamsize
depends upon the design of the X—ray tube
head output and the distance of the subject
from the tube head.' Most often unless optical
devices are used to show the field of the beam
the useful beam irradiates, regions that surround
the target region. This can be avoided 'by
optical devices and adjusting the distance
factor.
ii)
Back radiation / scattered radiation : Radiation
other than the useful beam is known as the
back / scattered radiation. This mainly affects
the staff. Adequate distancing of the operators
control panel, lead apron are all necassary to
avoid the exposure to this radiation it can also
affect the patient and suitable position is nece
ssary to minimise this dose (1).
iii)
Fluroscopy : The machine output In fluroscopy
operation is very low but time factor offsets
this advantage. Moreover, staff doing fluorosco
py is necessarily exposed to the useful beam
in a routine manner. Proper darkroom facility,
The Estimation of Cancer risk.
There can be no generalisation about
cer risk from X—rays. Much depends upon
the dose, the organs receiving X—rays, the age of
the subject, positioning of subjects and some other
factors. When a subject is exposed whole bodyall organs may get irradiation but the risk is not
similar in all the organs. Generally extremities are
not sensitive and so also skin, bones and thyroid.
As for dose, every procedure involves different
dosages. Chest radiographs, extremities and thinner
parts/need much less exposure than abdomen. Thi
ck set individuals need more exposure than thin
ones. An AP chest view harms the bone marrow
much more than a PA view. A 'repeat' doubles the
dose and the risk thereof. Exposure of abdomen
<
in an 18-year subject causes cancers with manyfold frequency as compared to the same procedure
in a 60 year old
subject. An elderly can
take much more dose without cancer risk since
there is relatively shorter survival period for cancers
to develop. Therefore multiple radiographs for
diagnosis of gastric ulcers
*
renal stones, barium
shadows involve much less risk than a single exp
osure in a child. Risk changes to more than 10,000
times from one situation to another situation (2).
7
timer—indicators; spring switch, lead flaps, lead
gloves, proper dark adaptation and good train
ing are all necessary to minimise dose.
iv)
Calculated Vs actual dose exposure : It is poss
ible to calculate individual exposure doses as
per the readings of MA; Kv time in secs. But
actual doses are found to vary between 0.1
to 0.4 times the calculated dose due to equip
ment doctors. This is known to happen even
in best of units (2). The real way of estimat
ing actual exposure dose is to use special inst
ruments like Gigar counters, crystal dosimeters,
ionisation chambers etc. which is usually not
done in India though BARC can help do this
on request. It is estimated that much smaller
doses than are actually delivered are really
necessary for most of the procedures.
v)
Leakages from Tube head : There is no other way
to detect leakages from tube head ( that will
give substantially more radiation than the week
back radiation ) than special detectors like
the Geiger counters. Whenever new installa
tions / changes are made it is mandatory to
check for this with the help of special services.
BARC can help in this.
vi)
Film and screens : Insensitive films / screens
entail a longer exposure of the subject and
staff and also reduce machine life. It is neces
sary to use suitable films/screen to minimise
exposure.
vii)
Design and shielding : X—rays can penetrate
and have to be stopped from affecting surroun
ding people by special design and devices. As
far as design is concerned, adequate spacing is
the first important thing. Since rediation at a
given point is inversely proportional to dist
ance from the source, a unit housed in
a 10 x 10 feet room is more hazardous to out
side people than the same unit housed in a
15x15 feet room. Unfortunately this is a rest
raint in many X—ray clinics. Secondly the
useful beam has to be primarily directed at
exterior wall so that minimum exposure occurs
o the surrounding life. Thus it should not be
directed at the waiting room, wards, street,
passages unless adequately shielded. The
control panel should be outside the X—ra>j
8
room in units operating more than 50 kv mach
ines.- As for shielding, lead and wall thickness
are two principal considerations. For every 50
kv rating of the machine a 0.5mm lead thick
ness is necessary to the useful beam ( eg the
fluroscopy procedures ) Stray radiation can be
taken care of by putting a 0.25 mm lead barrier
( the usual lead aprons) provided the staff is di
stanced at about 10 ft from the source.A 9 inch
brick mortar wall is equivalent to 1mm lead thi
ckness and so is a 6 inch concrete slab. All walls
should be designed to stop the primary radia
tion of the useful beam. Since machine posi
tion, direction of beam, installation etc. can
change subsequently and this should be kept
in mind. Doors/windows should be shielded
with a 1mm lead thickness with adequate over
lap so that radiation does not escape the gapsIt is always better to seek help of radiation
engineers while designing the unit.
viii)
Staff Monitoring for radiation : X—ray
staff and other staff routinely comming in con
tact of X—ray units ( Nurses / ward-servants
etc.) are expossd to radiation.
Unless
proper precautions are taken to restrct
sta'f entry in 'switch-on' time, a great
risk
awaits
the
operating
staff
by way of cancers, leukemias and gonadal
irradiation. Standing behind the X—ray tube.
lead aprons, control panel, adequate distance
are all necessary. The film badge monitoring
is a routine method in upper strata X—ray cli
nics. In the lower category of taluka level
units, bazar clinics and minor units operating in
small nursing homes no such monitoring is
ever done; perhaps with the idea that the dose
involved is low. In this context, the conditions
in the latter category are quite bad since most
of the operators have little knowledge
the
potential
risk of this invisible
menace.
At pressnt there is no working mechanism of
regulating the conditions at such clinics. Alth
ough the total work load is quite small in this
category, the neglect of basic protective factors
understandbly constitutes a very real threat to
both patients end operators.
7.
Conclusion :
X—ray are a great help in patient manage
ment. Generally speaking MPD is not exceeds
both in case of staff and patients since there
is a relative paucity of facilities in developing
countries. As for' the well equipped clinics.
with adequate shielding and care little harm
is done to staff and the risk is acceptable. As
for the lower rung units conditions are apalling; with potential risk for both the patients
and staff and much needs be done [to regu
late these units. Gonadal irradiation must be
avoided in early and middle age group when
ever not necessary. A long perm projection
of [gonadal irradiations to a fair portion of
population (that is going to bear progeny )
indicates accumulation of abnormal elements
in the genetic pool and this can be real cause
of concerns cancer risks in the exposed popu
lations is going to increase but no generali
sation can be possible in this regard. Early
age of exposure, no of exposures, procedures
involving high dose to susceptible organs
are all risk factors to be watched.
( Ctd. Page 14)
1
5
O.
M
O
[w
EE
A BOMBAY journalist and the
Medico Friends Circle, an organisation
wedded to protecting medical ethics,
have dcre well to challenge the legal
validity of the sjand taken by the
Maharashtra Mcdxal Council ( MMC )
that journalists ■ and members of the
public cernct attend inquiries conduc
ted by it against 'doctors. What is more
heartening is that the Bombay high
court has granted permission to the
petitioners to attend a specific inquiry in
which they had evinced interest, even
thcugh the petiticn Fes yet to be admi
tted. It is difficult to understand how
a statutory tody can routinely hold in
camera inquiries in matters relating to
medical ethics, which are of utmost impo
rtance to the people. The act establishing
the MMC grants it powers of a civil court.
which makes it all the more necessary
that the proceedings be open to all except
in extraordinary cases.
( Source : The Times of India, 8 March 90 )
COMMUNITY HEALTH CH L
47/1,(First Floof'iCt. Marks itopd
PAflGALOUE-ESO dQl
FOOD
Ill
IRRADIATION - THE
NEW
TOY ?
A. T. Dudani
Although food irradiation has been in use
in U. S. A. for almost 30 years it has not caught
up largely on account of the now well known,
small but crucial Delaney Amendment in 1958 to
the Food, Drugs and cosmetic Act which described
food irradiation as an "additive" instead of "Pro
cess". This puts the onus of proving safety of
any additives squarely on the manufactures. The
rationale being that irradiation resulted in new
molecules in food that were not present before. To
date some 30 countries have permitted commercial
irradiation of 28 different food items. World-wide
annual capacity of food irradiation is about 4 724
lakh tonnes ■ bulk of which is being used for wheat
( 4 lakh tonnes ) and the balance for spices, fruits
and vegetab'es and seafoods.
Canada has so far sold some 134 Food
Irradiators
world-wide, including 4 to India
largely for use in sterilisation of medical productsHowever in 1979, India exported one Irradiator
to Indonesia. This country is endeavouring to
enter tood irradiation in a big way and some 5
Food Irradiators are at p'esent in the process of
fabrication and installation in addition to 4 already
in operation.
How Irradiation works ?
Whan radiation strikes other material it
transfers energy. At a certain level this radiation
knocks out elections from the atoms of the material
exposed-which in turn breaks the molecular struc
ture of the material yielding ions or free radicalshence the term ionising radiation. The ions being
chemically very active, easily re-combine with sur
rounding material. These give rise to potentially
toxic material products ( URPs for short ). While
many of the URPs are similar to those that occur in
cooking of food, some are unique to irradiation and
have been implicated in causation of cancer. For.
mation of URPs has been found to be relared to
the dose of irradiation used. For example 10 KG.
results in about 306 mg of URPs per kg of food.
Thus, irradiation triggers chemical reactions
cau
sing gross disruption of the DNA in the cells, there
by inhibiting cell growth or division. Whereas USA
permits at present 1 KGy ( equivalent of ten million
chest X-Rays ) in India dose of upto 10 KGy has
been permitted.
Irradiation Process :
This itself is not very complicated. Food
is placed on a conveyer belt which takes it to a
chamber and source of ionising irradiation. Prote
ctive casing is removed enabling rays to go through
the food and its packing.
The dosage as also the amount of expo
sure ranging from several minutes to several hours
is pre-determined.
Radiation doses are expressed in terms of
Grays ( Gy ) or in rads ( radiation absorbed dose );
one Gy equalling 100 rads (1 Kgy equal to 100,000
rads).
Areas of concern :
There are essentially 4 main areas of con
cern regarding widespread use of ionising radiati^^
to sterilise, disinfest or stabilsefood.
Firstly the chemical impact of heavy doses on the
food itself to ensure that mutagenic or carci
nogenic compounds or URPs are not formed.
Secondly Whether the food is rendered safe from.3
poilage microbes and pathogens like botuli
num and that irradiation does mot give rise
to mutants which produce increased amounts
of highly undesirable products such as
aflatoxins.
Thirdly that vitamins and amino acids, minerals are
not destroyed. A new area of concern is the
possible deleterious effect of irradiation on
antioxidants and other additives in foods.
Fourthly that Irradiation plants do not create any
threat either to environment or any unA
occupational health hazards by way of acci
dents, disposal of waste or transport or radi
oactive material.
What is the record ?
There is irrefutable evidence that irradiated
foods suffer a significant loss of vitamins A, B, C
& E and some essential amino acids. Depending
on doses, in apples 70% loss of Vit. C has been
reported, in case of wheat flour, 67% of thiamine
was lost on irradiation and 8 months storage as
against 25% loss in the non-irradiated control. Like
wise in rolled oats the corresponding loss of Vit. E
was 85% and 26% respectively.
10
USDA has reported that thiamine content of
bacon in raw cooked or freeze dried form degraded
at significantly highter rate during cooking if the
bacon had been irradiated.
Some dangers :
Studies have also shown that gamma irra
diation was unable to inhibit botuhnal toxin
production in frankurters if normal salt content was
reduced
Stimulation and rapid division of naturally
occuring aflatoxin-producing moulds has also been
observed in irradiated foods. Aflatoxins are 1 000
times more carcinogenic than the banned pesticide
Ethyl dibromide for which irradiation has been
suggested as a possible substitute. That fact you
cannot see it, taste it, smell it or even test for it,
also poses problems of misuse.
Call for Ban :
It is not therefore surprising that British
Medical Association, and more recently the Euro
pean Parliament has called for a ban on food
irradiation. Several scientists, including 2 Nobel
Laureates, Linus Pauling and George Ward have
also supported a ban on food irradiation specially
in view of results of trials at National institute of
Nutrition (NIN) Hyderabad during 1973-75 which
showed polyploiding in blood, which has been
linked with cancer. Although this work was caught
up in a fierce controversy, recent evidence notably
from Canada, U. K. & Australia supports the results
obtained at NIN. Studies from US and Japan
Radiation Research Foundation, Tokyo also show
that harmful effects of nuclear radiation from Atomic
bomb 42 years ago had been grossly under-estima
ted due to faulty calculations and US reluctance
to provide information.
Moratorium pending safety assurance :
A conference of delegates from 9 AsiaPacific countries co-sponsored by International
Organisation of Consumer Union, Penang which
met at Canberra 9-11 November, 88 has in a Decl
aration urged W.H.O. tore-open the issue and
also called for a world-wide moratorium on further
use and development of food irradiation Juntil vari
ous issues [were sotted out. This is considered
feasible since safe a'ternatives already exist, which
can be further developed. Agency has been
created under the Secretary, Ministry of Health, as
Chairman to deal with all matters relating to irradi
ation or foodstuffs.
It does seem surprising that while this
country faces the imminent prospect [of its irradia
ted food exports being banned in several countries
and boycotted in others, it is going ahead with
building 5 new commercial irradiators ( hopefully
not for exports).
( Background Paper for XVI Annual Meet of MFC )
s a
REPORT OF XVI ANNUAL GENERAL
BODY MEETING OF
MEDICO FRIEND CIRCLE
The XVI annual general body meeting of
Medico Friend Circle held on 29th January 1990 at
Gandhigram Rural Institute, Dindigul Dt.,Tamilnadu.
Aronnd 35 members attended. The jmeeting star
ted at 11.00 A. M. A brief report of the .proceed
ings is given below.
Annual meet in 1991 :
Medico Friend Circle in its last meeting of
the core group at Sevagram, Wardha critically look
ed at the relevance of one-theme annual meets so
far organised by it. Many members felt that:
—the topics for meet are chosen one year In adv
ance on the basis of their topical importance.
However by the time of the annual meet many
other important issues emerge, for which there
is no time for discussion.
—one theme discussion in annual [meet also does
not let the expertise available even within MFC
members on different health aspects to be
shared with other participants and interested
members.
—one theme meet has restrictied the discussion
on a particular topic for one time. It does not
allow follow-up discussions and not provide
the interest and the expertise on the issue to
grow. This has led to a very high incidence of
change in membership and also the participa
tion in the meet.
Hence, after discussion in this meeting, it
was decided that annual meet in 1 991 will be of
11
three days duration and shall' have multiple themes
for debate / discussion. Different topics on which
discussions will be organised are :
—primary health care revisited
— alcoholism and health
—sexually transmitted diseases
—privatisation of health care
Persons within MFC have taken up respon
sibility to prepare on these themes. The dates and
venue of the meet shall be decided latter.
Core Group/Mid-Annual Meet
This will be held from June 9 to 11, 1990
at Sevagram, Wardha. "Role of MFC like group
in contemporary health movement and how it can
become a more active and vibrant organisation of
health activism” are some of the important issues
nagging the members of MFC since quite sometimeIn last few core groups, some discussion on these
issues have taken place. Many members have felt
that in order to work out a detailed strategy to
revitalise MFC, there is need to have a lengthy dis
cussion. Hence, it has been decided »to devote ah
three days in mid annual meet for this purpose.
The meeting will be an extended core group in
which all the current members and other interested
persons will be invited.
Involvement in the issues Related to Bhopal
During ihe non-theme discussion, Sathya
and Nishith reported in detail about the current
health problems of Bhopal victims, the secretive
attitude of Government research institutes towards
the data generated by them and new possibilities
of work in Bhopal because of changed political
scene. After discussion it was felt that the work
among Bhopal victims is sensitive and demanding
and so far experience of such a work has not been
encouraging. In this context given MFC's loose
and complex organisational structure today, MFC
as a body will not be able to undertake any major
or continuous responsibility in Bhopal in near
future. MFC would however co-operate with other
groups and individuals whenever possible. Never
theless, MFC has decided to demand from Indian
Council of Medical Research ond other research
bodies involved in research 'studies among Bhopal
victims to release the reports and conclusions of
their studies for the knowledge of victims and to
supplement the medical work and research under
taken by non-governmental organisations for the
benefits of victims. It was also decided that MFC
would request to those advisors of ICMR who are
sympathetic, to suggest ICMR to release the reports
of its studies conducted by it, If ICMR does not
respond favourably, MFC will take recourse to legal
action. MFC would also lencourage members to
cooperate and assist other groups and individuals
in medical work in Bhopal, in their individual capa
cities.
MFC Bulletin
"The present circulation of tho bulletin is
around 350 and there is an urgent need to increase
it". It was also discussed that members, espe
cially core group members should take up responsi
bility to write articles for publications in the bulletin
regularly.
Anthology : Medical Education-Reexamined
The manuscript of this book is ready and ’
will be printed soon. An active search for cheaper
press and necessary funds is on. March has been
fixed as deadline for printing.
NET-EN Booklet
Initial big report on Net-En was prepared
by Sathya and Nalini for'writ petition filed in the
Supreme Court to stop the pre-market trial, unless
proper and long term studies have been done.
Later on Anant condensed the report for publication
as a booklet. All comments on the draft has been
received and it is left on the editor of the booklet
to decide which of the comments to publish alongwith the draft. Hopefully, it will be ready soon for
sale.
Problem of Foreign Contribution Registration £
Nimitta Bhatt of the Trust for Reaching the
Unreached, Baroda through a letter informed about
the problems of newly created organisation to get
registration under the Foreign Contribution Regula
tion Act of the Govt, of India. She also sent a
copy of the resolution passed by their organisation,.
The general body decided a resolution <to be sent
to relevent authorities to provide registration to
newly created organisations as soon as possible
and also to simplify the procedure of getting it.
12
All India Meet of Health Activists-
Selection of Executive Committee Members-
The third all India People's Science Cong
ress to be held at Bangalore from 8th to 11th March
1990 is also organising First All India Meet of
Health Activists. MFC has been Invited and reques
ted to send 5 delegates. Amar, 'Anant and Narendra
volunteered to participate. Ravi and Thelma will
be requested to participate on :behalf of MFC.
Ravi Narayan, Sathya and Dhruv retired
by rotation after completing two years. Anil Pilgaonkar, S. Sirdhar, Unnikrishnan and Narendra Gupta
continue to be the members in their Seconcl year.
ORGANISATIONAL MATTERS
BudgetAudited accounts of the year 1981 and
till 31st March 1989 were placed and passed by
the general body. Mrs. V. K. Bansal and Associates
was once again appointed to audit the accounts
of MFC for the year 19g9—90. Anew budget for
t^kyear 1 990—91 was worked out and passed.
Election of New Convenor
Narendra Gupta completed his two. year
term in February 1990 and wished to be relieved.
Anil Pilgadn'kar has been elected as the new Conve
nor of Medico Friend Circle and he will take over
from April 1990 after the end of current financial
year. From April 1990 the organisational office
of Medico Friend Circle will shift .to 34-B, Noshir
Bharucha Road, Bombay 400 007.
Narendra Gupta
Convenor
PRESS RELEASE
HEALTH BODY SAYS NO TO NUCLEAR ENERGY
Medico Friend Circle (MFC) in its XVI th
Annual meet on "Radiation and Health" held at
Gandhigram Rural University from 26th to 28th
January resolved to oppose the production and
use of nuclear energy as being too hazardous for
the health of human beings and to demand that
existing nuclear facilities be de-commissioned and
no new nuclear plants be built.
MFC held an indepth critical discussion
primarily on the health hazards of nuclear power
plants. During this discussion, it was pointed out
tl^Jauthorities all over the world have concluded
that the quantum of radiation, how so ever small.
invariably cause damage to human tissues and that
there is no level of radiation that can be considered
safe. Production of nuclear energy damages the'
health of the people through exposure to ionising
radiation at all stages of operation. Mining'and
i milling, transport of radioactive material, burning
of nuclear fuel in the reactors, storage of spent
nuclear fuel etc. cause radioactive contamination
of the environment. There is enough scientific
evidence to this end. Moreover what is of grave
concern is the nature of the health hazards caused
by ionising radiations which could range from
cancers, damage to the foetus, genetic muta
tion after many generations and would be carried
over to future generations as well.
The MFC meet underlines the special sign
ificance of these health hazards which would affect
the very quality of human race in the future genera
tions to come. Added to this is the predicted
adverse effect on the . power to resist infectiobs
organisms and other ' stresses. These alarming
health hazards are reasons enough to outright
reject nuclear power.
The participants of MFC meet emphasised
that apart from these major health hazards, there are
many other important health problems like increased
incidence of allergies, asthma, high blood pressure,
hypothyroidism, reduced fertility, spohtaheo'us
abortion etc. Thus on health grounds aloAe,
nuclear energy is to be rejected in absolute terms
with little need to base our judgement on tVie
comparative analysis of health hazards of different
sources of energy. Any source of energy which
threatens the very survival and quality'of human
species has to be rejected and human1 so'ciety' must
find a model of development compatible with safe
energy sources. During the course of the discu
ssion |t became clear that t he health hazards of
13
nuclear energy cannot be minimized despite claims to the
contrary. Above all, the problem, of.safe disposal of radioactive waste for thousands of years has yet to be solved.
MEDICO FRIEND
CIRCLE BULLETIN
Today, nuclear energy constitutes , only .1% of total. 4
electricity producedin India, shutting down of nuclear power
plants will thus not result in a crisis on the energy front. The ,
1% deficit for which the nuclear energy
*
is’ being produced can
easily be overcome by saving electricity losses in transmission.
Editorial Committea :
Abhay Bang
Anil Fatal '
Binayak Sen
Dhruv Mankad
Dlneah Agrawa
Padma Prakaah
Sathyamala
Vimal Balasubrahmanyan
SP Kalantri. editor
The MFC meet has also drawn attention to the health
hazards of repeated exposure of pregnant women for prolonged , .
periods to visual Display Terminals ( Screens) attached-to. ■
Computers.
__
.
;
Editorial Office :
Block B/8, Vivekanand Colony,
Sevagram, Wardha—442 102
Subscription/Circulation
Enquiries :
UN Jajoo, Bajajwadi,
Wardha-442 001
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Please add Ra 5 to the outstation
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/
The MFC meet, while affirming the well established
immense value of radiological investigations has drawn attention to the fact that additional cancers do in fact occur due
to exposure to X—rays. The incidence of additional cancers is
extremely low and depends upon the. age, sex of • the person .
exposed and the quality of radiological apparatus. It has been
estimated that in case of adult male persons exposed to these
X—rays, there would be 15 additional cancers per million
X—rays. Compared to the number of lives saved, B diseases dia- .
gnosed this risk is extremely low. But nevertheless it follows.
that X—rays must be kept to as minimum as necessary and secon
dly all the precautions necessary to maintain the X—rays units i
properly have to be meticulously followed. On both these counts
the situation in Indie especially in Taluka places etc., is much
worse than in the developed countries. Screening machines
are much more hazardous because their exposure is many times
more and hence it should be restricted to the absolute mini
mum. Atomic Energy Regulatory Board must exercise its powers .
to regulate the quality of radiology units.
aag
Cheques to be drawn in favour
of MFC Bulletin Trust.
( Ctd Page 9 )
Published by Ulhas Jajoo and SP
Kalantri for MFC bulletin trust, 50
LIC quarters. University road,
Pune 411 016 end Printed at
Samyayog Press, Wardha.
Views and opinions expressed In
the bulletin are those of the au
thors and not necessarily of the
organisation.
8.
■ i
References :
1)
Manual on Radiation protection in hospital and .
General Practice : Volume 1 By C B Braostrup B K J
Viktelof. WHO Publication. Geneva 1974 PP 28,29,':-;!
31,27.
2) X-RAY. HEALTH EEFECTS OF COMMON EXAMS ; ’
By John W Gofman B Egan O 'Connor, Sierra Club '
books, San Fransisco 1985 PP 86, 87, 2. 349
( Background Paper for XVI Annual Meet of MFC)
B B
14
Name of Disease:
Madness of Nuclear Weapons
Area of Recent Outbreak :
South Asia
Two Essays By Bharat Dogra
Nuclear Weapons - Never Say Yes
Nuclear Frenzy In South Asia
1998
Nuclear Weapons - Never Say Yes
Hiroshima, August 6, 1945 : Father Kleinsorge, a German
missionary, heard pathetic voices of people asking for water.
When he managed to reach the place from where the voice had
come, he saw nearly 20 persons, all of them in similar condition
- their faces were wholly burned, their eye sockets were hollow,
the fluid from their melted eyes had run down their checks.
It is images such as these from Hiroshima and Nagasaki wh^>
lead several people to conclude that the luckiest people in a place
hit by an atomic bomb are those who die instantly.
Temperature at the hypocentre of the explosion reaching the
double of what it takes to melt iron, the face of a schoolgirl sitting
almost a kilometer away from this hypocentre being burnt beyond
recognition, skin sloughing off scalded bodies, badly injured
starving people unable to swallow anything because of the stench
of dead bodies - this was the devastation caused by a 12.5 Kiloton
bomb in Hiroshima which killed and wounded as many people as
a mass raid of 279 aircrafts, laden to capacity with bombs, striking
at a city ten times as populous.
Nearly one hundred thousand people were killed within a few
minutes in Hiroshima and Nagasaki after being hit by nuclear
weapons in 1945, but if we count the longer-term deaths, those
caused by internal bleeding, leukaemia, various other forms of
cancer, then the death toll is likely to be as high as 3,50,000.
addition the next generation continued to pay for this cruelty in in
form of children born with mental retardation, physical deformities
and other serious health problems.
So cruel was the devastation that all of us must necessarily ask
- we certainly do not want Hiroshima to happen to our friends, but
do we want it to happen even to our worst enemies?
This much is certain - any one who participates in or assists
in a nuclear weapons attack will never be at peace with himself.
Despite this, the incredibly cruel fact remains that humankind
now possesses nuclear weapons which are many times more
powerful than the ones used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and
efforts are constantly on to increase the destructiveness of these
weapons.
Time magazine (May 25, 1998) has provided the following data
on the nuclear weapons and their reach:
Country
$)USA
Number of
Warheads
12070
'
Range
(In Kms)
13000
Britain
45
France
500
5300
Russia
22500
11000
China
450
11000
India
About 65
2500
Israel
About 64 to 112
1500
Pakistan
About 15 to 25
1500
12000
From this table it is evident that
1. The world has over 35,500 nuclear warheads and
a2.
Today almost no part of the world is safe from nuclear
Capons as the range of the existing nuclear warheads reaches
almost all parts of the world.
As for the real progress of nuclear disarmament the Human
Development Report (HDR), 1994 has informed, "The reductions
envisaged in the START I and II treaties called for the removal of
more than 20000 warheads from the arsenals of nuclear weapons
states - but not a.single warhead has been dismantled so far...
Indeed neither the United States nor Russia has a technically or
politically feasible plan to dismantle warheads or dispose off their
nuclear components - so the warhead could represent a threat for
generations to come." Further the report says that the breaking up
3
of the Soviet Union has complicated matters by creating three
more nations with nuclear weapons on their territory -Ukraine,
Kazakhstan and Belarus.
The smuggling of plutonium, specially from the successor state
of the former USSR has added a new dimension to the nuclear
threat. It has been estimated that in another 10 years there will be
enough plutonium in storage worldwide to build 42,000 atom
bombs. (Reported in a cover story in Time magazine, 1994).
The nuclear electricity generation programme of soq|y
countries entails several risks and in addition it is not coSt
effective, yet it is supported because it provides the materials
needed for atomic weapons programme. The same can be said for
several other parts of the nuclear establishment. Thousands of
people are subjected to slow poisoning by innumerable nuclear
installations in various parts of the world.
In 1990 Senator John Glenn, a Democrat from Ohio and the
spokesman of a US Congress Committe released its findings,
saying : "The US nuclear weapons programme was exposing large
number of workers to potentially dangerous health risks but did
nothing to warn them and swept the problem under the carpet." The
findings come at a time when lawsuits accusing the programme of
damaging public health and the environment are increasingly
common.
Construction workers, technicians and soldiers suffered the
worst exposures, between 1945 and 1954. Most were due to leaks
of plutonium and other radionuclides. Once, however, radioactive
iodine-131 and xenon-113 were deliberately released into the air
by researchers near a plutonium processing plant at Hanford in
Washington State. Vegetation in nearby dairy-farming areas was
contaminated at 20 times the allowable level at the time.
Health officials at Hanford knew in September 1947 that
exposure to radiation among workers could be common and
extensive. An inquiry by Robert Parker of General Electric, which
managed Hanford, found leaks from corroded ducts in stacks at
the processing plant. Parker estimated that 7.4 billion radioactive
particles, mostly plutonium, had been escaping form the plant each
month. "The critical hazard is the inhalation and lung retention of
particles," he said.
Although the ducts were repaired, more serous problem
ensued : much finer radioactive particles escaped form other parts
of the plant. These were considered more dangerous, because
they penetrate deeper and stay longer in the lung. Parker warned
of potential health problems among workers at the time, and did so
again in 1951.
^In December 1948, a committee of health advisers to the US
'
government's Atomic Energy Commission was told that hundreds
of worker at Hanford and Oak Ridge, a weapons site in Tennessee,
were being dangerously contaminated with uranium, radium and
radon. Some were getting 125 times the limit set during the
Second World War for exposure to uranium.
In 1990 a federal court in Nevada ruled that workers who were
present at bomb tests may sue for damage to their health. The
case covers about 218 people, 200 of whom have died of cancer.
(Reported In New Scientist, 6 January, 1990)
Matthias Finger writes in a widely quoted paper 'The Military,
the Nation State and the Environment' (The Ecologist, SeptemberOctober, 1991): "In the US, 99 percent by volume of all high level
radioactive waste and 75 percent of low level radioactive
waste...has come form nuclear reactors operated for military
reposes, including ship and submarine pollution. The US General
Accounting Office admits that information about low level nuclear
waste at its military bases is simply unavailable. With regard to
both nuclear and chemical waste, the most severely poisoned area
could prove impossible to 'clean up' or otherwise rehabilitate."
The USA has recently been in the forefront of speaking agaFnst
nuclear explosions, but the reality is that this country alone has
conducted more nuclear explosions (1031) than the total nuclear
explosion conducted by all other counties (1025).
According to M. Finger, weapons tests and accidents have
been the most significant military source of global radioactive
5
pollution. From 1945 to 1989, more than 1800 nuclear bombs were
exploded in over 35 sites. Roughly one-quarter of the tests were
conducted in the atmosphere. About one-third of the US
underground tests may have leaked radiation, the proportion may
be higher for French and Soviet tests. In addition, more than 230
nuclear weapons accidents involving the USA, the USSR and the
UK took place between 1950 and 1988."
The world has already seen some very disturbing nuclear
accidents such as Windscale (UK), Three Mile Island (USA) and
Chernobyl (former Soviet Union).
f)
B. Seshadri, a leading writer on science related issues in India
wrote about the Chernobyl accident : "The prime cause of the
accident was a number of violations of operational practice - on
an inferior design of reactor - by .technicians at the plant. The
explosion was the result of a runaway chain reaction of the kind
that is used in an atomic bomb explosion. To add to the horrors,
thousands of people, including scientists and army personnel,
were put to work inside the growing Sarcophagus - a fact not know
to the world until a long time after - to brave the radiations and
the plutonium dust (a by-product of nuclear power production and
the most toxic substance on earth). The men were foredoomed to
slow and agonising deaths in the days, weeks, month and years
to come. The final death toll in the countries of the former Soviet
Union and the rest of Europe as a direct consequence of
radioactive contamination is likely to run into tens of thousands.
Adverse genetic effects on the children who will be born to these
men are also feared."
f)
Zhore'n Medvedev has described the following effects of
Chernobyl disaster in his paper published in the Ecologist in
January-February, 1990 : "Six hundred thousand people who have
already been exposed to radiation doses of between 10 and 200
rems will be required to undergo frequent medical checks until the
end of their lives. In 1989, 38 percent of this number were
reported to be in need of some form of medical attention, whether
in hospitals, as outpatients, or in sanatoria. A significant part of
the heavily contaminated area is far from the accident site - in
some cases between 100 and 400 kilometers to the south-west,
6
west, north-west and north-east. The radioactive fallout here was
caused mainly by rain which fell during the period when
radioactivity was belching form the damaged reactor. In
Byelorussia alone, the loss of agricultural production in 1989 due
to Chernobyl cost 700 million roubles. By 1989, the total cost of
the accident was officially (and modestly) estimated to be 11 billion
roubles (about $ 20 billion)."
According to B. Seshadri, even in an advanced and industrial
safety-conscious nation as the former West Germany there were
fine 300 minor accident in a single year, 1988. It is thought that
the statistics are no better anywhere else, if not readily available.
The risk of a major accident is now put at 70 percent every six
years, an alarming prospect."
Thus it is clear that even without the wartime use of nuclear
weapons, merely maintaining a huge nuclear complex either for
direct military purposes or for supporting it can pose a threat to
the health and well being of hundreds of thousands of people. As
for the actual wartime potential of nuclear weapons, it is clear that
a monstrous force which is several hundred times more destructive
than what was seen in Hiroshima can be unleashed in a future
nuclear war. The destructive potential of nuclear weapons is
already adequate to destroy almost all life on earth, by its
immediate effect and longer-term impacts of environmental ruin,
cancers, genetic damage, starvation and worse. So no matter
where these are being produced - in which country and for what
purpose - there should always be only one answer to nuclear
Qapons - No, no, no.
Nuclear weapons programme of all countries should be
opposed, including thbse of the USA, Russia, China, France and
Britain. These countries have been using their nuclear hegemony
to exercise undue control over other countries. In particular the
USA has been pursuing policies of economic exploitation towards
developing countries and using its military strength, including its
nuclear arsenal, to force other countries to submit to these
policies. What is more, while the USA makes a big show of
opposing nuclear proliferation, in a selective way it sometimes
even encourages this. For example, when the USA badly needed
Pakistan's.support to oppose the Soviet presence in Afghanistan,
on some occasions it turned a blind eye to the illegal acquisition
of equipment and technology by Pakistan for its nuclear weapon
programme.
The World Commission on Environment and Development said,
"Beyond the five recognised nuclear-weapon states, at least six
others have a widely acknowledged potential nuclear weapons
capability, a dozen others are not far behind. The nuclear weapon
states cannot expect the non-nuclear weapon states to abstain
form exercising the nuclear option in the absence of real progrc^
on the road to nuclear disarmament."
The real path to disarmament requires that nuclear weapons of
any and all countries should be opposed firmly so that the world
gets relief, peace as well as freedom from economic exploitation
based oh special weapons.
So let us say a firm no to all nuclear weapons.
Nuclear Frenzy In South Asia
The month of May 1998 will go in the history of South Asia as
one of the most dangerous months for this sub-continent which
took nuclear frenzy to the streets of India and Pakistan and
brought the threat of nuclear warfare between these two nations
closer to reality than ever before. The five nuclear test explosions
in India's Pokharan followed by six in Pakistan's Chagai, as also
the flaunting of jingoistic nationalism by leaders of both countries,
jtnade South Asia a leading flash-point of a world which remains
riighly insecure despite the end of cold war.
Since India’s single nuclear detonation in 1974, no country
outside the 'five nation nuclear club1 had tested a nuclear device,
and now suddenly there were 11 nuclear test explosions within the
span of less than three weeks. What is more, these tests were
accompanied by aggressive rhetoric on both sides, with leaders,
technocrats and media persons boasting about their own nuclear
might and what can it do to the other side.
Those who had been expressing concern about the possibility
of a nuclear weapons race in the sub continent were proved right.
There have been plenty of such warnings during the last decade.
In June 1989 two scientists David Albright and Tom Zamora
wrote in 'The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists',
"For years India and Pakistan have been perched on the brink
^bf an all-out nuclear arms race. Both countries are known to be
^accumulating relatively large stockpiles of nuclear explosive
materials - plutonium and highly enriched uranium (uranium
concentrated to over 20 percent uranium-235). Now, as a result of
West German investigations into a series of illegal exports of
sensitive nuclear technology, evidence is mounting that both
countries have even more extensive nuclear weapons research,
development, and production programs than previously thought."
This review went on to say that investigations and other recent
public revelations about India’s and Pakistan's programs indicate
the following :
9
• India probably decided several years ago to acquire the
know-how to make a thermonuclear weapon (hydrogen bomb) as
a hedge against Pakistan's growing atomic ability, and to be
prepared to test such a device within a few months of a Pakistani
nuclear test.
• Both India and Pakistan have imported beryllium - a material
useful in designing smaller, lighter, and more sophisticated nuclear
weapons. India is also producing beryllium in its own facilities.
• Pakistan has acquired sophisticated tritium processing•
equipment from West Germany, and India is building a plant that
*
1
will be able to produce large amounts of tritium.
• Pakistan is reported to have perfected the design of a
nuclear aerial bomb for its US supplied F-16 attack aircraft, and
India has apparently been working on the design of a nuclear
aerial bomb since 1984.
• India is reportedly preparing to test an intermediate range
ballistic missile with a range of 1,500 miles; in February, Pakistan
said it had test-fired two short-range missiles.
On the basis of this evidence this review concluded, "Since the
leaders appear unwilling or unable to constrain their nuclear
weapons programs, these countries remain in a nuclear standoff.
A military crisis might compel them to deploy nuclear arsenals, and
risk a nuclear confrontation in South Asia. And if either country
tests a nuclear explosive, the other will undoubtedly follow,
unleashing a race for increasingly sophisticated nuclear weapons^
including thermonuclear weapons."
In June 1989 Jozef Goldblat expressed similar concerns for
this region in a paper titled 'Nuclear non-proliferation: The Status
and Prospects' written for the Canadian Institute for International
Peace and Security : "Evidence has accumulated in the past few
years that both countries possess all the essential elements for the
manufacture of nuclear weapons. It is thus now an established fact
that, with the help of technology and hardware obtained from
abroad clandestinely or with the indulgence of the supplier's
authorities, Pakistan is producing highly enriched, weapon-grade
10
uranium. It may not yet have assembled a complete nuclear
explosive device but, according to independent experts, its
uasafeguarded enrichment plant has the capacity to produce
enough fissile material for one to four weapons annually.
"India tested a nuclear device in 1974. Since then, it has
greatly increased its plutonium production capacity (owing partly
to clandestine imports of heavy water), has acquired uraniumenrichment technology, and is considered by some analysts to be
able to produce over fifteen nuclear weapons per year."
In 1990 Leonarde S. Spector and Jacqueline R. Smith wrote
in a book titled 'Nuclear Ambitions', "If nuclear proliferation has
been unannounced, it is real nonethless. Indeed, the years since
1964 have seen the advent of Israel, India, Pakistan and S. Africa
as de facto nuclear weapon states i.e. countries that have
deployed nutlear weapons or could do so rapidly in a crisis... If
a breakthrough of the de facto moratorium on nuclear testing by
the nuclear threshold states occur, it would mean the end of one
of the few remaining restraints on their nuclear activities."
It appears likely that there will, be a race for nuclear arms
between India and Pakistan. In its issue dated May 25, 1998 Time
magazine published estimates of the likely number of warheads
existing in the nuclear arsenals of eight countries. This report said
that India has about 65 nuclear warheads while Pakistan has
between 15 to 25 warheads.
According to this report India has a missile range of 2500 Kms
C’while Pakistan has a range of 1500 Kms. This implies that India
and Pakistan already have the capacity to reach each other's
leading cities - mega cities with a population of around 10 million
or so.
The risk for South Asia increases due to a number of other
reasons, in both countries the peace movement is weak. In both
countries democracy - which allows the voice of reason to be
heard - is weak. Pakistan immediately followed its nuclear
explosions at Chagai with the imposition of emergency which
further curbs democratic rights of citizens to a large extent. In both
countries religious fanatic groups are powerful.
The present governments of both countries appear to be
unwilling or incapable of solving the real problems of the people
and instead resort to dangerous and aggressive rhetoric against
each other to cover up their failures on the domestic front.
Both countries have very thickly populated cities - millions of
people concentrated in a very small area - where loss of human
lives from a nuclear attack can be very heavy.
These two countries have already fought three wars and
tensions between them have escalated rapidly on severa^y
occasions in recent years.
Recently, the US Air Force has estimated that in the event of
a full-scale nuclear war between India and Pakistan, as. many as
100 million people will die. The first hour of such a war itself would
claim 17 million lives in Pakistan and 29 million in India. (Reported
in the Statesman, 22 June, 1998)
Economic Costs
Apart from the threat of nuclear war, a nuclear weapons
programme particularly when added to already high military
expenditure can prove very harmful for the economic well-being of
the people of both countries.
Although South Asia contains nearly 40% of the world's poor
people, it spends around $14 billion a year on military. Global
military spending declined by about 37% during the period 198794 but military spending during the same period in South Asia went
up by 12%. The world's military expenditure is 37% of its spending
on education and health but this percentage is as high as 72% for
S. Asia, according to 1990-91 data.
Between 1987 and 1994, military holdings (combat aircraft,
artillery, ship and tanks) declined by 14.5 percent in the world, but
these increased by 43% in S. Asia.
When to this we add the very high costs of maintaining an
arsenal of nuclear weapons, competing with each other to get
more weapons and more destructive weapons, developing the
delivery systems, improving these constantly - then the economic
12
costs of all this for the people of India and Pakistan can be very
heavy indeed. In addition, of course, there will be the costs of the
sanctions imposed by developed countries and the financial
institutions controlled by them.
Lastly, we should not forget that the maintenance of a largescale nuclear complex, including nuclear plants meant ostensibly
for peaceful use but in reality used to supply the essential
materials for atomic weapons, entails large-scale regular and
accidental exposure to radiation which itself can claim a very large
Wiumber of lives, particularly when we include the longer-term
impacts such as those of various types of cancers.
According to a study 'Nuclear Power - Safety, Economic and
Strategic Issues' by V. Ranganathan and Sanjay Kanoongo
(Economic Times, April 12, 1989), "Department of Atomic Energy
is yet to evolve the safety limits of the different types of pollutants
that are released in the nuclear fuel cycle. No continuous
monitoring of the level of pollutants is done in actual practice."
The study informs us that the effluents from the Nuclear Fuel
Complex at Hyderabad contain high amounts of toxic substances,
especially nitrates, and frequently some waste uranium. These
have caused the contamination of groundwater in neighbouring
• villages with high levels of nitrates because of water seepage. High
levels of nitrate in drinking water can cause blood disorders. In
neighboring Mallapuram village abortions have become more
frequent.
According tQ another expert Dr. Dhirendra Sharma, "In spite of
the fact that many abnormal deaths a'nd deformities have been
reported, no information or manual is available to citizens and
administrators living in the neighborhood of nuclear plants."
A study of the workers at the Indian Rare Earth Plant at Alwaye
by V. T. Padmanabhan, a researcher who has specialized in
occupational health issues, found that there is a significant
increase in cancers and in mortality due to all causes among LR.E
workers as compared to the control population.
13
In the villages near Jadugora uranium mining area located in
Singhbum districts of Bihar, villagers suffer from several mental
and physical disorders related to radioactivity exposure. Poor
workers are forced to work in highly hazardous conditions due to
their poverty.
The siting of Narora atomic power plant has come in for
maximum criticism - due to its location in a seismic zone, due to
unsuitability of its foundation, its nearness to the Ganga river and
big cities including Delhi. All these factors together have resultecT
in this project becoming one of the most controversial powew
projects in India. The proposed siting of a nuclear power plant
near the Nagarjunsagar dam site has also faced a lot of criticism.
The present location of Narora project was strongly opposed by
the Vengurlekar Committee on site selection in 1972, and A. K.
Ganguly, formerly head of BARC's chemical group, had publicly
warned of the risk.
According to the study by Rangnathan and Kanungo, "Large
number of Rajasthan Atomic Plant Workers have been exposed to
hazards from both ionizing radiation and tritium. Contamination of
RAPS can only increase with time. Even its present level remains
unacceptably high."
According to the same study, design faults led to an explosion
at the Baroda heavy water plant during the trial run in 1977 and
it was put out of action until 1981. There was also a blast in the
same plant, leading to a major fire in the high pressure section off
the plant. Several workers reported symptoms of inhaling the gas’
that had leaked from the plant.
According to Dr. Dhirendra Sharma, the pressurized heavy
reactor (also known as CANDU because of its Canadian origin) at
the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station Unit I was damaged in August
1981. About 2000 workers are estimated to have suffered from
unusually heavy levels of radiation and it is reported that about 300
personnel were hospitalized as a result of exposures at RAPS.
Behind many accident and safely violations, critics allege, is
corruption in construction work and procurement of equipment.
14
Another adverse factor is the tendency to discourage criticism and
warnings from honest scientists and engineers.
In Pakistan the risks are even higher than in India because
secrecy is higher and the possibility of democratic protest is
lesser.
Nuclear explosions in both countries have already been linked
to adverse effects. In India several serious health problem
including higher risk of cancer have already been reported by
I'dllagers of Pokharan region, which was also the site of India's first
nuclear explosion in 1974.
The Pakistan nuclear explosions at Chagai on May 28 have
been mentioned as a cause of the highly destructive earthquake
which claimed 5000 lives in Afghanistan. On May 30 Janarthan
Negi, scientists emeritus at the National Geophysical Research
Institute (NGRI) in Hyderabad (India) said : "The fact that nuclear
explosions could trigger natural earthquakes in the Chaman fault
system in the Hindukush-Pamir block was already know to
Chinese, American and Russian scientists."
He said the Pakistani test should not have been carried out in
the Chagai Hills area. Quoting published information by the North
Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in 1995, Mr. Negi said 80
percent of the 272 nuclear explosions carried out by the Russians
between 1963 and 1986 in the "semi-Palatinsk" area (50 degrees
North and 72 degrees East), were followed by earthquakes of
^magnitude greater than 3.4.
The block where the earthquake occurred was found to be
extremely sensitive to Russian underground tests conducted 1,400
Km away. The Pakistani test site was only 700 Km away and its
influence could have been greater, Mr. Negi said. He said that in
the case of the Russian tests, quakes followed after five and again
after 15 to 30 days. Mr. Negi said the Afghan earthquake "is a
unique example of an extremely devastating environmental effect of
underground nuclear explosions whose body waves had caused he
triggering effect."
15
This booklet has been published jointly by
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and
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•
Phone : 5575303
Composed at Sharma Computers
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Encyclopedia of Development, Environment
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16
teralto ■■■ .••■
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'&W^fe3/5Wx»w&!aw „ ,
- w.-^'h ■ •"- ■;v.
■ 2.' :—^~ ■ X^-i-ix.r <<>•,A-Av.’AA4
AN OPEN LETTER
TO THE
PRIME MINISTER OF PAKISTAN
971a. (pAime TTUnisleA,
(de AiAonjglg uAqe gnu to AetuAn,
Si was a tAagic dag fe>A the (peo to Aesist pAeAAuAe in the laAcjeA in ple o# South asia when 9ndia ex leAestso#the nation, #/iven the im with gAejoleA sinceAiig and eaAploited its fessl Set o# nucleaA de plications o# nucleaA waA#aAe, lhe nesineAA, to gouA eaAlivA polieg o#
dialogue at all Aesponvices on ITlag 11,1998.
sible levels between the
Jhis one act put the feteePeace Petition from Pakistan
people
o# lhe two coundom and sejutAilg o# the
(Dated: June 2,1998)
tAies, with a view to less
Aegion in seAious jeopening tensions and eA
"................. We reject the claim by the government
asdg. 91 is oua belie#that
of Pakistan that it's nuclear weapons tests were
chewing waA. Jhis is the
the economic AecuAilg and
justified because of the existence and testing of onlg wag to counleA the
well being o# all people
nuclear weapons in India.
waA-mongeAing that
ahe the sole guaAanioAA
"........... We believe there can be no justification
haA been unleashed in
o# leAAiioAial inlegAitg
for any state to engage in activities that allow it to
lhe Aegion. (de appealto
and national soveAdesign, develop, test and maintain nuclear weapons
gou
io take lhe lead in
oignig. Jhe lessons to be
since these are fundamentally weapons of terror
inning down the AheloAic
obiawn #Anm the collapse
and mass destruction.
o# waA and violence
o#the Soviet Union, show
" ..........We call on the government of Pakistan to
which ii standing in the
give a binding commitment that it will not further
us ambiguouslg that no
wag o# peacefed Aesolutest, develop or deploy nuclear weapons."
amount o# nucleaA woaption
o# oua pAoblenu.
ons can pAomote Aecu-
Signed by:
Aitg. On the otheA hand
Some 200 eminentpersonalities have already signedon this cam Jhe (people o# (Pakistan
the Aise o# #/eAmang and
paign and thefigure is still increasing.
wants its leadeAAhip to
#apan as #)Aoal (poweAA
encouAage a mood o#
with no defence expendiluAes,
sobeAsel#
Aefeeclion AalheA than
leadeAAhip can no longeA a##oAd
beaAA ioAlimong io the feed that
to pondeA to ill conAideAed waA taking AecouAse in fedie euphoAia.
lhe well being o# a people is not
hgsleAia. 91 lakes a AlAong and (de have bAoughl ouAselves in lhe
dependent on nucleaA aASenals.
viiionaAg leadcA to educate the bAink o# a nucleaA holocaust and
JheAe is an uAgenl need feA a Ae- people that the IheoAg o# deteA- feel that it is lhe Aesponsibililg o#
Aponsible and bold leadeAAhip,
Aence haA been widelg jdiAchediled lhe govoAnmeni and awaAe indi
which does not succumb to jingo and it haA been pAoved begond viduals to educate the nation on
ism and waA mongeAing, but in doubt that peacefeddialogue is lhe lhe hoAAifeging implications o#
nucleaAisation.
#act has the abiliig and AlAenglh onlg AeAolotion #oA confeict.
Joint Action Committee For People's Rights,
Lahore. 11 June, 1998
Joint Statement by the Indian and Pakistani Doctors for Peace and Development
"................The Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) and the Pakistan Doctors for Peace and
Development (PDPD) -- affiliates of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize winning International Physicians for the
Prevention of Nuclear War -- share a deep sense of disappointment and profound regret that India and
Pakistan have tested nuclear devices and thereby fired the starting gun in a suicidal nuclear arms race.
Signed By
Prof. S. Tipu Sultan
Dr. S S. Shrivastwa
PDPD International Councilor, Pakistan
IDPD International Councilor, India
IPPNW * Co-Vice-President for South Asia
k IPPNW * Co-Vice-President for South Asia
Joint Action Committee for People's Rights, Lahore.
2
PAKISTANIS ACROSS THE WORLD CONDEMN NUCLEAR TESTS
and
Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee
P.M. of India
To:
Mr. Muhammad Nawaz Sharif
P.M. of Pakistan
".--------- We, Pakistanis (included
therefore, the two governments to work
are persons of Pakistani origin and ex
towards a global regime dedicated to
patriates). therefore exhort the twogov
bringing about the total destruction of
ernments to seek other ways andmeans
all nuclear weapons within a speci
ofpromoting peace and security. They
fiedperiod oftime, with
must focus on the ethical and materia!
outUnkingit to
well-being of their peoples. It is espe
cially shameful that while the vast ma
their own
right
to \
jority of the people in these two coun
nuclearize, \
tries have to wage a daily struggle for
Asanimmedi- \
survivaltheirgovernments waste scarce
ate step, both \
resources on building weapon arsenals.
countries should
The ancient Indian tradition of ahimsa
declare that they
will not embark \
is part of the common heritage of al!
the people of this region. Many Sufi
upon aprogramme of '
ideas are also supportive ofpeace, tol
building
erance and respect for life. The ultra
weapon systems.
nationalistand militaristpostures ofthe
[More than 200
Pakista
nis - scientists, academics, educa
tionists, architects, doctors, editors,
present regimes, however, negate these
humane values. This must change. Re
ples should be based on
goodwill and a commit-
ment to resolve all contro
versial issues through dis
cussion and mutual ac
commodation.
We do not. there
fore, find the presentpoli
cies ofthegovernments of
Pakistan and India on de
fence and security, espe
cially the acquisition ofnu
clear weapon capabilities,
justifiable on anygrounds.
We also find that the
ACAAR (Action Committee Against
Arms Race) organised a Peace Rally
and Peace March in Karachi on 6th
August to mark Hiroshima day. Some
two hundred working children led the
Rally to commemorate the anniversary
of the dropping of nuclear bomb on
Hiroshima on the unfortunate day of
August 6th, 1945 as well as to protest
against the recent nuclear tests by
India and Pakistan. Besides the chil
dren, the participants included a large
number of women and human rights
activists, trade unionists, political
workers, teachers, students and
representatives of political parties
and professional organisations.
present arrangement that
the USA. Russia, France, Britain and
China can continue to possess nuclear
weapons, arbitrary and flawed. We urge.
o*
submit a
petition
\ against
clear
tests
and
weapons.]
nuclear
lations between Pakistan
and India and their peo
workers, human rights activists,
women rights ac- tivists, anti-child
and anti-bonded
\ labour activ\ ists, develop\ ment and en\ vironment
engineers, journalists, jurists, lawyers, publishers, teachers, writers,
Poets> artists, filmmakers, cultural
PRESS STATEMENT ON HIRO
SHIMA DAY,
AUGUST 6, 1998, PAKISTAN
"........ India and Pakistan tested their
own nuclear devices in May 1998,
thereby choosing a path that can lead
only to mutual destruction.
We believe that the manufacture,
testing and deployment of nuclear
weapons devastate the health and se
curity of people as well as the planet.
We therefore call for the complete
elimination of nuclear weapons. We
call others to join in the challenge to
achieve a total ban on the research,
development, testing, production,
deployment use and stockpiling of
nuclear weapons.
Peace-loving citizens of Islamabad/
Rawalpindi join others from around
the country to demand that:
Pakistan
and India
immediately deciare an official
moratorium on further nuclear
tests, stop the production of
material for nuclear weapons, and
commit themselves to cease
weaponizing and deployment."
• 16th May '98- Organ
ised by different NGOs of
Delhi in which people from
all walks of life partici
pated to show their resent
ment over nuclear tests
conducted by India.
O Regular demonstration
on every Friday at differ
ent places in Delhi organ
ised by Parmanu Bomb
Virodhi Andolan till 6th of
August'98 (Hiroshima Day).
q
24th June '98- Dharna was held
against the nuclear tests con
ducted by India and Pakistan by
Anu Parmanu Hathiyaar
Evam Yudhonmad Virodhi
Manch at Udaipur Court Cross
ing in Rajasthan.
O 6th August '98- On the 53rd
anniversary of US atomic bomb
ing of Hiroshima peace marches
were organised all over India.
O 6th August '98- Peace march
was organised at Jaipur by Anu
Parmanu Hathiyaar Evam
Yudhonmad Virodhi Manch
on the Hiroshima Day.
O 17th June'98-Seminar
in which Mr. Takhita San
an atomic bomb suvivor of
Hiroshima bombing from
Japan
shared
his
experiences.This was or
ganised by Movement in
India for Nuclear Disar
mament (MIND) at ISI,
New Delhi.
• 29th June '98- A symposium on
nuclear weapons was organised
at the Press Club of India, New
Delhi by Pakistan-India Peo
ple's Forum for Peace and De
mocracy (PIPFPD).
•
10th July'98- A seminar was
organised by Jan Hastakshep
at Gandhi Peace Foundation.
The topic of seminar was From
Bomb to Budget in which emi
nent scholars presented their
views.
O
18th-19th July'98-A national
convention on the nuclear issue
was organised at Sabarmati
(Gujarat) by Anu Virodhi
Shanti Sthapana Samiti in
which activists from different
NGOs participated.
q Facts against Myths
an information bulletin
published regularly by
Vikas Adhyayan Kendra,
Mumbai covered in its lat
est issue the myths about
Nuclear Deterrence, which
will be covered in next is
sue also.
0
@ 26th July '98- Convention
against nuclear weapons was
held at the Music Academy Au
ditorium, Chennai.
O 26th-30th June'98- A
photo exhibition of Nu
clear Victims was organ
ised by PEACE BOAT, a
NGO from Japan at Na
tional Gandhi Museum,
New Delhi
O A book has been published by
YND on Disarmament in Hindi
as well as in English called "Ek
Khoobsurat Jahaz" and "A
Beautiful Ship in The Sky" re
spectively.
O 28thOct.-2ndNov.'98-An atom
bombs Photo Exhibition was or
ganised by Japan Congress
Against A-and H-Bomb, Japan
in collaboration with India Na
tional Trade Congress
(INTUC), Hind Mazdoor
Sabha (HMS) and Interna
tional Transport Worker's
Federation (ITF) at India Habi
tat Centre, Lodhi Road, New
Delhi.
• 17th-28th
Aug'98- Tro
jan Women,
agreekplay on
war was staged
at different ven
ues in Delhi by
PRAVAH.
Along with the play
a street poster exhi
bition on nuclear
weapons was also
displayed at the ven
ues. In preparation of
which YND also
helped.
"Parmanu Bam Virodhi
Andolan" has published a book
let in Hindi ‘Parmanu Bam se
Ek Mulakat’ which conveys
message about the hazards of
possessing nuclear weapons.
Language of the booklet is very
simple to understand.
O "Ek Khoobsurat
Jahaz" a documentary
film on disarmament pro
duced by TVI and written
and directed by Gauhar
Raza.
O "Darkness of A Thou
sand Suns" a documentary
film on Nuclear arms race pro
duced by Delhi Science Forum
with help of Department of Sci
ence And Technology, Govt, of
India.
A Film on NuclearDisarmament
EK KHOOBSURAT JAHAZ
by
Available in HincTi & Tamil
Duration - 20minutes
Cost-Rs. 150/-only
The script of the film is also available
in Book form in Hindi and English
(Cost: Rs. 15/- only)
For copies: contact YND, F-93, Katwarai Sarai,
New Delhi 110 016
designed and printed by : aman graphics, 6420204
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The ¥2K World Atomic Safety Holiday (WASH) campaign
Subject: The Y2K World Atomic Safety Holiday (WASH) campaign
Date: Fri, 24 Dec 1999 12:05:42 +0530
From: Vinay Baindur <v_baindur@hotmail.com >
To: il-rti@ilban.emet.in, il-nuke@ilbom.emet.in
http://www.y2kwash.orq/home.html
The
Y2K World Atomic Safety Holiday
(WASH) Campaign
Sign our On-line petition to make
NuclearJnstallationsSafeforY2K
The WASH Campaign At A Glance - Goals & Strategy
THE SITUATION
Based on a recent U.S. State Department study of 161 nations, the
Department's Inspector General, J.L. Williams-Bridgers concluded, "...that
Y2K-related failures are inevitable, both here and abroad."
There are 433 nuclear reactors worldwide, all but 12 in the Northern
Hemisphere. Virtually all reactors are vulnerable internally to Y2K-related
software and embedded system malfunctions. They are also vulnerable
externally because of their interconnectedness with other key sectors such
as telecommunications and power grids.
12/31/99 2:09 PM
The ¥2K World Atomic Safety Holiday (WASH) campaign
map supplied by International Nuclear Safety Center at Argonne National Laboratory
Most reactors, (103 in US), are dependent on outside power supplied from the
grid to keep cooling systems running (a) for the reactor core and (b) for the
spent fuel pools. For the typical US reactor, there are back-up diesel
generators (not 100% reliable) for the core cooling system , but NO back-up
power for cooling the spent-fuel pools, which have 5 times the radioactivity
of the reactor core. These radioactive spent fuel rods could melt-down if
there is loss of incoming power to cool them, within a few hours to two
weeks, depending on how recently the reactor has refueled.
Effects from Y2K on the grid are unpredictable and all 433 reactors will be
challenged on the same day. Even one nuclear reactor accident is
unacceptable - we know from the Chernobyl accident that the consequences
are global. Governments, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) are not, as yet, dealing
responsibly with the grave humanitarian and environmental dangers posed
by this situation.
Additionally, the U.S. and Russia continue to maintain their nuclear missile
systems on hair-trigger alert, despite serious vulnerabilities to Y2K-related
malfunctions in command and control systems.
THE RESPONSIBLE RESPONSE
1) De-Alert and De-Couple: Take nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert and
remove warheads from delivery systems;
2) Stand-By for Rollover: Temporarily shut down all nuclear reactors and
other nuclear installations during Rollover weekend and bring them back
online after January 1,2000 only when they are fully tested and verified Y2K
compliant and the stability of the electricity grid has been re-established;
3) Beef-Up the Back-Up: Provide reliable and redundant backup generators
with at least 60 days fuel supply in every nuclear installation, to keep them
stable and under control;
4) Freeze Transport: Suspend transport of all nuclear materials until the
"inevitable" Y2K disruptions are over;
5) Prepare the Public: Make certain that emergency procedures are in place
to inform and protect the public in every community with nuclear facilities;
6) Pay Atomic Workers: Compensate the staff of nuclear facilities for lost
overtime or wages and extra hazardous conditions.
2 of 3
12/31/99 2:09 PM
The ¥2K World Atomic Safety Holiday (WASH) campaign
The Y2K WASH Campaign in-a-nutshell:
STAND-BY for ROLLOVER
BEEF-UP the BACK-UP
DE-ALERT and DE-COUPLE
Back to Y2KWASH home
3 of 3
12/31/99 2:09 PM
Wirgfi News : Nuke Opponents Fear Y2K Worst
The lack of response from President Clinton -- and the fact that only
nine days are left -- doesn't daunt activist Branagan.
"You have to expect a miracle. It has to happen," she said.
And if it doesn't? Branagan and the other demonstrators plan to hold a
"Y2K Nuclear Countdown" vigil in front of the White House from noon to
5 p.m. The flyer didn't explain why they'd be ending early.
Related Wired Links:
Nuke Data a Nest of Lies
17.Dec.1999
Y2K: Dispatches from Earth
16.Dec.1999
Nuclear Plant Licensed to Kill
10.Dec.1999
All Systems Go for US Nukes
8.Nov.1999
Russia Not Rushing to Y2K Crisis
8.Sep.1999
Y2K Military Minutiae on Track
14.Jul.1999
2000 Looms for US Nuclear Plants
30.Apr.1999
Copyright
2 of 2
1994-99 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved.
12/31/99 2:09 PM
Faeas Meat »®S@ar Wrawas
A booklet, in the form of questions and answers
Published for
Indian Scientists Against Nuclear Weapons
by
Tamil Nadu Science Forum
ISANW/00/1
November 2000
Facts against nuclear weapons
1st edition — July 1998
2nd edition — May 1999
2nd edition, 2nd printing — November 2000
Published for Indian Scientists Against Nuclear Weapons
by Tamil Nadu Science Forum
130/3 Avvai Shanmugam Salai, Chennai 600 086.
Contents
1
2
Facts about Nuclear Weapons
3
Nuclear Weapons
3
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
What are nuclear weapons ?..............................................................................
How do nuclear weapons differ from conventional ones ?..............................
What are the different types of nuclear weapons ?.......................................
What is the difference between a nuclear weapon and a reactor?..............
.’ijEffects of Nuclear Weapons
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
4
Nuclear Weaponisation
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
5
What are thermal effects?................................................................................
What are radiation effects?................ ............................................................ •
What are electromagnetic effects?....................................................................
What are the effects on climate?.......................................................................
4
6
7
9
10
10
11
11
What is nuclear weaponisation ?....................................................................... 11
What is a delivery system ?................................... ......................................... 11
What is C3/?..........
...................................................................................... 12
What is PAL ?................................................................................................... 12
What is one-point safety.?................................................................................. 12
Is is possible to have a reliable defence against a nuclear attack ? ........... 12
Can the population be protected in a nuclear attack ? .,.............................. 12
What are the relative costs of the different components of the weaponisation ? 13
Fissile Material
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
3
4
What are fissile materials ?.................................................................................
What is highly enriched uranium ?.................................................................
What is weapons grade plutonium ?.......................................... ......................
Can weapons be made from reactor grade plutonium ?..............................
13
13
13
13
14
"•Nuclear tests
14
*6.1 Why are nuclear tests necessary ?......................................................................
6.2
What are-the different types of tests ? ...........................................................
6.3
How can underground nuclear tests be monitored ?....................................
14
14
15
7
Deterrence, doctrine and strategy
7.1
7.2
7.3
What is deterrence ?...........................................................................................
What is a nuclear doctrine ?..............................................................................
What is a second strike capability ?.................................................................
15
15
15
16
8
9
What is NPT?
What is CTBT?
What are the implications of CTBT ?
What is FMCT ?
Physics
9.1
9.2
9.3
9.4
10
18
Treaties
8.1
8.2
8.3
8.4
What are chemical and nuclear reactions ?
What are fission and fusion reactions ?
What is a chain reaction ?
What is criticality ?
The Effect of a Nuclear Bomb on Chennai
.................................................
16
16
17
17
18
18
20
22
1
Facts about Nuclear Weapons
Science and technology has taken several leaps over the centuries, and more so in this
century. As scientists, we take pleasure in unravelling the workings of Nature and appre
ciate its beauty. We take pleasure in explaining the way Nature works and how such an
understanding leads to progress benefiting humankind.
Many such scientific discoveries, like atomic energy, often possess a dual aspect—
one that is beneficial and the other implying devastation and death. In the words of
Albert Einstein, one of the most famous scientists of our times, “Through the release of
^kic energy, our generation has brought into the world the most revolutionary force
since prehistoric man’s discovery of fire”. The past half-century has been a witness to an
aspect of science that would be abhorrent by any reasonable moral yardstick—namely,
the development of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. For the first
time in the history of humankind, we have the power to wipe out the entire human race,
either intentionally or accidentally, several times over.
In May 1998, India, followed by Pakistan, conducted nuclear tests and announced their
intention to become nuclear weapons states. We scientists are dismayed and angered by
these events. We are convinced that nuclear weaponisation decreases the security of both
the countries and increases the risk of the population of South Asia being subject to the
horrendous effects of a nuclear war.
“We scientists recognise our inescapable responsibility to carry to our fellow
citizens an understanding of atomic energy and its implications for society. In
this lies our only security and our only hope—we believe an informed citizenry
will act for life and not for death" (Albert Einstein, January 22, 1947).
• This booklet is an expanded and revised form of the original version released in July
1998. It is a continuation of the effort to inform the citizens of India about nuclear
weapons, their deadly effects and the global consequences associated with them. We
believe along with Einstein and several eminent scientists, that our only hope now lies
with an informed citizenry.
Nuclear Weapons
2.1
What are nuclear weapons ?
We will take the word weapon to mean an explosive weapon, such as a bomb, the warhead
of a missile or an artillery shell. All weapons contain explosive material which explode
when suitably triggered. In conventional weapons, the explosive material is something
that can undergo some chemical reaction that proceeds very fast and releases a lot of
energy. Basically it can ‘burn’ so fast that it explodes. The first explosive material used
in weapons was gunpowder, nowadays more powerful explosives like TNT and RDX arc
used.
3
The explosive material in a nuclear weapon can undergo a nuclear reaction at a very
fast rate. What a nuclear reaction is and why it releases so much energy is explained
later.
2.2
How do nuclear weapons differ from conventional ones ?
An important difference between a chemical and a nuclear reaction is that the latter
releases about a million times more energy than a chemical reaction. This difference
makes nuclear weapons much more powerful than conventional ones.
One measure of the power of a weapon is given by the total amount of energy reledW
in the explosion. This is called the yield of the weapon. The yield of nuclear weapons
is usually expressed in terms of the equivalent amount of TNT which would release the
same amount of energy. So a single ‘small’ nuclear weapon whose yield is ten kilotons
releases the same amount of energy as ten kilotons, i.e. 10,000,000 (one crore) kilograms
of TNT.
To get a better idea of what these numbers mean, let us see how many conventional
bombs would release the same amount of energy as one such small nuclear bomb. A
10 kiloton nuclear bomb weighs about 500 kg whereas a conventional bomb of the same
weight contains about 250 kg of explosives. So a single small nuclear bomb releases as
much energy as about 40,000 conventional bombs. The explosion of such a bomb is then
like forty thousand conventional bombs exploding simultaneously at the same point.
Nuclear weapons are tremendously more powerful than conventional ones. They cause
death and destruction on a much larger scale. They are indeed weapons of mass destruc
tion:
The second major difference is that a nuclear explosion produces large amounts of
“radioactive" material that give out deadly rays of nuclear radiation. (This is also called
the fallout.) A large dose of radiation can kill a human instantly. Exposure to a somewhat
smaller amount can have even worse consequences. It can cause severe illness leading to
slow death after days or even years of suffering. Radiation can cause genetic damage
leading to babies being bom deformed. It contaminates large areas of land, making it
useless for agriculture for years or even decades. These aspects of nuclear weapons thus
introduce a new dimension of horror. The poisoning of humans and their environment fl
radiation makes the process of recovering from a nuclear attack a long and painful one.
These arc the reasons why a large section of informed and sensible people in the world
consider nuclear weapons to be unacceptable, much more so than biological and chemical
weapons, which are already banned by international agreement.
2.3
What are the different types of nuclear weapons ?
Two types of nuclear reactions are used in nuclear weapons. The nuclei of some heavy
elements like uranium or plutonium can split into two roughly equal sized nuclei with the
release of energy. Such a process is known as nuclear fission. On the other hand, two light
nuclei can undergo nuclear fusion to combine and form a single nucleus, again with the
release of energy. These reactions are explained in detail later. All nuclear weapons use
fission and fusion reactions in different combinations.
From the point of view of military usage, the weapons fall into two classes. The first
are called tactical weapons. These are meant to be used in the battlefield against military
formations and are typically low-yield weapons. The second class arc called strategic
weapons. These are high-yield weapons designed to kill civilian populations in cities. The
different types of weapons that have been built or thought of are described below.
Pure Fission Weapons
.^apons in which only the fission reaction takes place are called pure fission weapons
or simply fission weapons. Such were the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
These are the simplest nuclear weapons to design and build. They form the basis for
developing other types of weapons. Their yield can range from a few tons to about a few
hundred kilotons. They can be both tactical and strategic weapons. The largest pure
fission weapon tested is believed to be a 500 kiloton bomb called Mk-18 which was tested
by the USA on the 15,A November 1952.
Boosted Fission Weapons
The efficiency of a fission weapon can be dramatically increased by introducing a small
amount of material that can undergo fusion. Such weapons are called boosted fission
weapons. In boosted weapons, the fission reaction takes place first and produces the
required temperatures and densities for the fusion reaction. The fusion in turn accelerates
the fission reaction. The fusion only serves to help the'fission process go faster and makes
the weapon more ‘efficient’. It contributes to only about 1% of the yield. Since boosted
fission weapons arc more efficient than pure fission weapons, they can be made lighter
for the same yield. So most of the strategic fission weapons deployed today are boosted
fission weapons.
Thermonuclear Weapons
^Uiermonuclear weapons, also called hydrogen bombs, get most of their yield from the
•Pkion reaction. As in the case of boosted fission weapons, they require a fission explosion
(called the primary stage) to trigger the fusion (the secondary stage). However, unlike the
boosted weapons, thermonuclear weapons contain a substantial amount of fusion fuel and
most of their yield comes from fusion. These are the most powerful nuclear weapons, often
with yields of a few megatons (a megaton is a million tons). A third fission stage can also
be added to produce very high yield weapons. The most powerful nuclear weapon to have
been tested so far is the Tsar Bomba, a 50 megaton three-stage weapon exploded by the
USSR on 30"1 October, 1961. However it is not necessary for a thermonuclear weapon to
have such high yields. The B61 (Mk-61) class of tactical thermonuclear weapons deployed
by the USA have yields which can be adjusted to be as small as 0.3 kilotons (300 tons).
5
Enhanced Radiation Weapons
Enhanced radiation weapons, also called neutron bombs, are small thermonuclear weapons
which are designed to produce intense nuclear radiation. These are tactical weapons
designed to kill soldiers protected by armour (for example, inside tanks). The radiation
produced by the neutron bombs can easily penetrate the armour of tanks and kill the
humans inside.
Salted Nuclear Weapons
Salted nuclear weapons, or cobalt bombs, are thermonuclear weapons which are dcsig'^k
to produce a large amount of long lasting radioactive fallout. This would result in la^£
scale radioactive contamination of the area they are dropped in. The fallout from salted
weapons is much more intense and lasts much longer than from unsalted weapons. The
long term effects of such weapons would therefore be much worse. These weapons are
called ‘Doomsday Devices’ since they could possibly kill everyone on earth. Fortunately,
though these weapons have been conceived of and discussed, none have been built or
tested (as far as we know).
Pure Fusion Weapons
These are fusion weapons that would not need a fission trigger for the thermonuclear
explosion. Active research is going on in the US to develop these weapons, but with no
success so far. Since there is no fission trigger, pure fusion weapons could be made with
very low yields. Yet, the lethality of these weapons due to nuclear radiation and explosive
force would still be great. For instance, a pure fusion weapon with an explosive force
equivalent to one ton of TNT would kill people in an area nearly a hundred times larger
than a conventional bomb with the same explosive force.
Another feature of these weapons is that since they do not use fissile material, their
development would not be restricted by the FMCT (FMCT is discussed later).
2.4
What is the difference between a nuclear weapon and a re
actor?
0
Nuclear reactors harness the energy produced in nuclear reactions to generate electrical
power. They are also used to power the motors of ships and submarines. In order to
do this, reactors are designed to precisely control the rate of the nuclear reactions taking
place in them. The energy is then released at a controlled rate and can be used to
run turbines which generate electricity or run motors. The reactors at Kalpakkam, for
instance, produce electricity in this manner.
Although nuclear reactions take place in a reactor just as they do in weapons, the
crucial difference is that the rate of the nuclear reaction is controlled in a reactor whereas
in a weapon, once triggered, the reaction proceeds in an uncontrolled way leading to the
explosion.
6
Nuclear and thermal radiation
Fireball
Primary blast wave front
1
Distance
(Km)
|----- 1------[—]—I------ 1----- 1----- 1----- 1------1----- FT
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 IJ 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0
Figure 1: Half a second after a nuclear explosion
As an analogy, in a car engine petrol is burned in a controlled way inside the cylinder
to drive the motor. On the other hand if a lighted matchstick is dropped into the fuel
tank the same petrol will bum in a completely uncontrolled way and could lead to an
explosion.
As can be visualized from the analogy, a nuclear reactor is a complex mechanism
compared to a bomb.
3
Effects of Nuclear Weapons
To understand the effects of a nuclear weapons attack, let us consider the sequence of
death and devastation that unfolds when a ten kiloton range weapon is exploded at some
point which we shall call ground zero. The weapons are exploded slightly above the ground
for maximum effect. (For a detailed account of the effects of a nuclear weapons attack on
Chennai, see the article at the end of this booklet.)
Because of the tremendous amount of energy released in a nuclear detonation, temper.^ares of several crore degrees C develop in the immediate area (contrast this with the few
j^isand degrees of a conventional explosion). This compares with the highest tempera
ture inside the core of the Sun. At these temperatures, every thing near ground-zero (a
few hundred meters) vaporises. The remaining gases of the weapon, surrounding air and
other material form a fireball. The fireball begins to grow rapidly and rise like a balloon.
The combination of this rise, and subsequent expansion as it cools gives the appearance
of the familiar mushroom cloud. The vapourised debris, contaminated by radioactivity,
falls over a vast area after the explosion subsides—a deadly fallout with long term effects.
The energy of a nuclear explosion is released in the form of a blast wave, thermal
radiation (heat) and nuclear radiation. The distribution of energy in these three forms
depends on the yield of the weapon. For nuclear weapons in the kiloton range (as in
Pokhran II), the energy is divided in various forms, roughly as 50%-blast, 35% thermal
Figure 2: Illustration of blast effects for a 15 kiloton explosion. Zones 1 and 2 correspond
to the “killing field" where the fatalities are universal.
and 15% nuclear radiation. Each one of these forms causes devastation on a scale that is
unimaginable. Below we discuss these effects separately for a 15 kiloton bomb.
3.1
What are blast effects?
Because of the very high temperatures and pressures at ground zero, the gaseous residues
of the explosion move outward. The effect of these high pressures is to create a blast
wave travelling several times faster than sound. The pressure created is in excess of 10
Psi (pounds per square inch) with wind speeds in excess of 800 kmph up to about 1
radius. Most buildings are demolished and there will be almost no survivors. This is K .■
real killing field. Beyond this distance, and up to about 2.5 km the pressure gradually
drops to 3 Psi and the wind speed comes down to about 150 km as in a severe cyclonic
storm. There will be injuries on a large scale and some fatalities. Beyond this zone of
fatalities, the pressure drops to less than 1 Psi, enough to shatter windows and cause
serious injuries. It is the high speed combined with high pressures which causes the most
mechanical damage in a nuclear explosion. Human beings are quite resistant to pressure,
but not to being thrown over against hard objects nor to buildings falling on them. This
damage is clearly more serious in built-up areas.
Figure 3: Illustration of thermal effects for a 15 kiloton bomb. Regions 1,2,3 refer to the
degree of burns sustained during the explosion. People who sustain third degree burns
are unlikely to survive without immediate medical attention
3.2
What are thermal effects?
The surface of the fireball also emits large amounts of infrared, visible and ultraviolet rays
in the first few seconds. This thermal radiation travels outward at the speed of light. As
a result this is by far the most widespread of all the effects in a nuclear explosion and
occurs even at distances where blast and nuclear radiation effects are minimal.
The intensity of the thermal radiation can exceed 1000 Watts per square cm. Thus
is similar to getting burnt by an acetylene torch used for welding metals. For a 15
kiloton bomb, almost everybody up to a distance of 2 km will suffer third degree burns
^which damage the skin and tissues below it). There will be almost no survivors since no
^^ediate medical attention will be available. Because the radiation is so intense, direct
viewing of the fireball causes injury to the eye. Beyond this region people suffer from
second degree burns, up to about 2.5 km, which is normally serious but may not be fatal.
The effects persist even up to 3.5 km, with people suffering first degree burns (such as
redness of the skin and pain).
The intense heat will also cause the' burning of petrol, diesel and other fossil fuels
along with wood, paper, fabrics etc. This could start a tremendous firestorm as happened
in Hiroshima.
3.3
What are radiation effects?
While blast and thermal effects occur to a far lesser degree in other types of explosions,
the release of intense ionising radiation is a phenomenon unique to nuclear explosions.
This ionising radiation consists of fast moving neutrons, gamma rays, electrons and alpha
particles. Their effect on any part of the human body depends upon the particles as well as
their energy. All these particles have the effect of creating chemically active free radicals
(molecules breaking into ionising fragments) in living beings. This affects the normal
behaviour of living cells. Furthermore, the initial radiation makes the surrounding atoms
(of the air, soil etc.) radioactive and they in turn could emit nuclear radiation ovejg|p
extended period of time from a few minutes to a few years.
Wr
Radiation injury has a long-term effect on survivors. Reactive chemicals released by
ionization cause damage to DNA and disrupt cells by producing immediate effects on
metabolic and replication processes. While cells can repair a great deal of the genetic
damage, that takes time, and repeated injuries make it that much more difficult. Imme
diate treatment requires continual replacement of blood so that the damaged blood cells
are replaced, and treatment of bone marrow and lymphatic tissues which are amongst the
most sensitive to radiation. One must remember in this context that there are very few
hospitals equipped to carry out such remedial procedures.
Radiation injury is measured in a unit called rem. The long-term effects depend not
only on a single exposure, but also on accumulated exposure. Some authorities consider
5 rem/year tolerable for workers who are occupationally exposed to radiation —a typical
value for a single exposure to medical X-rays is 0.08 rem. 1.5 rem/year is considered
tolerable for pregnant women. In the case of a nuclear explosion the radiation levels, up
to several hundred metres away from ground zero, are from hundreds to thousands of rem,
depending upon the weapon. (It should be remembered that natural radiation is always
present in the atmosphere over most places on the earth, but at lower levels. But there
is no universally agreed threshold on a dose of radiation which can be declared safe.)
That is not all. Things which get irradiated by this “prompt" radiation themselves
become radioactive and people in the area of a nuclear explosion, who arc exposed to
these radioactive materials, stand more risk of contracting cancer. A 1000 rem exposure
for the whole body over a lifetime (which is entirely possible) brings about an 80% ch^Kc
of contracting cancer.
",
3.4
What are electromagnetic effects?
Ionising radiation from the fireball produces intense currents and electromagnetic fields,
usually referred to as the electromagnetic pulse (EMP). This pulse is felt over very large
distances. Electrical grids will be subjected to voltage surges far exceeding those caused
by lightning. Modem VLSI chips, present in most communication equipment. TVs,
radios, computers and other electronic equipment are extremely sensitive to these surges
and immediately get burnt out So all possible communication links to the outside world
are cut off. Restoring these facilities will be an arduous (and expensive) task.
10
3.5
What arc the effects on climate?
There are also long term effects on the atmosphere and climate. These are noc as
as the fallout. The high temperature of the fireball can cause large amounts of
oxides to form during the cooling process, causing a depiction of the ozone layer 1“
stratosphere.
The famous proposal of a potential nuclear winter cannot be easily ruled out. This
effect is caused when a large amount of soot is emitted during the burning of various ma
terial like petroleum. The soot effectively blocks sunlight, affecting the climatic conditions
£pr a macroscopic domain. When the volcano Tambora
(on
*
the island of Sumbawa in
mdonesia) erupted in 1815, it threw out so much soot that the next year was a “year with
out a summer" as far away as Europe and America—the coldest year in a few centuries.
Although the proposal of nuclear winter was initially received with some skepticism, later
studies have confirmed almost all the details. An immediate effect is the decrease in food
production since most of the food in the world is produced in subtropical regions, leading
to famine, starvation deaths, etc. Smaller weapons may not produce a nuclear winter.
but a mild ‘nuclear autumn’ cannot be ruled out.
4
Nuclear Weaponisation
4.1
What is nuclear weaponisation ?
A country that wants to have nuclear weapons as a part of its defence forces, has to also
build up a lot of accompanying infrastructure, Along with having nuclear weapons, it
needs a delivery system and a C3I system (see below). Apart from this hardware, it
needs to formulate a nuclear doctrine and strategy. All this constitutes weaponisation.
So nuclear weaponisation is a long process. It starts with the designing and testing
of the weapons and delivery systems. This is the stage India is in May 1999. The next
step would be actual large-scale production of these systems. Along with this, the C3I
has to be set up. The next step is the induction of these systems into the armed forces,
the training of the personnel and finally the deployment of the weapons.
^.2
What is a delivery system ?
A delivery system is the means by which the nuclear weapon is "delivered" to the victims.
It could consist of aircraft carrying nuclear bombs and missiles with nuclear warheads
These missiles could be either launched from land, ships or submarines. Some tactical
nuclear weapons are small enough to be made into artillery shells and fired from camions.
Missiles are the preferred means of delivery for strategic weapons since it is virtually
impossible to set up a system of defence against them, They travel so fast that there is
no way to reliably detect and shoot them down before they hit the target.
4.3
What is C3I ?
C3I stands for command, control, communications and intelligence. When a country has
nuclear weapons and a delivery system, it automatically consitutues a nuclear threat
to other countries and therefore increases the chances of being itself subject to a nuclear
attack. So it has to set up a complicated system of radars and satellites to keep a constant
watch, and to issue a warning of an impending attack. This is the intelligence part.
If such a warning comes, then decisions have to be taken very quickly. First, it has to
be decided if the warning is genuine, and if so what should the response be (what missiles
have to fired, etc). These orders hate to be conveyed quickly and reliably to the personnel
who are actually manning the weapons. A procedure to do all this has to rely on a rcliat®
and robust communication network. This procedure has to also ensure that no weapon
is fired without proper authorisation or by mistake. This is the command, control and
communications aspect. All this together constitutes the C3I system.
4.4
What is PAL ?
Given the devastation that can be caused by nuclear weapons, it is clearly very important
that great precaution be taken to prevent their unauthorised use. PAL, which stands for
permissive action links, are systems that make it impossible to activate the weapon without
proper authorization. These are electronic devices that prevent the activation or arming
of the weapon unless the correct codes are inserted into it. Typically tw0 codes should be
inserted, simultaneously or close together. The codes are usually changed regularly.
4.5
What is one-point safety ?
Apart from preventing unauthorised use, it is equally important to ensure that the
weapons do not explode accidentally. For example, if it is accidentally dropped dur
ing transportation (such incidents have occurred), it should not explode. One-point safety
is a safety criterion to prevent such accidents. It states that if one of the many conven
tional explosives in the weapon detonates by accident, then the nuclear explosive should
not go off.
4.6
Is is possible to have a reliable defence against a nuclea^
attack ?
As mentioned earlier, it is impossible to have a system which can reliably detect and
shoot down missiles. Therefore, there is no reliable defence against a missile attack. Since
missiles are used to deliver nuclear weapons, there is no defence against a nuclear attack.
4.7
Can the population be protected in a nuclear attack ?
The only way to survive a nuclear attack would be to have underground shelters. These
shelters would have to have to be stocked with enough food and water to last for about
12
a week, since it would take that much time before the radiactivity levels come down to
relatively safe levels. Constructing such shelters for the entire population is impossible,
especially in India. It is impossible to protect any population from a nuclear attack.
4.8
What are the relative costs of the different components of
the weaponisation ?
An analysis of the costs of the nuclear weapons program of the USA by the Brookings
Institution revealed that the relative costs of the different components was as follows:
Irevelopmcnt and Production of the weapons
7%
Development and Production of the Delivery systems and C3I 86%
Civil Defence measures
7%
An estimate of the Indian programme made by C. Ramamanohar Reddy of The Hindu
indicates a similar break-up. He conservatively estimates the total cost of the programme
to be about 40,000 crore rupees spread over ten years.
It may be noted that nuclear weapons expenditure is not likely to be shown directly
in the government’s budget under such a heading, to keep it secret from other countries.
5
Fissile Material
5.1
What are fissile materials ?
Materials that readily undergo fission are called fissile materials. Those usually used in
nuclear weapons are uranium and plutonium. Many types of uranium and plutonium
exist—these are called isotopes. The U-235 isotope of uranium the Pu-239 isotope of
plutonium are used in weapons. (Section 9 tells you what these numbers mean.)
5.2
What is highly enriched uranium ?
^haturally occurring uranium contains only 0.7% of U-235, the rest is not fissile and consists
raiainly of U-238. Natural uranium can be refined in many ways to increase the proportion
of U-235. This process of increasing the percentage of U-235 is called enrichment.
Some reactors (and all Indian ones) run on natural uranium. Others need uranium
with about 2% to 5% U-235—this is called enriched uranium.
Weapons need uranium enriched to the level of 80% to 90% U-235. Such uranium is
called highly enriched uranium (HEU).
5.3
What is weapons grade plutonium ?
Plutonium does not occur naturally and has to be made in nuclear reactors. It contains
the isotopes Pu-239, Pu-240 and other higher isotopes. For weapons applications, Pu-240
13
and higher isotopes are contaminants. (They make the fission start too early, reducing
the total yield of the weapon.)
The normal reactor grade plutonium, produced in power reactors, contains about 65%
Pu-239. Weapons require above 94% of Pu-239. Making this in a normal reactor is not
energy-efficient, so usually weapons grade plutonium is produced in “research” reactors.
5.4
Can weapons be made from reactor grade plutonium ?
It is generally felt that it should be possible to make low-yield weapons (upto a
kilotons) from reactor grade plutonium.
'V
Some weapons experts are of the opinion that, with a sophisticated design, a reactor
grade plutonium fission weapon can have as much yield as one made with weapons grade
plutonium (upto about 20 kilotons). However, a reactor grade weapon would use more
plutonium for the same yield. Reactor grade plutonium is also more difficult to handle
and engineer.
6
Nuclear tests
6.1
Why are nuclear tests necessary ?
In order to design a nuclear weapon, it is necessary to mathematically model the processes
that lead to the explosion. The device is then simulated on a computer. In fact, a large
amount of computing is required. Several assumptions go into the modelling and one
cannot be absolutely sure how accurate the model is without actually testing it.
The more complicated the design, the less reliable the modelling and the more the
testing required. Thus the simple “gun assembly” design (used in the Hiroshima bomb)
does not require testing. It is generally felt that an implosion device needs to be tested
(as was done for the Nagasaki bomb).
A thermonuclear weapon is significantly more complicated and requires more testing
than a fission device.
6.2
What are the different types of tests ?
Apart from a full scale test of the weapon, several other tests are done to check different
aspects of the device and the mathematical modelling.
1.
Hydrodynamic tests : These are tests which do not use fissile material (an inert
material with similar properties is substituted). These tests could, for example, be
used to determine how well the conventional explosives in an implosion design work.
Such tests are not banned by the CTBT (Section 8).
2.
Hydronudear tests : In these tests actual fissile material is used, but the nuclear
yield is kept low. The yield could vary from a few kg to a few tons. These tests are
banned by the CTBT.
14
3.
6.3
Sub-critical tests : These are tests where actual fissile material is used, but the
nuclear yield is zero (the material never attains criticality, see Section 9). These
tests are also not banned by the CTBT.
How can underground nuclear tests be monitored ?
An .underground nuclear explosion shakes the ground as much as an earthquake does.
Thus the shock produced by the explosions causes vibrations of the earth which can be
detected far away by seismic stations which monitor earthquakes. The signal produced
^y a nuclear explosion can be clearly distinguished from that produced by earthquakes.
There is now a network of seismic stations all over the world which are constantly
monitoring the vibrations of the ground. Thus any underground explosion of a significant
strength will get detected. The yield of the explosion can also be estimated from the
signal but this measurement is not very accurate.
7
Deterrence, doctrine and strategy
7.1
What is deterrence ?
Deterrence is the rationale used by the nuclear weapons states to justify their weapons.
The argument says that if a nation has capability to inflict unacceptable damage on
another, then the latter will refrain from attacking the former—it will be deterred from
doing so. The proponents of deterrence claim that it is responsible for the fact that there
has been no war between the nuclear weapons states so far.
Given the nature of strategic nuclear weapons, deterrence relies on holding the civilian
population hostage. Any peace brought about by it is like the peace that exists between
two persons who are holding guns to each other's heads with their fingers bn the triggers:
an uneasy, tense peace which is fraught with danger. So the fact that no nuclear war has
occurred in the last fifty years is no guarantee that it will not occur in the next fifty or
hundred years despite deterrence.
'7.2
What is a nuclear doctrine ?
Since a nuclear weapon can destroy a city within minutes of its being launched, it is
necessary for a nuclear weapons state (at least one believing in nuclear deterrence) to
clearly declare the circumstances under which it will use its weapons and the manner in
which it will do so. This is its nuclear doctrine. The doctrine specifies if the state retains
the option of initiating a nuclear attack (first use) or if it will use its weapons only in
retaliation of a nuclear attack (no first use). The state also specifies the extent of use it
will make of its nuclear weapons in different situations.
15
7.3
What is a second strike capability ?
If a nation is subjected to a nuclear attack, it is presumed that the initial targets would
be its own- nuclear weapons facilities. A second strike capability means that the nation
should have enough weapons and have them deployed in a manner that enough of them
survive the initial attack and can be used for a retaliatory attack.
Thus the weapons that make up the second strike capability could be missiles that
are launched from mobile launchers that are constantly on the move. -Or they could be
missiles launched from nuclear submarines which can stay submerged for long periods of
time and are therefore difficult to locate and destroy.
j
8
Treaties
8.1
What is "NPT?
The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was negotiated in 1968, became effective in 1970 and
was indefinitely extended in 1995. As of 1997, nearly 185 countries have signed NPT.
NPT introduced the definition of nuclear weapons states: those which had tested a nu
clear explosive device before January 1, 1967. The key principle of NPT is that possession
of nuclear weapons be limited to only these states. This was sought to be enforced by
ensuring that these nuclear.'haves’ do not transfer nuclear weapons capabilities to nuclear
‘have-nots’.
Discussions on NPT centred around the fact that while non-proliferation was sought
to be enforced, the weapons states were in no way being constrained from producing more
weapons. Eventually, under pressure from non-nuclear states and disarmament groups, a
clause was added (Article VI) which urged the weapons states to pursue negotiations “in
good faith” towards nuclear disarmament.
As formulated, NPT is blatantly discriminatory and legitimises the weapons of the five
nuclear weapons states. India has refused to be a party to it because of this discriminatory
nature and has not signed NPT so far.
8.2
What is CTBT?
I
Negotiations on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) concluded recently in 1996.
The main purpose of CTBT is to put an end to nuclear explosions which seek to test
weapons technology. Signatories to the treaty cannot conduct any nuclear explosions.
Two key features of CTBT stand out. One is that the treaty bans only explosions,
allowing sub-critical (non-explosive) weapons tests as well as detailed computer simula
tions which make explosions unnecessary. (Weapons states like the U.S. do possess such
capabilities.)' The second feature is that the treaty comes into force only if and when all
countries having nuclear capabilities sign the treaty. In particular, this has meant that
unless India and Pakistan sign CTBT, the treaty will not come into force at all (leading
to international pressure on India and Pakistan).
16
Since CTBT does not distinguish between weapons states and others, it is not explicitly
discriminatory. However, India has argued that CTBT is merely a corollary of NPT and
that it perpetuates a discriminatory order: the weapons states will only stop a form of
testing which perhaps they do not need anyway, without committing them to any time
bound programme of disarmament. In 1996, India refused to sign CTBT on these grounds,
while at the same time committing to the self-restraint of not producing weapons. This
Indian stand was widely seen as a moral one, and acclaimed.
However, after the Pokhran explosions, the earlier restraint has been abandoned, and
now there is again international pressure on India to sign the CTBT.
^.3
What are the implications of CTBT ?
For the nuclear weapons states, the CTBT would restrict the ability to design new types
of weapons though it will not completely eliminate it. It will be possible to modify existing
designs but a completely new design will be very difficult to implement reliably in absence
of explosive nuclear tests.
It is possible to make reliable nuclear weapons of a simple design without explosive
nuclear tests. Thus the CTBT will not be able to prevent non-nuclear states from doing
so. However more sophisticated designs (which would be more efficient) require testing
to make sure that they are safe and reliable.
8.4
What is FMCT ?
The Fissile Materials Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) is currently being negotiated. This treaty seeks
to put an end to the production of fissile materials like enriched uranium and plutonium,
which could be used for the production of nuclear weapons.
A nuclear explosion by a country can be detected by other countries, whereas a coun
try’s production of fissile material can be checked by another only by physically entering
the former’s installations. So a crucial feature of FMCT is the verification regime accom
panying it which will bring in ‘‘full scope safeguards". Such observation of indigenous
atomic energy programmes is likely to be unacceptably intrusive.
A similarity between CTBT and FMCT may be in that again weapons states may
^hagree for the simple reason that they will not be affected. Most of the weapons states are
^suspected to have high stock piles of fissile materials and hence may not require further
production of such material. Thus again, the constraint would only be on non-weapons
states. Further, the FMCT will not restrict the production of pure fusion weapons (Section
2), if it becomes feasible.
India has not been party to FMCT negotiations so far.
17
Figure 4: Schematic of a typical atom
9
Physics
9.1
What are chemical and nuclear reactions ?
Now we examine in some detail the physics involved in nuclear weapons. First we take a
look at the structure of an atom.
All matter is made up of atoms. Atoms consist of a small dense positively charged core
called the nucleus which is surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The
nucleus is made up of electrically neutral particles called neutrons and positively charged
particles called protons (see Figure 4). The number of protons in the nucleus is equal to
the number of electrons, making the atom electrically neutral. For example, the nucleus of
a hydrogen atom is made up of a single proton and has no neutrons. The oxygen nucleus
(0-16) consists of eight protons and eight neutrons. The uranium nucleus (U-235) has 92
protons and 143 neutrons. Heavier atoms have a larger excess of neutrons over protons
than lighter ones.
The protons and neutrons in nuclei are held together by strong nuclear forces which
are stronger than any other force that acts between them, such as gravity. Surprisingly,
the total mass of a nucleus is less than the total mass of the individual constituents (see.
Figure 5)1 For example, the total mass of an oxygen nucleus is less than the total mas/
of eight protons and eight neutrons. The interaction between neutrons and protons in a
nucleus is such that it effectively reduces, on the average, their mass, by a small fraction.
Einstein’s theory of relativity explains that mass can be converted to energy, this energy
being quantified by the famous formula, E = me2, for a mass m (c is the speed of light).
Since the speed of light is extremely high (300,000 km/second), even a very small amount
of missing mass gets converted to a large amount of energy. This large amount of energy
thus released is called the binding energy.
Let us compare this to another kind of binding energy involving atoms. Atoms tend
to bind to each other to form molecules. For example, water is made up of molecules
18
Measured mass of
Oxygen atom
Figure 5: The missing mass
Hydrogen
Figure 6: The water molecule HjO
which contain two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen (see Figure 6). The atoms in
a molecule are held together by chemical bonds which form due to the way electrons
distribute themselves in the molecule. The binding energy of a nucleus is about a million
times more than this energy.
In chemical reactions, the atoms of the reacting molecules—but not their nuclei—
"arrange themselves to form the product molecules. If the total amount of energy used
by all the chemical bonds of the reactants is less than the amount used by the bonds in
the products, then the excess energy is released in the form of heat and light. (This is
what school textbooks call an exothermic reaction.)
Nuclear reactions involve a rearrangement of the neutrons and protons of the reacting
nuclei to form the product nuclei. If the binding energy of the reactants is less than the
binding energy of the products, then the excess energy is released in the form of radiation.
Because the binding energy of nuclei is about a million times more than the energy
taken up by a chemical bond, the energy released in nuclear reactions is correspondingly
about a million times more than what is released in chemical reactions.
19
Region of greatest stability
Figure 7: Binding energy per particle (nucleon) in a nucleus
9.2
What are fission and fusion reactions ?
As we saw earlier, energy will be released in a nuclear reaction if the total binding energy
of the reactants is less than the binding energy of the products. Careful measurements
the binding energy of nuclei show that the binding energy per constituent particle (proton
or neutron, collectively called nucleon) of a nucleus increases for light nuclei as their weight
increases, whereas for heavy nuclei it decreases as their weight increases (see- Figure 7).
For example, the binding energy per particle in deuterium (1 proton, 1 neutron) is less
than in helium (2 protons, 2 neutrons). However as the atom becomes heavier (exceeding
about 26 protons in its nucleus, corresponding to the iron nucleus), the trend reverses.
Hence, the binding energy per nucleon in uranium (92 protons, 143 neutrons) is less than
in iron (26 protons, 30 neutrons).
There are therefore two possible kinds of nuclear reactions in which energy may be
released. If a heavy nucleus splits into two roughly equal sized nuclei, energy will be
released. Such a reaction is called a fission reaction. Heavy nuclei like uranium and
20
Very unstable
transient state
Figure 8: The fission process
plutonium undergo fission. They split up into two roughly equal sized nuclei, accompanied
by the emission of two to three neutrons and energy. Fission of these nuclei can occur
spontaneously but can also be induced by the absorption of a neutron. These nuclei have
such low binding energies that the kinetic energy of the incident neutron may be enough
to split up the nucleus into smaller nuclei which are more stable and have higher binding
energy.
If two light nuclei combine to form a single nucleus, then also there will be a release
of energy. Indeed, such processes do occur and are called fusion reactions. These are the
reactions that occur in the core of the sun and stars. An example of a fusion reaction
that is used in nuclear weapons is one in which deuterium (1 proton, 1 neutron) combines
with tritium (1 proton, 2 neutrons) to give helium (2 protons, 2 neutrons), accompanied
by the release of a neutron and energy. In order for two light nuclei to fuse together
they have to collide at very high speeds. Therefore the fusion fuel has to be heated to
extremely high temperatures for the reaction to take place. Thus, most nuclear weapons
which mainly rely on fusion reactions also have fission reactions taking place which trigger
the subsequent fusion reaction.
9.3
What is a chain reaction ?
Ks stated above, the fission of nuclei like uranium and plutonium is accompanied by the
emission of neutrons. We have already seen that heavier nuclei have a larger neutron
excess than lighter ones. So, when a heavy nucleus fissions into two light nuclei, there
will be some excess, '‘free” neutrons left over. Neutrons emitted by the fission of one
nucleus can be absorbed by nearby ones, thus inducing them to split. This process will
then proceed like an avalanche. The first nucleus to. split will induce one or two nearbynuclei to split, each of which will induce one or two more to split, etc. These continuallyinduced fissions form a chain reaction.
21
9.4
What is criticality ?
If all the neutrons emitted by the fission of nuclei (two or three in uranium and plutonium)
were to induce fissioning of other nuclei, the process would multiply at a very fast rate.
However, neutrons can be lost due to various reasons. They could escape from the material
or they could be absorbed by the nuclei in various processes that do not result in fission.
The number of neutrons available for fission, namely the number produced minus the
number lost to other processes, determines whether the fission rate increases or decreases
with time. The number of neutrons lost depends on the size of the assembly. It will be
larger for smaller sizes since more neutrons will escape in smaller sized assemblies. It al^
depends on the density of fissile nuclei in the assembly—the higher the density, the mo?
the chances of a neutron being captured by other nuclei and so the number of neutrons
lost will be smaller. For the same reason, fewer neutrons will be lost with increasing
purity of the material.
If, on the average, more neutrons are lost than produced, then the rate of fission would
decrease with time and the whole process would die out. Such an assembly is said to be
subcritical. If the number lost is exactly equal to the number produced, the assembly is
critical. The chain reaction will then proceed at a constant rate. Finally, if the number
produced exceeds the number lost, then the assembly is supercritical.
An idea of the amount of material required for an assembly to be critical is given by
the critical mass, the mass of pure material for which this self-sustaining chain reaction
occurs. A typical critical mass for a sphere of pure uranium could be anything from 16
to 52 kg, depending on the particular isotope considered.
In a nuclear reactor, the assembly is designed so that the criticality can be precisely
controlled. It can be adjusted to be subcritical, critical or slightly supercritical.
A nuclear weapon is designed so that a subcritical assembly can suddenly be made
supercritical. The critical mass of a fissile material decreases rapidly when the density
of the material increases. A sub-critical assembly can be made critical or super-critical
merely by compressing it, a process used in many weapons.
10
The Effect of a Nuclear Bomb on Chennai
Most nuclear bombs are strategic bombs. They are meant to be used against civilian-’
populations. What might happen if a small nuclear bomb fell on Chennai? Imagine that
it has a yield of only 16 kilotons of TNT— this is what destroyed the city of Hiroshima.
So imagine that early one morning, at 8 AM, a 16 kiloton nuclear bomb is dropped on
Pondy Bazar in T.Nagar. This is one of the main shopping areas in the city bustling with
shoppers most of the time. This is ground zero. Within 3 microseconds a chain reaction
starts inside the Plutonium bomb. In another microsecond the bomb is vaporised and its
energy is released to devastate our city.
Four microseconds after the bomb is dropped, a hot blast of light vaporises everything
within a short radius around ground zero. The shoppers in the Market Complex, the
thousands coming into the crowded shopping area, are the luckiest— a few thousand
22
people are gone even before they can see the blast. The metal of buses, overhead electrical
lines and in stocks in many shops melts away in this heat but has no time to form puddles.
Behind this flash comes a blast— a huge thunderclap of sound so intense that it travels
many times faster than any sound we can hear. This is called the blast wave, and does
most of the damage. It disperses the molten metal and travels on, battering everything
in its path. There is a zone in which the sound is intense enough to tear apart a human
body— this is called the killing over-pressure zone. Up to about 300 meters from ground
zero, people may see a flash of light and the beginning of the mushroom cloud, but are
dead before they can hear the blast. Nearly five thousand people live and work in the
Atlling over-pressure zone around Pondy Bazar. For all of these people death is certain—
Wicre is no time to run, no place to hide.
Less than a second after the bomb was dropped, nearly ten thousand people are dead
and a radioactive mushroom cloud is rising above the Bazar. The electro-magnetic pulse
(EMP) formed in the first few milliseconds of the expansion of the fireball has already
fried electronics over a large area. Singara Chennai has begun to die.
The blast rages on for one and a half kilometres, destroying brick buildings, hurling
people and things into the air, killing by slamming buses, buildings and bodies into people.
The blast travels faster than sound, and no person can run that fast. Nearly a lakh people
in this zone are affected. Maybe a tenth of them die immediately, maybe more; but the
survivors are badly injured. Less than 5 seconds have passed— twenty thousand dead
and nearly a lakh more are injured.
Beyond this the blast declines to mere cyclone speeds, destroying brick houses and
objects of equal weight, up to a distance of 3 kilometres from Pondy Bazar which includes
all of Mambalam, Vani Mahal to the west and almost touching Adyar in the east. Another
three lakhs of people are affected. Perhaps one percent die. Nine seconds after the blast
there are nearly twenty three thousand dead and nearly three lakhs of people need help.
The survivors would be found outside this area, where the shock wave reduces to a
hurricane, a gale and eventually just a nuclear breeze. Around ground zero is an expanse
of rubble at the heart of one of the bustling shopping areas in the city. The area as far
as Adyar, Besant Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur on the one side, and Ashok Nagar, KK Nagar,
Anna Nagar on the other, and a similar distance in all directions has become a killing field.
^ital links between various parts of the city are cut, communications equipment slagged
Py the Electro Magnetic Pulse. Over the days the nuclear poison sowed by the mushroom
cloud would be blown inland— radioactive dust settling over most of Thiruvallur and
Kanchipuram districts and as far south as Mamallapurain.
But before that, within a minute, the world would realize that communications from
Chennai have ceased. The country must start up a massive machinery to aid the city.
What is needed?. Rapid and extensive engineering services to repair the major road and
train links into the devastated area— remember that several lakhs of wounded are trapped
here and will die unless aid reaches them soon. Many families have been separated since
the bread-earners travelled to work in different parts of the city, leaving their families.
Communications must be restored, lists of the living and dead must be made and com
municated to the remainder of the population, to prevent further panic and perhaps riots.
23
Most of the city’s population would be trapped in parts where food cannot be sent with
out repairing roads. We must think about these, and many more questions. We have
grasped a deadly weapon— we must look at the face of death and make our plans to last
beyond it.
The enemy’s bomb may have killed several tens of thousands and injured several
lakhs more. The wielders of our bombs will certainly avenge the death of Chennai,
but it is the remainder of the 50 lakh residents of Chennai who will have to deal with
the consequences— slow death from radiation poisoning, starvation perhaps, higher in
cidence of cancers, the birth of deformed children, the poisoning of Chengalpattu, Gummidipoondi, Mamallapuram areas and the waters of the sea that wets the sands of southern^
shores.
™
In the final analysis it is we who must make certain that such a massive disaster will
not happen. The laws of physics do not care for humans, they are the laws of unthinking
matter and energy. The time has come to go beyond euphoria at our demonstrated control
of the laws of the universe, and to embark on the much harder struggle to create humane
and just laws to bind the nations of the world.
24
Much of the material of this book has been compiled from the High Energy
Weapons Archive website. The website also has links to numerous other
websites. The address (URL) is:
http://vww.fas.org/nuke/hew.
"... We scientists recognise our inescapable responsi
bility to carry to our fellow citizens an understanding of
atomic energy and its implications for society. In this lies
our only security and our only hope—we believe an in
formed citizenry will act for life and not for death."
Albert Einstein, January 22, 1947
"... the world will be a better place if those who made
these deadly bombs destroyed themselves....’’
C. V. Raman, 30 December, 1954
"... it is immoral because the very persons in whose inter
est atomic weapons are proposed to be used would be its
first victims..."
M. N. Saha, 1954, on military strategy based on nuclear
weapons.
This booklet is an effort in the direction of informing the Indian
citizens of the deadly effects of nuclear weapons. We believe that
our only hope now lies with an informed citizenry.
N-Accident May Occur Anytime In India: Expert
OH' 2-
Subject: N-Accident May Occur Anytime In India: Expert
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 05:27:00 PDT
From: "Vinay Baindur" <v_baindur@hotmail.com>
To: il-rti@ilban.emet.in
FYI
(South Asians Against Nukes)
Times of India
22 October 1999
N-Accident May Occur Anytime In India: Expert
HYDERABAD: Former chief of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) A
Gopalakrishnan has warned that India is "likely to face a serious
nuclear accident in the not too distant future11.
He was replying to a question whether an accident similar to the one
that occurred in a uranium processing plant in Japan last month could
occur in India.
Mr Gopalakrishnan said a report prepared by AERB in 1995, which listed
130 defects in various nuclear installations, "did include some
identified problems related to reprocessing plants1'.
"I am not permitted to discuss the specifics openly but suffice to say
that the degree of automation and cross-checks on safety in our older
plants are very minimal and one cannot assert at all that an accident
like the one which occurred in Japan will not happen in India, '' he
said.
The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has so far not made the AERB
report public in spite of legal pressure from the People's Union of
Civil Liberties, and DAE officials were not available for comment on
whether Indian fuel processing plants faced any risk as in Japan.
The September accident at the Japanese facility in Tokaimura occurred
when too much uranium was fed into a container, setting off an
uncontrolled chain reaction. It continued for hours spewing
radioactivity into the air leaving 49 people exposed to deadly r
adiation.
Mr Gopalakrishnan said excessive secrecy in DAE and inability of AERB to
function independently alone took care of the safety of nuclear
installations in India.
"With a captive AERB from which the DAE can in effect withhold
information as they wish, coupled with the shelter the DAE enjoys
through invoking the national security bogey and the Official Secrets
Act, we are likely to face a serious nuclear accident in the not too
distant future,'' he said.
•
OP
"But, with the prevailing cover of secrecy and lack of public awareness
none of us may ever come to know that such an accident has happened
unless the roof of a plant blows out or a visible fire rages there,'' he
said.
According to Mr Gopalakrishnan, the AERB report, among other things, had
urgently called for modification of emergency core cooling systems
(ECCS). Emergency cooling is vital to prevent melting of the reactor
core in the event of breakdown in the circulation of primary coolant.
India had two close calls, one in 1979 - when primary coolant pipe in
Tarapur reactor burst. Luckily, the reactor was not operating at the
time and so an accident was averted.
In 1993, explosion of leaking hydrogen blew up the turbine building of
10/23/99 12:41 PM
N-Accident May Occur Anytime In India: Expert
the atomic plant at Narora and the resulting power blackout stopped the
coolant pump. This time, the core melting was averted by whatever
natural circulation that prevailed due to what is known as the
"thermosyphon' ' effect.
While the Narora fire ranked three in the international event scale of 1
to 7, DAE installations had experienced smaller incidents that had the
potential to become serious, he said.
These include cable fire in Rajasthan atomic power plant in 1985, escape
of coolant heavy water in Madras station in June 1986 and as recently as
in March 1999, six tonnes of heavy water gushed out exposing seven
workers to radiation.
While a fire gutted Kakrapar switch yard and flooded the turbine in
1994, the concrete dome of Kaiga atomic plant collapsed in May 1994 - an
incident which would have been a disaster had it happened while the
reactor was running.
In an official statement in April 1999, the Nuclear Power Corporation
(NPC) said the Narora fire was ''beyond the'control of NPC as the fife
happened in the turbines11, and that the Kaiga dome collapse was
"unfortunate 1 1 .
In May 1987, a mistake during a routine refuelling operation resulted in
a fuel assembly getting entangled with control rod forcing closure of
the second unit of the Madras station for two years.
•
Four tonnes of heavy water spilled out of Dhruva research reactor in
1985 because a valve did not close and in 1991, six vital valves in the
ECCS of Dhruva were found to be in wrong positions.
Another serious human error occurred in 1989, when a technician was
locked inside the Dhruva vault as the reactor was being started.
A recent DAE study had listed all possible—accidents that could occur in
Indian atomic power stations due to human error, but its findings, like
the AERB report appear to be secret since efforts to obtain the report
also failed.
Information about the number of workers exposed to more than normal
radiation was also not available.
With so much secrecy, Mr Gopalakrishnan said he feared that the public
would never know even if there was a serious nuclear accident in India.
"Anything which the DAE can hush up and sweep under the carpet, one can
be sure they will cover up promptly,11 he said.
"Nuclear power is an unforgiving technology,11 cautioned B P Rastogi, a
retired reactor designer. "It allows no room for error. It requires
perfection if one wants to prevent accidents,11 he said.(PTI)
•
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
2 of 2
10/23/99 12:41 PM
Wire/i News : Nuke Opponents Fear Y2K Worst
Subject: Wired News : Nuke Opponents Fear Y2K Worst
Date: Thu, 23 Dec 1999 06:03:17 -0800 (PST)
From: v_baindur@hotmail.com (Vinay Baindur)
To: il-rti@ilban.emet.in, il-nuke@ilbom.emet.in (RTI discussion list)
CC: v_baindur@hotmail.com
From Wired News, available online at:
http://www.wired.com/news/print 70,12 94,33228,00.html
Nuke Opponents Fear Y2K Worst
by Declan McCullagh
3:00 a.m. 22.Dec.1999 PST
If you have any doubt that Y2K has lost its ability to inspire public
panic, consider this week's protest in front of the White House.
It had everything going for it: A catchy shut-down-nuke-plants theme,
foreign visitors imported for the event, and a letter to President
Clinton demanding prompt action.
See also: Social Security Secure for Y2K
Read ongoing Y2K coverage
Read more Politics -- from Wired News
The only thing it lacked was, well, protesters. Just seven people
showed up, and that's counting two peace activists living in Lafayette
Park who decided to rally to this cause, too.
Still, what the demonstrators lacked in numbers they made up for in
conviction.
"We want to take the weapons off of hair-trigger alert," said Mary
Beth Branagan, a San Francisco activist who runs the World Atomic
Safety Holiday site. "We want to shut down the reactors and other
nuclear facilities."
She says Clinton should order diesel locomotives to be parked near
nuke plants where they can provide backup power to cool reactors.
Longtime peacenik James McGuiness feels the same way.
"I'd like them shut down, personally. I think they're not safe," said
McGuiness, who was wearing a Santa hat for the occasion and said he'd
been participating in the 18-year disarmament vigil in the park since
summer.
For the demonstrators, the highlight of the event was mid-afternoon,
when a representative of the mayor of Tokaimura, Japan, was hoping to
hand a letter to White House staff. In September, the village of
Tokaimura, less than 100 miles north of Tokyo, was the location of
Japan's worst-ever nuclear reactor accident.
"I hope from my heart that all the people in the world will have the
peace of mind of having the nuclear power facilities shut down during
the year 2000 rollover," said the letter from the Honorable Tatsuya
Murakami.
Fat chance. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is not only allowing
power plants to operate on New Year's Eve -- officials have drafted a
policy that lets the facilities operate with technical problems that
would normally mean a shutdown.
This comes after over a year of effort from activists. In December
1998, one anti-nuclear group asked federal regulators to pull the plug
on suspect nuclear plants. And disarmament advocates say the
uncertainty about 1-1-00 is an excellent reason for America and Russia
to shut down their nuclear arsenals.
O V I' 2_.
6/4/03
Page 2 of3
main identity
From:
To:
"Prof. S. K. Biswas" <skbis@mecheng.iisc.emet.in>
<abhamahila_21 @yahoo.co.in>; <abhayraj_naik@hotmail.com >; <addfilms@usa.net>;
<ader@vsnl.com>; <ahzkin@yahoo.com>; <aishawaiit@hotmail.com>;
<akiiaru@hotmaii.com>; <akma!@maisacarpets.com>; <akusi@rediffmail.com>; <aleem222@red:ffmail.com>; <alforum@vsn!.net>; <alforum@vsn!.net>; "Amulya Reddy"
<amulya1 @vsnl.com>; <amulya@giasbg01 .vsnl.net.in>; <anant@cts.iisc.emet.in >;
<anasuyas@yahoo.com>; <anaai@rri.res.in>; <aniiprakashganga@indiatimes.com>;
<annbritto@yahoo.com>: <annbritto@yahoo.com>; <anuradha_banerjee@hotmail.com >;
<apama599@rediffmail.com>; <apsabangalore@.vsnl.net>; <aptantri@hotmai!.com>;
<archana@cdotb.emet.in>; <ark786@hotmai!.com>; <arlene_manoharan@hotmail.com >;
"Prof.Amab Rai Choudhuri" <arnab@physics.iisc.ernet.in>; <arundhatikatju@nls.ac.in>;
<arvindnarrain@hotmail.coni>; <asb_india@hotmail.com>; <avijit@ada.emet.in>;
<avinasn_KM@infy.com>; <awhrci@giasbgO1 ,vsni.net.in>; <awnrei@vsni.com>;
<ayat@playforpeace.org>; <backer_aboo@rediffmail.com>; <balagala@hotmail.com >;
<balk@sify.com>; <basuiain@blr.vsnl.net.in>; "Saraswathy Ganapathy"
<be!aku@’blr.vsnl.netin>; <bgvs_kar@hotmail.com>; <bgvs_kar@hotmail.com>;
<bhanu_dss@yahoo.com>; <bhat@isibang.ac.in>; <bmathew@nls.ac.in>;
<bmathew@nls.ac.in>; <bnambiar@vsnl.com>; <bnpramodii@hotmail.com>;
<bpfound@vsni.com>; <bpfound@vsni.com>; <brajeev@isibang.ac.in>;
<bubblzz@bubblemail.com>; <casblr@bgn.vsnl.net.in>; <ccl@nls.ac.in>; "Centre for
Documentation" <cedban@.doccentre.org>: <challops@eth.net>:
<chandra@physics.iisc.emet.in>; <chandru@csa.iisc.emet.in>; <chat@bg!.vsnl.net.in>;
<chat@bgl.vsn!.net.in>; <chegareddy_fc@hotmail.com>; <cherian@isibang.ac.in>;
<chirpy_smiles@hotmail.com>, "C.K. Meena” <ckooms@vsnl.com>; <csparun@vsnl.com>;
<dabang@bgi.vsnl.net.in>; <das@iiap.emet.in>; <davcosta@bgi.vsni.net.in>;
<deame_lu@yahoo.ac.uk >; <diptiman@cts.iisc.ernet.in>; <drgsanjay@yahoo.com>;
<drparvezimam@yahoo.com>; "Mr. Jagadish" <dudiyorahoraata@vsnl.net>;
<esparun@vsnl.com>; "evangeline" <evange!ine@satyam.net.in>; <fevordk@vsnl.com>; "Mr.
Alvitto" <focusgroup@vsnl.net>; <fury@isibang.ac.in>; "gail hart” <gailph1@hotmail.com>;
"gail hart" <gailph1@hotmail.com>; "Dr. Vinod Gaur" <gaur@cmmacs.ernet.in>;
<ghjbas@bgi.vsni.net.in>; <gm@isibang.ac.in>; <gp@css.cmmacs.emet.in >;
<habib@isibang.ac.in>; <hajiramateen@yahoo.com >; <hakkinasangha@yahoo.com>;
<hanstap@aol.com>; <hari_narayan@i2.com>; <harshithmshetty@.hotmail.com>;
<hittaiu@bgi.vsni.net. in>; <hp_chami@yahoo.com>; <hpchamy@yahoo.com>;
> PANEL DISCUSSION ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Orient Longman
cordially invites you
to a panel discussion
on
"India's Dangerous Tryst with Nuclear Weapons"
on the occasion of the publication of the book
"Prisoners of the Nuclear Dream"
edited by
M. V. Ramana and Mr Rammanohar Reddy
U/H/UO
Page 3 of3
on 5 June 2003, at 6.30 pm
at Ashirwad, Loyoia Haii, St Marks Road, Bangaiore
RSVP
Mr Sirigiri Srinivas Orient Longman
Tel (080)6690258/6691907
PANEL DISCUSSION WILL BE CHAIRED BY
Professor Amulya Reddy
PANELISTS
Professor Sanjay Biswas
Df R anidiJiriHra Gulia
Dr Vishwambhar Pati
Dr C. Rammanohar Reddy
Tea will be served at 6 pm.
I
I I l-l H-+++++++-I-++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dr. S.K. Biswas
Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Indian Institute of Science
Bangalore - 560 012. INDIA.
Phone: 0091 80 293 2512,293 2332
293 2351
Fax: 0091 80 3600648,3600683
Email: skbis@mechengiisceniet in
6/4/03
completely with the D.A.’s investigation.”
Tyco says it is conducting an internal probe
into allegations of misused funds.
Last week’s revelations, which helped
push down Tyco’s already-sinking stock,
only added to a cloud of suspicion that has
been hanging over the conglomerate. For
years, critics like Prudent Bear Fund man
ager David Tice have alleged that Kozlow
ski was using aggressive, although not ille
gal, accounting methods to overstate the
earnings of a collection of slow-growth
businesses. By encouraging a company to
depress its earnings just before it was ac
quired, usually in the form of large write
offs of intangible assets, the critics assert,
Tyco made its subsequent growth appear
that much stronger.
After looking for accounting irregularithe Securities and Exchange Commisn gave Tyco a clean bill of health two
years ago. But in the wake of the Enron
scandal, the company’s complex books—
filled with footnotes about thousands of off
shore subsidiaries—sent a lot of sharehold
ers to the exits. In February, company
filings revealed that Kozlowski and his top
deputy, chief financial officer Mark Swartz,
had between them sold more than $500
million in stock back to Tyco since 1999,
even as they publicly declared that they
rarely, if ever, unloaded their shares.
Around the same time, Tyco disclosed that
it had made some 700 small acquisitions
worth $8 billion in the previous three years
without informing shareholders. Then in
April, the company backed away from a
previously announced breakup plan that
was supposed to simplify matters, which
destroyed any remaining credibility.
Since Jan. 1, Tyco shares have fallen
|0he 80%, hitting a six-year low of $10.10
on Friday. Late last week the debt-rating
agencies S&P and Moody’s downgraded
Tyco’s debt, fueling worries that the com
pany, which is trying to trim its $27 billion
in debt—$12.8 billion of it coming due in
the next 18 months—could be caught in a
cash squeeze. Tyco announced last week
that it may have to delay the ipo of its CIT
financial division—which was expected to
raise $5 billion in cash—because of con
cerns by the sec.
For much of the 1990s, investors didn’t
want to let Tyco’s improbably high report
ed growth rate of nearly 40% spoil their
fun. Before last week’s free fall, Tyco
shares (with dividends reinvested) had still
gained almost 400% in the decade since
Kozlowski took over and turned the com
pany into a merger machine, according to
Harvard Business School associate profes
sor Robert Kennedy. Along the way, Koz
lowski snapped up electronics manufactur
er AMP, security firm ADT and medical
products maker U.S. Surgical.
The son of a police detective, Kozlow
ski grew up in Newark, N.J., where he
played basketball in high school. He ma
jored in accounting at nearby Seton Hall
University, living at home to save money,
and worked his way through college play
ing guitar in a wedding band and occasion
ally waiting tables. At one of his first restau
rantjobs, the staff pooled tips, which didn’t
seem fair to a hard worker like him. With
in a month, he had moved to another
restaurant, where he got to keep every cent
he earned. “There seems to have been a fa
naticism about getting every last nickel.
That was his Achilles’ heel,” says Marc
Feigen, managing partner of Katzenbach
Partners, a consulting firm in New York
City, who got to know Kozlowski through a
business-school leadership program.
Kozlowski landed at Tyco in 1976,
hired by legendary hostile-takeover-artist
Joseph Gaziano to fix some floundering ac
quisitions. At the time, Tyco Laboratories
was a small manufacturer of everything
from undersea cables to fire sprinklers. (It
is unrelated to Mattel’s Tyco line of toys.)
But when Kozlowski took over in 1992, he
re-created Tyco in his spirited image.
Hostile takeovers, for starters, weren’t
an option under his regime. To get a de
tailed look at his target’s finances and pick
up the best talent, the deal had to be
friendly. And it had to be fast, finished in
a matter of weeks, not months. Going af
ter underperforming firms that were “fat,
dumb and happy,” in the words of a for
mer Tyco employee, Kozlowski would
move in quickly to slash costs and consol
idate and close factories; top executives
TIME, JUNE 17, 2002
were usually shown the door in favor of 5
eager, young middle managers willing to •
work long hours. To make sure his j
charges made their numbers, Kozlowski |
dangled rich performance bonuses. And I
he insisted on running a lean, decentral
ized operation. Memos are practically for
bidden, as are lengthy meetings. Only
about 150 employees—mainly top execu
tives, lawyers, accountants and bankers—
work at headquarters in Exeter.
Kozlowski liked to think of himself as a
budding Jack Welch, but unlike Welch, he
never developed a set of business practices
that brought real synergy to his disparate
businesses. He had Little patience for GE’s
vaunted Six Sigma quality-control doctrine,
nor did he make enough investments in in
formation technology. And he apparently
didn’t do a good job of nurturing a new gen
eration of managers: retired chairman John
Fort had to return as interim ceo last week.
Some analysts think that in his passion for
quick deals, Kozlowski often overpaid,
most notably for CIT, which may fetch just
half the $10 billion Tyco paid for it in 2001.
Though he has been celebrated on the
covers of Forbes and Business Week, Koz
lowski is, by most accounts, a relatively shy,
unassuming guy, more content to ride his
Harley, fly the company helicopter or sail
his boat than work the room at a cocktail
party. If you didn’t have a deal to talk to
him about, tlie conversation probably
wasn’t going to last long. “Dennis looked
like he was always restless,” says a business
acquaintance. “I wonder if he was close to
anybody, including his board.”
Apparently not. Late last week Tyco’s
interim CEO, Fort, emphasized that “Den
nis is gone.” Then he repeated it: “Dennis
is gone.” — WJtfi reporting by Daren ~onda,'
Hew York and Adam Zagprin/Washlngton
By MATTHEW FORNEY ZHENGZHOU
Wei Jianzhong’s sooty, barracks-like neighborhood in
Zhengzhou, the capital of
That’s when the Henan No. 5
i Provincial Construction Co.
ers. The victims have gathered in Wei’s
cramped living room to commiserate.
There’s Xiong, a 53-year-old former
steamfitter who is trying to survive on $12
a month in unemployment benefits. He
reminisces about the time two years ago
when thousands of workers from a nearby
factory blocked railroad tracks and erect
ed huge posters of the patron saint of Chi
nese workers-Chairman Mao—to de
mand their jobs back. He participated in
the piotest ’to stand with them,” he says.
i oday ht is out of work too. He wonders
aioud Who will stand with me?” Kong
Qiugbin, who worked for 30 years as a
guard at the same factory, chimes in with
an idea: “Execute the factory leaders.
Then maybe we’ll be satisfied.”
Wei shrugs, gets up and leaves the flat
to saunter through his neighborhood in his
plastic sandals and unbuttoned shirt. At 51,
he sells bags of Betty Crocker Bugles for
pennies apiece through his first-floor apart
ment window. It’s all he can do to augment
che $40 monthly stipend he and his wife
receive horn the company that laid them
oft eight weeks ago. Out on the street, he
passes idle ex-colleagues, working-age men
playing cards on empty fruit boxes. Layoffs
by the construction company touch nearly
China's prosperous
surface masks a rising
sea of joblessness that
could threaten the
counties stability
every household. Wei introduces Mrs. Xie,
whose husband was fired in April. He came
unhinged under the strain of supporting
his wife and daughter, grew paranoid and
delusional. Convinced that the police
would charge him with murder, he tried to
drown himself in a barrel of water. Today
he’s in a mental institution while his wife
peddles dumplings of fatty pork and mus
tard greens under the soot-covered trees.
“People here have sympathy,” Mrs. Xie
says, “but I can’t eat sympathy and they
don’t eat enough dumplings.”
If this is China’s century, it’s getting
off to a bleak start for millions of jobless
mainlanders. The country has dazzled the
world with its remarkable progress since
embarking on the capitalist road in 1978.
The economy has quadrupled in size in
two decades. China is rapidly replacing
Asia’s tiger economies as a global center of
manufacturing, and coastal cities such
as Shanghai sparkle with skyscrapers,
five-star hotels and modern electronics
factories. The streets clog with the private
cars of the newly prosperous.
But for every Chinese who has escaped
poverty into the emerging middle and
upper classes, there are many others,
young and old, trapped in hellholes that
blight the outskirts of population centers
like Zhengzhou. China’s headlong rush to
join the global economy is creating new
jobs in the private sector, but it is simulta
neously breeding a gigantic underclass of
have-nots—citizens the government fears
could one day rise up in open revolt.
Urban joblessness, unheard of when
the Maoist government provided cradle
to-grave employment, now averages
around 8-9%, according to scholars at the
Beijing-based Development Research
Center (drc), a government think tank.
(The official rate, by contrast, is a rosy
3.6%.) Joblessness is much higher, per
haps 20%, in industrial rust belts that
cut great swaths across the north, where
outmoded, bankrupt factories are being
shut down and communist-era work units
eliminated at a breathtaking pace. Reli
able numbers aren’t available, but some
estimate there are at least 19 million Chi
nese who are out of work; tens of millions
more are unaccounted for by Labor De
partment statisticians.
And these staggering numbers are
getting worse. China has entered what is
perhaps the most dangerous phase yet in
its transition to a free market economy.
Beijing’s recent commitment to play by
World Trade Organization rules lowers
trade barriers. That means more foreign
competition pressuring China's most vul
nerable industries, such as the country's
steel smelters, coal producers and L20
carmakers. If the government lives up to
its vow to cut bank lending to moneybleeding state enterprises—something it
must do to salvage its woefully indebted
banking sector—and curb deficit spend
ing, factory layoffs will soar still higher.
Meanwhile, struggling Manchurian
farmers who have spent a lifetime planting
grain for the state stand little hope of
competing with mechanized agro-busi
nesses in the U.S. Forced off the land, thev
will decamp for the coastal factories, only to
collide with millions of laid-off state work
i ers seeking the same jobs 'Tn the nest Id
I year's, I predict 150 million farmers •,' ■11
> move to cities looking for work.' says Chen
I Huai, a senior research fellow at the drc.
That's a mass of unemployed migrants
I larger than the total U.S. workforce.
After years of downplay
ing its unemployment
problems. now even
Vice Minister Wang
Dongjin from tbi
Ministry o.' Labor
SOCIETY
jobs crunch as “grim.” The ministry ac
knowledges it must create 17 million jobs
a year just to maintain its current unem
ployment rate. Hu Angang, a professor at
Tsinghua University in Beijing, warns that
China is careering toward nothing less
than “an unemployment war, with people
fighting for jobs that don’t exist.”
Beijing’s worst nightmare is that job
warfare will spin out of control and com
batants will challenge the government it
self—that a countrywide labor movement
will coalesce and become a destabilizing
political force. To date, authorities have
managed to contain the labor protests that
break out like brush fires throughout the
nation. It has helped that many laid-off
workers are managing to earn enough at
odd jobs to eat. “The private economy is
providing enough jobs for people to live,
so it’s less urgent for them to protest,”
says Ching Kwan Lee, a sociologist at the
University of Michigan who researches
China’s labor market.
Even so, this year, the government has
faced its biggest outbreaks of labor unrest
since the Tiananmen Square protests of
1989, with tens of thousands of workers si
multaneously demonstrating against state-
story for Time, was
deported last week
for helping an Ameri
can documentary crew
record a workers’
demonstration. But the
“v China’s coastal cities boom
j
xiaodao xiaoxi, the
jwith electronics factories,
C
.. (./
*
news on the strijk
(but jayoffs are soaring in the /
‘
tJL liaGnING'
rings with fresh repWB
; industrialized northeast
< :-=iiiiriv / ■ '
that quickly reach
■■ ;
%
| GROWING INDUS
workers in other cities.
ft z1'
In 2000, the last year
Agriculture
of complete statistics,
UNW/Ui
, -^JIANGSU
“labor disputes” of
Electronics
kinds rose 12%
,
«a all
Fishing
to 135,000. “If the
employment situation
doesn’t improve, there
will be a serious impact
Agriculture
on social stability,” says
Mo Rong, a researcher
.WS
Coal.
at the Ministry of LaHeavy Industry
bor and Social Securi
. , ' GUANGDONG
ty'. The decs Chen
Huai warns. “Wl.w.
sector layoffs in China’s northeastern I these people have nowhen.’to turn h provinces. Censors kept the news out of the defend their rights, aven wTniol.
.
official media—Jiang Xueqin, a Canadian
Increasingly, they have nowhere
freelance journalist who worked on this I turn. China lacks effective institutions ti..
Flash Pointsand
HotSpots ' y yy
a
J
)J,1(
d
can administer job programs and stipends
for the out-of-work. Beijing has been trying
to placate the laid-off with severance pay
on a case-by-case basis. But the country
lacks a national unemployment benefits
system—and state enterprises and local
governments can no longer afford to sup
port the jobless. Instead, Beijing plans to
begin forcing laid-off workers back onto
the job market more quickly by cutting
their benefits, in hopes the idle will be mo
tivated to find private-sector opportunities.
In northeastern Liaoning province, the tar
nished buckle of Manchuria’s rust belt, the
unemployed collect about $30 a month for
two years. After that, they’re on their own.
The rest of the country will join the exper
iment next year. “I’m not optimistic the
sure will solve much,” says Luo Yuan, a professor at Liaoning University
monitors the results and reports back
to Beijing. One reason: foreign steel will
decimate mills like the Anshan Iron and
Steel Works in Liaoning and its bloated
workforce of nearly a quarter of a million
people—according to official estimates, the
foundry could cut 39 of every 40 workers
and, by installing modem equipment common elsewhere in the world, still increase
production. “There are too many people
chasing too few jobs,” says Luo.
The government is trying to buy time
for a select few companies deemed too im
portant to flounder. First Auto Group, the
single biggest employer in Jilin province, is
really a city: a population of 250,000 work
ers and dependents, 23 schools, a general
hospital and a TV station beaming the latest company news to the world’s most inefficient autoworkers. An average employee
induces just two-and-a-half cars a year; a
•Serai Motors worker makes nearly 10
times as many. First Auto could easily cut
seven of every 10 workers, f
estimates U.S. manage- I
ment consultancy A.T. 9
Kearney. But the compa- :
ny muddles along through 5
government
subsidies, s
policy loans and profits |
from a joint venture with
Volkswagen. So far, lay- :
offs have hit only one in I
10. “We at First Auto must ■
be responsible to our I
staff,” contends Wo Zong- ,
sheng, its deputy director Jof corporate strategy.
These days First Auto '■
is an exception. Beijing is j
running out of resources t
and can no longer main- .
«
1. d B
W
<>
. - ■
’ c
China's Layoff Policy: Ladies First
ang Xiaohong spends her nights
in the ballroom of the Workers'
Cultural Palace in Shenyang’s
industrial Tiexi district. The hall Is
the sort of place where factory laborers
once gathered to study Mao Zedong
Thought and to cheer propaganda operas.
Today, waltzes from a cheap keyboard echo
crazily from walls stained with decades of
cigarette smoke. Wang, 34, hopes her tight
green sweater will win her an invitation to
dance—she charges a dollar for four songs.
Aman reeking of sorghum liquor and rotten
teeth sidles by, inspecting her. Wang lost
her job in a state-owned department store
in March, two years after her husband's
last paycheck. Now she's the family
breadwinner. Rotten Teeth approaches
again. "I can't do anything else, and this
pays the bills,’’ Wang says, and heads to
the dance floor with him.
Lifted by ideology from their historical
roles as property or prostitutes, China’s
women arguably gained the most from
Chairman Mao's revolution. Under
communism, nearly all urban females
who wanted work found employment in
state-run factories, which offered free
schoolsand daycare. More Chinese
women took senior government positions
than in any other Asian nation.
But during the country's push to build
a free market economy, women such as
Wang are increasingly finding themselves
back where they started, victims of a
post-commune misogynistic backlash.
When state enterprises cut staff or go
broke, women are the first to lose their
jobs And while laid-off men grab the best
private-sector positions or choose to
remain unemployed in hopes of finding
suitable work later, women are being
forced to take whatever menial jobs they
can find to support their families. "Men
won't work for a pittance,” says Hu Guirong,
W
I
*
•
I
'
:
I
1
who works a $30 a month job scrubbing
backs in a Shenyang bathhouse while her
unemployed boyfriend watches over her
eight-year-old child. ‘I'll do what it takes
to keep my daughter in school.”
Walk through the industrial district in
just about any city in China and you can
see women falling from loftier economic
stations: the vendors peddling cheap
calculators and fake Hello Kitty notebooks,
restaurant helps, street sweepers and
ragpickers are all disproportionately
female. "Most bosses would rather hire
men, so for too many women these are
the only jobs available," says Liu Suling,
herself a former street vendor who now
runs an employment agency. Since
1994 the number of women working for
government or state enterprises has
plunged 24%. While job retraining centers
teach men to become chefs, mechanics
and carpenters, women learn less lucrative
trades like haircutting and cosmetics.
A recent Ministry of Labor and Social
Security study concluded that the
re-employment rate for women is 19%
lower than that for men.
Yet to some, China’s fallen women
retain a certain dignity, representing
a capitalist-era replacement for
communism's selfless "model workers.”
Cut loose from the security blanket of the
state, they continue tn provide by any
means possible. “What happens when it's
time for school? I can’t disappoint my
child," says a woman selling name-card
holders in a riexi market. Says Li Hongtao
of the China Women's College, who has
researched how men and women handle
job loss: "Men will hold out for factory work.
even if it doesn't exist. Women rise to the
occasion." These days China's unemployed
women are holding up more than their half
of the sky.
— M.F./Shenyang. Reported by
Jiang Xueqin/Shenyang
SOCIETY
fa—
tain life support for its relics. China’s bank
ing system has built a mountain of bad
loans—nearly all to state enterprises that
had little expectation of ever repaying
them—that now totals as much as half of
China's gdp. By normal accounting standards the country’s biggest state banks are
insolvent. Then there's the debt China will
incur when it has to follow through on
promises to pay worker pensions, which
equals another 70% of GDP, according to
the World Bank. Add in debts that the
government has raised by selling bonds—
another 24% of GDP—and the country’s bal
ance sheet looks dicey. Alarmed by China’s
soaring debts, Finance Minister Xiang
Huaicheng warned at a news conference
this spring that the government must
“make sure we don’t spend like rich men.”
Squeezing subsidies to state enter
prises is necessary if China is to put its
financial house in order. But the cost on
the street is high. The jobless are de
prived of services that were once free and
that they can’t afford themselves-Iike
medical insurance. They are expected to
buy their own, and those without it risk
ending up like Zhao Honggang, who
spends his days on a stinking cot in a bare
room in an abandoned building at the
Shenyang Antibiotics Factory in Liaon
ing. Doctors treated him briefly for elec
trocution after he touched a live wire
while walking alone on a rainy night this
February, then turned him out when no
one paid the bills. Now he can barely
walk to the toilet.
Before Zhao lost his job at the factory
in 1998, it would have provided care for
him. But without that or family support,
his condition has drastically deteriorated.
Suffering from severe bums, his black
ened right arm twisted completely off in
March. He keeps it in a bag across the
room and spends his days slipping into in
sanity, babbling and eating steamed buns
that former colleagues provide him. "He
spent his life at the factory and this is how
China Can’t Keep ’em Down on the Farm
he beacons of prosperity in
China—Shanghai, Beijing,
the Peart River Delta—are
irresistible to residents of
the impoverished interior
provinces. But when they make it
to a place like Shenzhen, across
the border from Hong Kong, the
bright lights grow less attractive.
Lian (not her real name) is one
of more than 5 million migrant
workers here in China's richest
city. After two years in a local
sweatshop making TV
transformers, she and 50 of
her 160 co-workers quit when
their boss decided to move them
to even bleaker premises. Lian,
nowjobless and without welfare,
is sharinga room with her
16-year-old brother, who hopes
to go to school. “Sometimes I
despise this place, this city,"
she seethes. “Eveiybody’s
out for money." Taking the
1,500-kilometer train ride home
isn't an option. A year ago her
father gave uptheghostofthe
family farm; the last she heard
he was working in construction in
nearby Dongguan. Maybe she
shouldn’t have quit The $3 a day
was better than nothing.
Lian is an economic refugee,
part of one of the largest
migrations in human history.
More than 100 million people
have abandoned the dirt-poor
countryside, with 30 million
alone headingtothe Peart River
Delta, mostly to find low-level
factoryjobs. They do so illegally:
China uses a draconian
residential permit system to
keep people in their places. That
T
exposes economic migrants to
exploitation by ruthless factory
bosses. Li Liming, a 24-year-old
from the southwest province
of Sichuan, has worked six years
in factories along the Pearl River
Delta. He remembers his first
job on a Dongguan production
line when he was fresh from
the countryside, netting more
than a dollar a day. “Sometimes
it was 30-hour shifts. The only
way you could get a break was
to faint," he says. “People
would turn their eyelids inside
out to stay awake.”
Workers at Shenzhen’s
Zhufeng Electronics Factory
dorm: a 10-square-meter room
sleeps nine people In eight
beds. The sole decoration is a
tiny wall calendar suspended by
telephone wiring. When a group
launched a strike last month,
says a worker from Hubei, “The
boss said, 'If you're not going to
work, then get out of here.' We
said we’d leave as soon as we
got our backpay, and he replied:
'And if I don’t pay you, what are
you going to do about it?’ ”
Forging ahead with the strike,
they were denied meals, were
rebuffed by the local labor
bureau, and eventually evicted
from the dormitory. The worker
from Hubei holds a sweatstained copy of China's Labor
Law, 2000 between her hands
as she speaks. “We haven't got
our money. Now we have nothing
to eat, nowhere to live.”
These gritty factories and
cramped dorms are where
China's grapes of wrath are
fermenting. Shenzhen-based
researchers say the plants,
though multiplying quickly and
for the most part profitably,
are paying less now than in
1992—largely because so
many workers keep streaming
in from the countryside. And
while Beijing has taken steps to
revise the nationwide residence
permit system to give migrants
access to social services, the
results have been slow in
coming. For now and the .
foreseeable future, migrant
workers are China’s largest
group of disfranchised citizens.
Li Liming isn't sure what
he'll do next. He has a small
amount of money and a friend
he can stay with for a few weeks.
But, he says, “I want to try and
do something for myself."
Sitting on the comer of a busy
intersection at dusk, eyeing
the gray Shenzhen skyline, he
adds, “I have nothing to my
name," quoting the title of a
popular song that became a
post-Tlananmen anthem of
destitution. “Working in factories
these past few years, I've come
to realize there's no way to get
ahead. The factories are crazy
places, and being stuck in there
month after month you lose all
grasp on the outside world."
One fact Li and his fellow
migrants know all too well: they
can’t go home again.
—By Neil
Gough/Shenzhen
^B1 subsistence jobs that make up an in-
Petty Crimes
After Li Yuxing lost
his job, he began
picking pockets at
the train station to
make ends meet.
The 32-year-old lives
with his parents and
is looking for work
■ f formal subeconomy—untaxed and
^B ? unrecorded.
■i
Some local governments are enM 5 couraging this kind of job formation,
HS “ absent any viable alternatives.
Bfl j Recently, Tiding, a small city nesB$J 5 tied among cornfields in central
■ Liaoning where most state factories
H have closed in the past five years,
BB gave workers a onetime severance
B payout but stopped all other benejHg fits. Instead, it issued licenses to
the laid-off allowing them to pedal
■ tricycle-like rickshaws around town.
■ Everywhere today these pedicabs
clog the streets; competition is so
BgB fierce that even the best drivers earn
just $2 in a 10-hour day. It’s enough
^B forex-factory workers to survive, but
^B not much more. Yet Li Dianjun, a
■ com farmer from a nearby village,
■ considers it a windfall. Li spent the
■B past two months sneaking a pedicab
M into the city and, for the first time,
■B competing with city dwellers for
■ customers. He carefully avoids
H policemen who might confiscate his
^B vehicle. “Of course I’ll keep going
H back,” he says. “If I couldn’t work in
■ the city, my family would go under.”
Z
Circumstance turns farmers
into reluctant entrepreneurs. Genuine entrepreneurship, however, goes
begging.
Although
small businesses
I can play a crucial
I role in generatI ing jobs, there
are no programs
I nurturing small business formation.
I Three-quarters of all bank loans go
to state enterprises, starving
private businesses of cash.
9 Yang Qingtao knows well
__A^B how difficult it is to get seed
money. He runs a successful
beauty parlor in Shenyang in Liaoning,
and wanted to open a shop selling cell
phones. After many dinners and many
beers Yang finally convinced a bank
official to lend him money—to buy an
apartment. He put it into his enterprise
instead. “It’s almost like the banks don’t
want us to do business,” he says from be
hind the Nokia counter of his new shop.
Today Yang employs 10 young clerks,
most of whom devote part of their salaries
to helping laid-off relatives.
The lack of options forces some of
China’s jobless to take desperate risks. In
There are at least
19 million
Unemployed in
it cares for him,” mutters one.
Today the great hope for China’s ablebodied workers is the private sector, the
fastest-growing part of China’s economy.
Private companies, ranging from the
biggest real estate developers to the hum
blest street sweepers, provide a fifth of all
recorded nonfarm jobs in China. There
are twice as many private-sector jobs today
as there were five years ago. Yet it’s not
clear that enough are being generated to
keep pace with unemployment. Between
1997 and 2000, according to the Labor and
Social Security Ministry, jobs in stateowned enterprises and collectives de-
creased by 43 million, or almost
one-third. Over the same period, private
sector and other non-state jobs increased
by about 16.5 million.
For many the gap is being filled by
petty crime, prostitution and menial la
bor that can barely be called real employ
ment. A 32-year-old former glassworker
in Lanzhou in Gansu province, Li Yuxing
made ends meet for a time by picking
pockets at the train station. He swears
he’s given it up, but he can’t find honest
employment. Li has been relegated to
China’s army of street hawkers and shoe
shiners, people who live day-to-day doing
1999, Zhang Xu was laid off from a plastics
factory in western Lanzhou, China’s most
polluted city. His wife lost her job this
April. Zhang now heads every morning to
the place where he’s pinned his hopes: the
stock exchange. On Labor Day, the most
auspicious date he could think of, he
plunged his entire savings of $5,000 into
China’s notoriously fickle market. Late in
the morning he arrives at the Lanzhou
trading center, watches prices blink
across the large screen and searches for
tips among the hundreds of unemployed
workers who have also bet everything on
stocks. Zhang has lost 10% of his money to
the market’s slide this year. But he’s con
vinced the government will intervene and
prop up ailing stocks. “So many of us put
our money here, the government knows
what the consequences would
be if we lose everything,” he
says. “It can’t let the market
slip farther.”
That thinly veiled threat
of “consequences” is
beginning to rever- B
berate. This March, I
in the northeastern B
city of Liaoyang in Liaor
ers protested outside the city hall for back
wages and pensions in demonstrations
that began at a handful of factories and
□ Monthly unemployment
S±Lin Shenyang,
China’s rust-belt capital
Help Wanted
'' Vocational programs like this chef school,
i left, are rare; Shenyang’s jobless, above;
| the P.L.A. quells a Liaoyang protest, right
quickly drew workers from all over the
At the same time, 30,000 workers
China’s biggest oil company,
PetroChina, besieged their factory in the
northeastern province of Heilongjiang to
demand more severance pay even though
they had received more than $10,000
each—a fortune by the standards of most
unemployed. Encouraged, thousands of
workers in other cities such as Fushun in
Liaoning and Lanzhou also launched
protests against layoffs. That it all took
place during the annual meeting of Chi
na’s rubber-stamp parliament showed
workers wanted to send a message that
carried farther than their local leaders.
Beijing will not tolerate an organized
labor movement, however. While the
government generally pays off protesters
who are genuinely owed money, it also
arrests those who lead demonstrations. At
least 41 labor activists are being detained
in China and another 60 were briefly held
k
during the past three months, according
to the International Confederation of
Free Trade Unions. The carrot-and-stick
strategy—placate the workers, jail the
organizers—seems to work for now as a
deterrent. Demonstrations continue to
flare up, but they have yet to turn ugly
enough for authorities to resort to mass
arrests or head bashing.
Meanwhile, millions of additional lay
offs are looming in the next few years. If
China’s economy continues to outper
form, then the country just might be
able to accommodate wenching social
changes without a political crisis and
without bloodshed. But the outlook for
the ordinary worker is not bright. The best
most can hope for is that they will be as
lucky as Wang Shanbao, who lost his job at
a diesel refinery in Zhengzhou four years
ago. In silent protest, the 55-year-old be
gan sketching chalk drawings of Chair
man Mao on the sidewalk outside his fac
tory. Crowds gathered every day to
admire his work. “The managers became
so embarrassed that they gave me my job
back,” says Wang. Score a rare victory for
China’s unemployed millions.
—With
reporting by Allen Chcng/ChangchL-n and Jian?
Xueqin/Shenyang
AGONY AND ECSTASY
From Soweto to Kashmir, Calcutta to Buenos Aires: the world watches the Cup
Argentina
England
he path to Buckingham palace is still hung with
T
flags to celebrate 50 years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, but
last week England had a new monarchy. As King Sven and
Prince Beckham led England to a pivotal 1-0 upset over
mighty Argentina, more than four million people across the
country were skipping work, cutting class and generally shirk
ing their obligations to be a part of the most nationalistic mo
ment since the Falklands War with Argentina in 1982. “I’m defi
nitely more excited about this than the Jubilee,” said an
ll-year-old named Sam, who had traveled from Manchester
with his older brother to join the nearly 2,000 people who had
gathered in the Odeon Cinema, at London’s Leicester Square,
to watch the match. “It’s a sacred day," says Susie Stanford, a
student at St. Paul’s school in London who finished her exams in
time to don head-to-toe England regalia and watch the game.
“It’s a national holiday, basically.” Within half an hour of the
victory, as taxis, trucks, and groups of young men roamed the
streets flying England flags, T shirts reading “England 1 Argies
0” were being sold on the streets. Never mind the JubileeGod Save The Team.
—By Blaine Greteman/London
48
IN BUENOS AIRES’ FINANCIAL
district, scores of people stand
ing in line to change pesos for
dollars watched the duel with
England on televisions set up
on a makeshift worktable.
“Football helps us forget our
problems,” says Ricardo
Gandin, the newsstand owner
who had brought tire TVs. But
when Argentina fell behind,
these sidewalk spectators let
out a deep, collective groan of
despair. Tempers soon began
to flare. “To even suggest we
might lose is like insulting my
mother,” hissed Orlando Mal
donado, 30, a government em
ployee who watched the game
from the street “because it
TIME, JUNE 17, 2002
■
ESSAY
Simon Robinson
Charity Begins at Home
New farm subsidies in the U.S. will hit developing countries hard
may not know much about the
manufactured goods. It’s not as if the developing world
intricacies of global trade, but she does know the pow
wants any favors, says Gerald Ssendawula, Uganda’s Minis
er of “free marketing,” as she calls it. Njeri, 45, sells veg
ter of Finance. “What we want is for the rich countries to let
etables outside the gas station on the Nairobi street
us compete.”
where I live. Ever}' morning she collects a few tomatoes,
Agriculture is one of the few areas in which the Third
onions or beans from her tiny plot and spends the rest of the
World can compete. Land and labor are cheap, and as farm
day selling what she can to passers-by and people who stop for
ing methods develop, new technologies should improve out
petrol. Margins are small: Hannah makes just a few dollars a
put. This is no pie-in-the-sky speculation. The biggest success
day, which she uses to help put her children through school.
in Kenya’s economy over the past decade has been the boom
She would like to own her own greengrocery, but capital is a
in exports of cut flowers and vegetables to Europe. Kenya is
problem. “Competition is tough. Everything depends on the
now the biggest source of cut flowers for the E.U., and the hor
market,” she says, sitting next to her friend Margaret Wajeru,
ticulture industry, which employs 70,000 people, last year bewho is shelling peas. “Sometimes
r came the country’s second-biggest
you can’t get tomatoes, so we are go
; foreign-exchange earner after tea.
ing to sell them for more. Or every
> But that may all change in 2008,
one has potatoes, so you have to cut
when Kenya will be slightly too rich
your price a lot Prices go up and
to qualify for the “least-developed
down just like that.”
| country” status that allows African
Fanners hate price fluctuations.
producers to avoid paying stiff Euro
It makes it hard to plan ahead. But
pean import duties on selected agri
most farmers in the developing
cultural products. With trade barri
world have little choice: like Njeri,
ers in place, the industry in Kenya
they sell at the price the market sets.
will shrivel as quickly as a discarded
Farmers m Europe, the U.S. and
rose. And while agriculture exports
Japan are luckier: they receive mas
remain the great hope for poor coun
sive government subsidies in the
tries, reducing trade barriers in oth
form of guaranteed prices or direct
er sectors also works: America’s
handouts. Last month President
African Growth and Opportunity
Bush signed a new farm bill that
Act, which cuts duties on exports of
gives American farmers $190 billion
everything from handicrafts to
over the next 10 years, or $83 billion
shoes, has proved a boon to Africa’s
more than they had been scheduled
manufacturers. The lesson: tire
to get, and pushes U.S. agricultural
Third World can prosper if the rich
support close to crazy European lev
world gives it a fair go.
els. Bush said the step was necessary
This is what makes Bush’s deci
to “promote farmer independence
sion to increase farm subsidies last
and preserve the farm way of life for
month all the more depressing. Poor
generations.” It is also designed to
countries have long suspected that
help the Republican Party win con African farmers don’t have the benefit of subsidies the rich world urges trade liberal
trol of the Senate in November’s mid-term elections. One per
ization only so it can wangle its way into new markets. Such
son it won’t help is Hannah.
suspicions caused the Seattle trade talks to break down three
Agricultural production in most poor countries accounts
years ago. But last November members of the World Trade
for up to 50% of GDP, compared to only 3% in rich countries.
Organization, meeting in Doha, Qatar, finally agreed to a new
But most farmers in poor countries grow just enough for
round of talks designed to open up global trade in agriculture
themselves and their families. Those who try exporting to the
and textiles. Rich countries assured poor countries, who felt
West find their goods whacked with huge tariffs or compet
they had been ripped off under the previous Uruguay trade
ing against cheaper subsidized goods. The World Bank cal
round that finished in 1994, that their concerns were finally
culates that the annual cost to poor countries of industrial
being addressed. Bush’s handout last month makes a lie of
country trade barriers is six times the amount developed
America’s commitment to those talks and his personal devo
countries spend on aid. In 1999 the United Nations Confer
tion to free trade. Or as Hannah puts it, “Getting money from
ence on Trade and Development concluded that for each
the government is cheating.”
B
dollar developing countries receive in aid they lose up to $14
just because of trade barriers imposed on the export of their
Simon Robinson is Time’s Nairobi bureau chief
annah njeri
H
68
TIME, JUNE 10,2002
By MICHELLE ORECKLIN
PEOPLE
THE PERFECT
BOND GIRL
GO FIGURE
The first Miss Russia to win the
title of Miss Universe would
impress both Tsar Nicholas and
Comrade Khrushchev. OXANA
FEDOROVA, crowned last week in Puerto Rico,
trained at the Russian police academy and boasts
among her talents hand-to-hand combat and the
ability to assemble a Kalashnikov rifle in a matter
of seconds. Her victory caused typically gloomy
Russian souls to bloom with pride, with her
triumph leading all national
newscasts. One report aired
snippets from her school
records, including
such praise as
“Physically in good
condition. Knows the
rules for maintaining
and firing weapons. Knows
how to keep state secrets.”
Proving that Fedorova is also heir to
her country’s imperial past, she favors
luxurious evening wear and exhibited
during her victory walk a flair for
moving gracefully while sporting a jewelencrusted tiara.
ANNA NICOLE SMITH told Larry
King last week that she is 27. She
also said that her son is 16 and
that she was 17 when he was bom.
With luck, her math skills will im
prove when she receives the $88
million she was awarded in March
band, oil tycoon Howard Marshall.
“
If not, starting in August, viewers can watch her squander
the cash when the E! channel airs a reality series of her
life. E! says it had the idea before The Osbournes (though
that show’s success probably sped up production). Smith's
once sybaritic ways have abated since Marshall died at
age 90 in 1995 and she gave up modeling to become a
full-time litigant, battling his sons over the money. But she
told King she wants more children and hopes to conceive
via a one-night stand. Let’s see the Osbournes top that.
Nonmutant Ninja
For the role of Elektra in the upcoming film Daredevil,
JENNIFER GARNER plays a wealthy student by day and an
avenging ninja by night. Both personas sport great clothes, says
Garner, currently shooting the movie while on hiatus from the
TV show Alias. The outfit below is what she wears to “go out
killing.” Elektra is particularly keen to off Daredevil, played
by Ben Affleck, and to do so, she employs pronged knives called
sais, which she spent months training to use. "At first I was a
danger to myself and everyone else,” she says. “It was extremely
cool, but next summer I’D probably be looking to do a comedy.”
j YOU NEVER KNOW WHO YOU’LL MEET
t
S
s
S
S
What, you may ask, is Olympic speed skater APOLO OHNO doing hanging
out with THE CLINTONS? And why is he wearing his gold medals at the
beach? Reasonable questions, and ones for which there are in fact
answers. For its July issue, W magazine brought Ohno to the Dominican
Republic where, serendipitously, the Clintons and Chelsea’s boyfriend IAN
KLAUS happened to be on vacation. When W asked them to pose together,
the Clintons eagerly agreed. “They were in awe of Apolo, treating him like
a celebrity," says W fashion director Joe Zee. In return, Ohno apparently
made no snide comments about Bill’s shirt.
(
IHCU,SAFETY CENTER
Fa« :Wul-K2->'>«21
Jul
CP
2 ’93
16:26
OH-
health hazards of nuclear technology
The development of nuclear technology both tor peace and for war has significant health
implications which all of us need to understand. This article seeks to convey some basic
information about the health hazards of nuclear technology, presented in a question and answer
formal.
Why do I need to Know what to do in the event of a nuclear disaster?
At the time of the Bhopal gas tragedy, most people in India did not know about the toxic
effects of MIC (methyl-isocyanate) and its treatment. Both the company and the government failed
to lelcasc information immediately. This resulted in delayed treatment or no treatment at all for
many people, and a high death toll.
A number of different kinds of nuclear disasters could occur in our country
1.
a nuclear bombing by another country,
2.
nuclear bomb testing within oui country, by our country;
3.
a nuclear reactor explosion or leak;
4.
leakage of radioactive wastes from storage sites.
5.
loss of radioisotope source material used for medical purposes.
Any such disasters could have widespread effects, including serious medical consequences. We
need to know how to respond if a disaster occurred, and how to protect ourselves
What kind of irradiation is produced by nuclear bombs and reactors?
Irradiation [radiation'?'?] produced by nuclear cxplos cns include:
X1.
rays and gamma rays
2.
alpha rays
3.
beta rays
4 neutrons
Gamma rays, like X-rays, have no mass and travel long distances In the body before losing their
energy. Alpha and beta rays have mass and charge (alpha rays consist of protons and beta rays
of electrons) and travel [only?] long distances in the body.
What are the materials used for producing radioactivity ?
Uranium is the primary fuel used for nuclear reactors and atom bombs. Uranium is the
heaviest naturally occurring element; when it is bombarded with neutrons, its mass becomes even
heavier, making it unstable This resuits in the splitting of uranium atoms, the release of energy in
the form of irradiation, and the formation of elements, such as plutonium, which continue to emit
irradiation. This process is known as fission. The energy harnessed is made into electricity in
nuclear reactors
How does radiation damage the body ?
As these rays hit the body, lhey transfer energy which damages DNA. the molecules of
genetic memory contained in each cell. This can result in cell death; those cells which survive
may behave abnormally The resulting defects in genetic memory may make victims prone to
cancer, and such defects can be passed on from one generation to another.
What are the natural sources of irradiation?
[Small amounts?] of radiation are produced by natural sources in the earth, another
source of radiation is [the earth's atmosphere? outer space? the sun?]. The x-rays used for
medical diagnosis also produce small amounts of radiation. The average individual’s total annual
exposure to radiation is approximately equivalent to about four chest x - rays. For most people.
this amount of radiation does not have any significant medical consequences.
How much radiation exposure is required to produce “acute radiation syndrome"?
Q7/03/M
02:33
TX/RX NO.8423
P.002
IHCW,SHFETY CENTER
Jul
2 ’98
16=27
P.03
Acute radiation syndrome is caused by massive exposure to radiation, equivalent to
20,000 chest x-rays at one time: this level of exposure is possible only under one of the disaster
scenarios described above.
What were the medical consequences of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings?
The U S dropped a uranium bomb on Hiroshima on August 6.1945, and a plutonium
bomb on Nagasaki on August 9.1945. Out of the total combined populations of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki of nearly 6 lakhs, nearly 2 lakhs died in the immediate aftermath of the bombing.
Those in the immediate vicinity of the bomb blast sustained bums from the heat and
mechanical [??] injuries. Many people [%?]. even those who had no immediate injuries from the
blast, developed a mysterious illness of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea which lasted for hours to
days; this was followed by a phase of apparent normalcy which lasted for days to weeks. The
symptoms then recurred with severe diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, falling blood counts, impaired
immunity and infections which resulted in death. [Add??-This sequence of symptoms was later
identified as acute radiation syndrome ]
Those who survived the bombing and the post-radiation illness had a greater risk of
developing different types of cancers, especially leukemia and multiple myeloma. Survivors
continued to sustain an increased nsk of cancer even 35 years after the bombings occurred
Women whn were pregnant at the time of the explosions had a higher than average rate of
children with birth defects, and researchers believe that some of these genetic defects may be
passed down over generations.
How many nuclear accidents have taken place ?
Since the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings there have been 305 nuclear accidents
which have exposed lakhs of people, resulting in 1,871 acute radiation syndrome cases and 101
deaths.
Are nuclear disasters associated with nucloor bomb testing, storage of missiles and disposal of
nuclear waste?
A nuclear bomb testing by the U.S. in the Bikini atoll in 1954 resulted in radiation
exposure of most of the residents of the islands, leading to delayed cataract and thyroid tumours.
So far there havo been 50 nuclear weapon accidents, including a plane that crash-landed
while carrying missiles, a missile-carrying plane involved in an air collision, and leakage from
missile storage sites None of these has resulted in radioactive exposure. The best known
accidents involving nuclear waste leakage occurred in the U.S.S.R. between 1950 and 1957.
What are the consequences of radioisotope source loss [explain what this means] used for
medical purposes?
The best known accident of this type occurred in Brazil in 1987. People in the street found
a shiny radioactive substance which they took home The result was that 112.000 people were
exposed to radiation: 28 developed acute radiation syndrome and four died.
Why are nuclear reactors hazardous to the environment?
A normal nuclear power reactor releases small quantities of its contents via the cooling
water and intermittent gaseous emissions. The waste produced by the reaction process is highly
radioactive and has to be isolated from the environment for thousands of years If the waste is
accidently released into the environment, it has widespread devasting effects throughout the
natural ecosystem and foodchains, and remains in human bodies for a lifetime. A reactor “melt
down” occurs when the fuel is not adequately cooled; the fission reaction then becomes
uncontrolled, resulting in an explosion such as occurred at Chernobyl in the USSR or at Three
Mile Island in the U.S.
VWiaf kind of medical response is required in the event of a nuclear accident?
07/03/98
02:33
TX/RX NO.8423
P.003
IHOJ, SAFETY CENTER
Fax:804-982-0821
Jul
2 ’ 98
16:27
P. 04
&
The Chernobyl accident provides a model for the kind of medical response that is
required. While the nuclear reactor itself did not have sufficient safeguards, there was a welldefined protocol in place for a medical response in the event of a nuclear disaster. It is believed
that the mortality in the Chernobyl accident was so low because of tho swift and coordinated
medical response.
In the early morning hours of April 26. 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in the thenU.S.S R exploded, releasing radioactivity 10 kilometers Into the sky and all over (central?9] Asia
and [eastern9?] Europe. Of the 444 workers in the plant. 350 developed acute radiation syndrome
and 30 died Within minutes after the accident a medical response was initiated Those who were
seriously ill were transferred to nearby hospitals in the region, all other workers were given first aid
and started on several cycles of decontamination by showering with water. Those who were
hospitalised received complete medical support and were monitored every few hours with blood
counts Two hundred and three of the most seriously ill workers were transferred to specialty
hospitals in Moscow and Kiev Nineteen people who had persistently low blood counts underwent
bone marrow transplants
Meanwhile, the 135,000 residents of Chernobyl and those of another nearby town were
evacuated. Within days about 6 000 medical personnel from all over the country arrived and
started medical evaluation and treatment of the evacuees. This included 100.000 blood-count
examinations and thyroid isotope scans All the evacuees were treated with a potassium iodide
solution to prevent the radiation from effecting their thyroid glands.
What has been nur experience with handling other medical disasters?
One of the most recent medical disaster occurred in Gujarat [on
-give date];
people were not forewarned about a tidal wave that hit there, and the official mortality count is so
far more than 1,000. A medical response is only now being organised.
The response to the plague epidemic in Surat was highly confused. First of all, there was
insufficient documentation to show that the epidemic was unequivocally plague. Seventy five
percent of the doctors fled the city on the first day City officials were confused about whether or
not to seal [quarantine?] the city, and information about the epidemic was poorly disseminated.
While tetracycline was universally administered to everyone, whether exposed or not, few got the
correct dose of the drug.
In the case of the Bhopal gas tragedy, the exact medical consequences still are not
known, even 13 years later. The survivors are still suffering and have not received proper
compensation from the government or from Union Carbide.
Are we prepared medically for a nuclear disaster?
The answer to this question is not clear As with most aspects of nuclear technology, the
safety issue is surrounded by secrecy It is not known, for instance, what safeguards are in place
at our nuclear installations and bomb sites However, concern has been expressed about
potential exposure of staff to radiation at nuclear plants, and about the effects of radiation waste
on tribes in Orissa where the waste is dumped. Therefore, it is important to ask the government to
do the following:
1.
Disseminate information to the public regarding health hazards surrounding nuclear
installations.
2.
Disseminate information on existing or planned safeguards at our nuclear plants
3.
Give the Indian public answers to the following questions •
a. Does each nuclear installation have a medical facility for treating radiation exposure in
the event of a nuclear accident?
b. Are the health persnnel connected with nuclear facilities trained in the treatment of
radiation exposure?
c What is the country's medical disaster plan in the event of a nuclear accident?
d. What are the medical consequences of the recent Pokharan lest blasts?
07/03/98
02:33
TX/RX NO.8423
P.004
OCC’'RATIONAL HEALTH: TWO SIDES OF THE COIN
*
DR D P NAG
Of ficer-in-Charge
Regional Occupational Health Centre (Southern)
Bangalore
I think those who have insight into the status of’Occupational Health
in this country would like to agree with me that it is in a sad state inspite
of sporadic achievements in
in
view
my
past.
is
am
I
the
the past
afraid
is
it
the
at
in jeopardy
area.
getting
more
and
deeper
contemplation,
In
short,
this
faces
area
the
recent
in
possibility of
Health
assertive
and
Why
marginalised?
present
level of
disbelief among
workers
not
did
it
action.
Why
take off?
value of occupational
the
is
Why there
Why
and
health
Several obvious issues and many more questions.
safety?
One
may say what
we
do
in
Government
and
can
about
is
deserves serious consideration,
This
discussion
wider
the
is marginalised and
no commitment on the part of policy makers and managements?
this
muddled
policies
this
is
the
regard?
use of rising all
of
the
responsibility
all
it
is
This
is
all
because
Government
fault the
ills is only one side of the coin.
the elements of identity
these questions?
After
managements.
hesitation in my opinion to
is
and
of even maintaining
Occupational
marginalised.
more
Occupational Health
is
prospect
the
this
in
roads
cross
A disquieting feature
for
support
lack of political backing spells danger to further progress and
joined with
work
of
A sort of vacuum in the professional support
going further down the hill,
places
to its credit.
decline
definite
and
the
regulatory
and
policy makers
have built
the
ineffective
and
bodies.
Without
for several of these
than this,
Even more
image we
of
What
of
equally to fault
for ourselves.
The
critical need of the hour lies only in certain knowledge of the abyss into
which
the
occupational
health
assessment of the malady.
and
in a
wider perspective.
slipped.
has
Let
us
make
an
objective
Let us examine the issue with a better insight
This
is
the
time
for introspection
than
for
inquest.
* L & T Oration Lecture presented at the 43rd National Conference of
Indian Association of Occupational Health, held on 31st January 1993
at Ahmedabad.
2
Expectations and Experience
During
last
the
growth
phenomenal
development
has
resulted
some
in
decades
in
progress
and
negative
and
in
industries
to
led
disasters
industrial
four
of
effects
our
improved
like
occupational
private
and
also
but
life
a
Such
pollution,
off-site
problems
in
safety
and
been
sectors.
of
quality
environmental
health
has
there
country
public
the
work environment.
is
Industrialisation
industrialisation
as
we
to
untrue
be
Healthy
workers.
for
it
the
the
essentiality
workers
successful
the
and
the
fact
basic
of
be
positive
they
energy
to
less
can
to
the
are
vital
health
spend
promotion
The
untrue
Still
life.
of
ensuring
physical
development.
industrial
cannot
We
indispensible.
represents
and
protection
of workers'
health should therefore be one of the objectives of any such
efforts
rapid
for
economic
for occupational
can
prevent
improvement
the
developmental
circumvent
the
process
actue
policies
Economic
progress.
consideration
adequate
without
health aspects and environmental safeguards
of
living
is
intended
difficulties
of
of
the
benefit.
In
conditions
to
balance
of
very
people
whom
their eagerness
payments,
to
makers
policy
are further tempted to take short-cuts for rapid economic progress thereby
further undermining the interests of Occupational Health and Safety.
The
need
to
take
measures,
to
avoid
negative
effects
of
rapid
industrialisation, is even more so in our country, as our workers are more
vulnerable to these hazards in view of other factors such as mal-nutrition
and
diseases,
capacity.
which
Truly
we
prevent
the
are
the
in
individual
"best
quote the inmitable Charles Dickens.
of
from
times
performing
and
worst
of
his
full
times"
to
at
3
negative
The
new
added
the
of
part
aspects of industrialisation
dimensions
in
of
terms
particularly
profession,
medical
pose a challenge and have
competencies
and
responsibilites
Medical
Industrial
on
Officers.
More and more industrial medical officers are required to imbibe the newer
concepts and techniques to overcome challenges in ensuring physical, mental
and social
of
the
being of
well
between expectations of
experience
-
let
alone
needs
the country.
in
health and safety
1950s and experience in
expectations
and
be
to
1990s.
bridged
Analysis
indicates
a
gap
This gap between
rather
than
widened.
to me it appears that there is not even no emotive
Unfortunately atleast
echo
workers
industrial
the
pattern of occupational
growth
substantive
from
effort
any
to
corner
harness
the
situation.
Role of Industrial Medical Officers
medical officer as a part of management has to play
The industrial
force'
necessary
provide
can
that
vital link between the workers and management
He is a
a definite role.
stimulus
to
'management
accelerate
to the theme of "Positive health profits production".
motive
Today medical
officers in industries have greater focus on medical diagnosis and routinised
treatment.
are
They
develop
to
ought
to
physicians
from
occupational
health physicians. This is of utmost importance because modern occupational
health
is
rather
than
medicine,
but
also
sciences,
trying
things
which
dispensary
are
more
practices.
stimulating
Present
and
creative
occupational
day
therefore,
necessarily needs not only the knowledge of medicine
techniques
and
of
toxicology,
epidemiology,
information sciences and management skills.
to be
needs
art
"healing"
qualities
do
tools
which
of
to
routinised
are
attended
but
also
essential
if
to
is
that
the
task
the art
of "man
occupational
health
in
lies
communication
Yet another aspect
not
merely in the
management".
has
to
take
Both
these
deeper
roots
4
in
setups
industrial
in
the
country
and
expectations and observed experience.
the
back
bone
occupational
of
the
narrow
gap
desired
between
Industrial medical officers constitute
services
health
country
the
in
have
and
to shape their activities in the scenario of pressing urgent problems which
are
of
in
usher
the
the
in
a
growth
their
to
challenges
the
and
"positive
health"
medical
officers
have
second
thought
"never
and
their
process
descipline.
There
is a
need
the
minds
of
deliver
the
goods.
their
of
of
spirit
industrial
without
of
nature
development
competence
in
to
have
before
many
so
management
say
One can
so
owed
to
and
to
much
so few" - workers' health which is nations' wealth is in the hands of these
few industrial medical officers.
What ails Occupational Health Research
has
India
third
body
biggest
medical
of
man
is
sporadic
relevant
Barring
world.
the
Our research output
few and
far
between.
What
could
be
the
exceptional
few,
may
be
many
of
us
in
the
and our successes
reasons?
in
power
Yet it appears as though the "body is without head".
field of occupational health and research have probably failed in originality,
innovativeness and conceptualisation.
to
these
standards
are
And may be those few who measure
sidelined
being
and
sidetracked.
an
As
eminent
researcher observed "Many a reputation in our country has been built around
mere
pretension
of
excellence
The research is required to be
health and human resources
of
medical
to
the
education
teachers
of
and
mere
intentions
The malady
development.
which
encourages
be
"lecture
medical
education
shops"
but
for a goal".
"work
throughout.
to
the
shops"
education should become the main stay.
lies in the system
mediocrity
reverse
foundations on which occupational health can raise.
not
to work
decision-linked in the field of occupational
and
It
trend
and
is
up
build
Medical classes should
"competence
-
based
"
5
Pilot MPT Programme
Today
services,
in occupational
we require
health,
people
research or industrial medical
whether
ability,
with
integrity,
professional knowledge,
honesty of purpose, depth of conviction, sense of proportion and managerial
When we want innovative outputs we also have to have innovative
skills.
inputs.
As
the
medical
in
can
officers
acquire
The
set-ups.
industrial
is
medicine
occupational
and
improve
India
All
more
than
diagnosis and
treatment
one of the means whereby industrial
is
Multi Professional Training (MPT)
skills
the
Association
of
for
working
Occupational
Health
needed
can play a great promotional role in this support area.
The main objective
of the programme should be to provide an opportunity to industrial medical
officers
managers
and
to
collaborate
increase
and
the
integration
to
play
of
skills
new
total
in
information
sciences,
management
techniques.
interprofessional,
cooperation
and
areas
health
occupational
the
knowledge
and
sciences,
communication
professional
Multi
interdepartmental
within
of
care
and
have
that
a
like
health
economics
training
generates
the
This permits
safety
intersectoral
and
management
of
appreciation
role of each profession in caring for the health of workers.
also
role
toxicology,
and
promotes
understanding
and
promotes
new
and
roles, competencies, responsibilities and areas of interest.
To
survey
medical
the
landscape
education
and
identify
dominant
issues is a daunting task, however, it is apparent that if industrial medical
officers
are
demands
programmes
to
be
equipped
work
of
are
to
meet
environment,
required.
competencies will be possible.
Then
real
occupational
health
reorientation-educationalonly
the
development
of
needs
and
training
necessary
6
Operation OH
The
a
I
campaign
know
that
it
-
Operation
OH
-
is easier said
than
done.
achieving
for
will
succeed
not
for the progress.
unless
it
is sustained by
the
goals.
expected
the campaign to succeed
For
is a need to build necessary professional
there
OH
for the ongoing activites to be transformed into
time has come
mass
movement.
The operation
the professional movement
There have been many such experiences in our profession
namely family welfare programmes being one.
Structurally conducive professional movement is single most important
prerequisite for the success of the Operation OH.
One
of
the
is
the
prevalance
health
of
the
management
health
occupational
of
and
and
shared
by
extensive
use
to
individual
managements
the
take-off of
non
occupational
shared
disbelief
and
conviction
workers
about
the
questionable
safety
a
disbelief
for
factors
relevent
services
the
in
replaced
is
required
to
of
available
instrumentalities
be
workers.
and
For
industrial
with
shared
manner
this,
a
value
settings.
in
a
the
on
cadre
part
of
Such
commitment
acceptable
of
selfless
and dedicated industrial medical officers are necessary to carry the message
and movement
to the workers and management.
The question before us today is whether we can promote spontaneous
but
locally
grounded
professional
movement
in
favour
of
Operation
OH.
I am afraid that we have not succeeded so far even in reasonable manner.
Therefore only
very
carefully
drawn up
and
planned campaign sustained
over a reasonably long period of time may deliver the goods.
7
Operation
OH
is
to
be
sufficiently
broad
based
so
that
no
sector
is elbowed out whether it is medical, managerial, or comunication science.
I therefore suggest a cautious and a realistic approach:
1.
Organisational arrangements under the overall
control of the Indian Association of Occupational
Health which will be responsible as nodal agency
for programme planning and implementation of
Operation OH.
2.
formation of working groups and allocation of
identified work areas and target industries.
3.
4.
finally,
Charaka
user
for
Restructured basic and post-basic medical education
Environment building in Government Departments,
State regulatory agencies, industrial managements,
workers unions and voluntary bodies.
to conclude with words of the great Indian Physician-Surgeon
"Weapons,
their
Learning
merits
and
and
Water
demerits".
are
Thus
wholly
the
dependent
success
or
on
their
failure
of
occupational health in this country wholly depends on the medical officers
in the industry.
❖ Facts about Nuclear Weapons
Frequently Asked Questions
-Abstracted from a study published for
Indian Scientists Against Nuclear Weapons by
Tamil Nadu Science Forum
♦♦♦ Impact of Use of Nuclear Weapons in War
on Human Beings and Environment
Q
This is largely drawn from Greene
Owen, Percival Ian and Ridge Irene, (eds.)
Nuclear Winter, 1985, Polity Press.
❖ Bombing Bombay? Effects of Nuclear
Weapons and a Case Study of a Hypothetical
Explosion
A summary of the main study by M.V.
Ramana, 1999
Edited by
Printed by
Telephone
Varsha Rajan Berry
Uday Print Arts
4710862,
First Published, April 2001
Any part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by
any means, but with proper acknowledgement to the
publishers and the publication.
Facts about Nuclear Weapons
Frequently Asked Questions
(A) Give a brief account of the evolution of India’s
nuclear history.
India emerged as a free and democratic country in 1947. It
™ entered into the nuclear age in 1948 by establishing the
Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), with Homi Bhabha as
The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)
the Chairman.
was
created
Jawaharlal
under
Lal
Office
the
Nehru
to
of the
explore
Prime
Minister
energy
nuclear
for
developmental purposes. He was the first world leader to
call in 1954 for an end to all nuclear testing following US
hydrogen bomb tests in the Pacific and their disastrous
radioactive fallout. In spite of the humiliating defeat in the
border war by China in 1962 and China's nuclear testing in
1964, India continued to adhere to the peaceful uses of
nuclear energy.
However, India’s civilian nuclear energy programme also
had a ‘dual use’ or military capacity, of which other major
figures were aware and which they wanted to develop.
Initially
the
AEC
and
DAE
received
international
cooperation, and by 1963 India had two research reactors
and four nuclear power reactors. Between 1962 and 1974
India’s nuclear programme under Homi Bhabha underwent
a significant shift at the ground level.
Bhabha in
1964
commissioned a plant to reprocess spent fuel to extract
plutonium
from
the
CIRUS
(Canada-India
Research
Reactor, United States) reactor built in 1960.
In spite of
this the policy of India on nuclear weapons did not change
and the nuclear doctrine remained intact.
India’s policy pronouncements
in the post-Nehru period
underwent a subtle shift, especially when India did not sign
the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), when it was opened for
signature
in
1968.The
major
reasons
for
India's
non-
signature were China’s decision not to sign the treaty and
India’s
new reluctance to commit
itself to complete or
permanent future abstinence. Behind the curtain of criticism
of the NPT from the moral high ground, however India
intensified nuclear preparations at the ground level. This
along with the unsafeguarded production of plutonium gave
Indira Gandhi an opportunity to conduct Pokhran -I in May
1974. On May 18, 1974 India performed a 15 kt Peaceful
Nuclear Explosion (PNE). The western powers considered
it to be the proliferation of nuclear weapons and cut off all
financial and technical help, even for the production of
3
*
nuclear power.
In
1978,
under
Morarji
Desai,
the
Indian
government
distanced itself from PNE and the DAE’s importance was
downgraded within the government. After the mid-1980’s,
hawkish pressure mounted on India to respond to Pakistan’s
nuclear preparations by going overtly nuclear. During the
period 1983-1993, India rejected a total of seven proposals
by Pakistan for nuclear restraint and regional disarmament
and rejected a number of proposals for nuclear dialogue
involving P5 ( USA, UK, France, China, Russia), India and
Pakistan. But still, India did join the Five-Continent Six-
2
'
Nation
Initiative
signed
the
‘Delhi
Declaration’
for
1986
nuclear
free world with Gorbochev and put forward a
weapons
Rajiv
for Nuclear Disarmament and in
important
Plan
Gandhi
for the total
elimination
of nuclear
weapons in the UN General Assembly in 1988.
It did start the nuclear dialogue with US in 1992, but to no
*
avail. In 1993, India and the US co-sponsored a resolution
in the UN calling for an early completion of the CTBT in
the Conference on Disarmament. As the negotiations for the
CTBT reached its final stage, India stalled and in 1995, it
made
the
signature
commitment
to
of the
CTBT
disarmament
conditional
within
a
upon
time
a
bound
framework by the P-5. The slippages became evident from
India’s commitment to nuclear restraint and global nuclear
disarmament. The BJP and the right wing commentators
seize in the anti CTBT rhetoric, to which there was little
resistance from the political left and centre.
q
Having yielded much ground to hawkish positions, nuclear
and defence establishments got hyperactive in lobbying for
a policy break that would permit full weaponisation of the
Indian
nuclear
option
through
test
explosions.
It
used
existing infrastructure to build nuclear power reactors and
exploded both fission and fusion devices on May 11 and 13,
1998 under the BJP regime and the aegis of A.P.J. Abdul
Kalam,
Defence
(DRDO),
Chief,
international
Research
DAE
community
and
Development
the
viewed
the
Organization
armed
forces.
The
later
activity
as
a
serious roadblock for the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; both deemed essential to
3
stop
the
of
spread
nuclear
weapons
global
and
disarmament.
India joined the Nuclear Club
Post Pokharan - II
and
digressed from its earlier policy of using nuclear power for
peaceful developmental purposes and to stop the spread of
nucleaar weapons and global disarmament.,
1. Nuclear Weapons
1.1
What are nuclear weapons?
The
word
means
here
weapon
an
explosive
weapon, such as a bomb, the warhead of a missile
or an artillery shell. All weapons contain explosive
which
explode
something
that
suitably
when
conventional weapons,
the
undergo
can
triggered.
explosive
material
some
In
is
chemical
reaction that proceeds very fast and releases a lot of
energy.
Basically
explodes.
it
can
burn
explosive
Earlier
so
fast
material
that
it
used
in
weapons was gunpowder; nowadays more powerful
explosives like TNT1 and RDX2 are used.
The explosive material used in a nuclear weapon
can undergo a nuclear reaction at a very fast rate.
1.2
How do nuclear
conventional ones?
weapons
differ
from
An important difference between a chemical and a
nuclear reaction is that the latter releases about a
1 TNT - trinitrotoluene
’ RDX - Cyelolrimethylenetrinitramine
These arc standard explosives
4
million
more
times
energy
than
a
chemical
reaction. This difference makes nuclear weapons
more powerful than conventional ones.
A
10-kiloton nuclear bomb weighs about 500 kg
whereas a conventional bomb of the same weight
contains about 250 kg of explosives. So a single
small nuclear bomb releases as much energy as
about 40,000 conventional bombs. They are more
powerful
than
conventional
and
weapons
are
weapons of mass destruction.
The
second
major
explosion produces
material
that
give
is
difference
that
a
nuclear
large amounts of radioactive
out
deadly
rays
of
nuclear
radiation. This is also called fallout. A large dose of
radiation can kill human beings instantly. A smaller
dose has worse consequences. It can cause severe
illness leading to slow death after days or even
years
of suffering.
damage
Radiation
to
leading
can
deformed
cause
genetic
babies.
It
contaminates large areas of land, making it useless
for agriculture for years or even decades. These
aspects of nuclear weapons thus introduce a new
dimension of horror. The poisoning of humans and
their environment by radiation makes the process
of recovering from a nuclear attack a long and
painful one.
5
1.3
What is the difference
weapon and a reactor?
between a
nuclear
Nuclear reactors harness the energy produced in
nuclear reactions to generate electrical power. They
are also used to power the motors of ships and
submarines.
In
order
to
do
this,
reactors
are
designed to precisely control the rate of the nuclear
reactions taking place in them. The energy is then ^
released at a controlled rate and can be used to run'
turbines, which generate electricity or run motors.
The reactors in Kalpakkam, for instance, produce
electricity in this manner.
Although nuclear reactions take place in a reactor
just as they do in weapons, the crucial difference is
that the rate of the nuclear reaction is controlled in
a reactor whereas in a weapon, once triggered, the
reaction proceeds in an uncontrolled way leading to
the explosion.
2.
Effects of Nuclear Weapons
2.1
What are blast effects?
Because of very high pressures at ground zero, the
'
*
gaseous residues of the explosion move outward.
The effect of these high pressures is to create a
blast
sound.
wave
traveling
several
times
faster
than
Most buildings are demolished and there
will be almost no survivors. As we go further away
6-
from
zeroJ
ground
the
effects
are
large-scale
injuries and some fatalities. It is the high speed
combined with
high pressures, which cause the
most mechanical damage in a nuclear explosion.
Human beings are quite resistant to pressure, but
not to being thrown over against hard objects or to
buildings falling on them. This damage is clearly
more serious in build- up areas.
2.2
What are radiation effects?
While blast and thermal effects occur to far lesser
degree in other types of explosions, the release of
intense ionizing radiation is a phenomenon unique
to
nuclear
explosions.
The
ionizing
radiation
consists
of fast
electrons
and alpha particles. All these particles
moving
neutrons,
gamma rays,
have the effect of creating chemically active free
radicals in living beings. This affects the normal
behaviour of living cells. Furthermore, the initial
radiation makes the surrounding atoms radioactive
and they in turn could emit nuclear radiation over a
period of time from a few minutes to a few years.
Radiation has
causes
damage
producing
long-term effects
to
DNA
immediate
and
effects
on survivors; it
disrupts
on
cells
metabolic
replication processes.
Ground Zero - Also known as hypocenter, is the point on the ground directly below the
nuclear explosion.
7
by
and
It should be remembered that natural radiation is
always present in the atmosphere over most places
in the earth, but at lower levels. But, there is no
universally agreed threshold on a dose of radiation,
which can be declared safe.
Things,
which
get
by this
irradiated
"prompt"
radiation they become radioactive and people in
the area of nuclear explosion, who are exposed to .
these radioactive materials,
stand more risk of1'
contracting cancer.
2.3
What are the effects on climate?
There
also
are
long
term
effects
on
the
atmosphere and climate. These are not as direct as
the fallout. The high temperature of the fireball
can cause
form
large amounts of nitrogen oxides to
during
cooling
the
process,
causing
a
depletion of the ozone layer in the stratosphere.
A potential nuclear winter cannot be ruled out. An
immediate
is
effect
the
decrease
in
food
production since most of the food in the world is
produced
in
subtropical
regions,
leading
to
famine, starvation deaths, etc. Smaller weapons
may
not produce a nuclear winter,
but a mild ■’
nuclear autumn cannot be ruled out.
3.
Nuclear Weaponisation
3.1 What is nuclear Weaponisation?
A country that wants to have nuclear weapons as
part of its defence forces has to build a lot of
8
accompanying infrastructure. Along with having
nuclear weapons, it needs a delivery system and a
C3I system (Command, Control, Communication
and Intelligence). Apart from this hardware, it
needs to formulate a nuclear doctrine and strategy.
All this together constitutes Weaponisation.
It is a long process, which starts with designing
and testing of the weapons and delivery systems.
This is the stage in which India is right now. The
next stage is actual large-scale production of these
systems. The next step is the induction of these
systems into the armed forces, the training of the
and
personnel
finally
the
of the
deployment
weapons.
3.2
Is it possible to have a reliable defence against
a nuclear attack?
It
is
impossible to have
reliably
and
detect
a system, which
shoot
down
can
missiles.
Therefore, there is no reliable defence against a
missile attack. Since missiles are used to deliver
nuclear weapons, there is no defence against a
nuclear attack.
3.3
Can the population be protected in a nuclear
attack?
The only way to survive a nuclear attack would be
to
have
underground
shelters.
These
shelters
would have to be stocked with enough food and
water to last for about a week, since it would take
that
much
time
before
9
the
radioactivity
levels
come down to relatively safe levels. Constructing
such
shelters
for
the
entire
population
India.
It
impossible,
especially
in
impossible
to
any
protect
is
is
fact
in
population
from
a
nuclear attack.
3.4
What are the relative costs of the different
components of the Weaponisation?
An analysis of the costs of the nuclear weapons ■
programme
of
USA
the
by
the
Brookings
Institution revealed that the relative costs of the
different components was as follows:
Development
and
the
-
7%
-
86%
-
7%
Production of the weapons
Development
Production
and
the
of the Delivery
systems and C3I
Civil Defence measures
An estimate of the Indian programme made by C.
Ramamanohar Reddy of The Hindu indicates a
similar break up. He conservatively estimates the
total cost of the programme to be about 40,000
crore rupees spread over ten years.
It may be noted that nuclear weapons expenditure
is
not
likely
to
be
shown
directly
in
the
government’s budget under such a heading, to
keep it a secret from other countries.
3.5
What is the burden of the Nuclear weapons
programme?
The estimates made in a report prepared by the
10
Centre of Development and Women’s Studies are
the following:
❖ The cost of each nuclear-armed Agni missile
(Rs.
45
crores)
of
operation
can
finance
the
13,000
primary
health
annual
care
centres.
❖ The cost of one nuclear bomb (Rs. 15 crore) can
finance the construction of 6000 houses for the
rural poor under the Indira Awas Yojana
❖ The cost of producing an arsenal of 200 bombs
(Rs. 3000 crores) can provide drinking water to
2.50 lakh villages under the accelerated rural
water supply scheme. This is about one-half of
the number of villages, which remain without
drinking water.
❖ The cost of a nuclear missile force of 50 Agnis
and 150 Prithvis (Rs. 5100 crores) can meet the
cost of providing mid-day meal schemes to 9
crore school going children for 5 years.
❖ The cost of five nuclear powered submarines
(Rs.
20.000 crores)
is eight times what the
Central Government will spend on elementary
education.
❖ The estimated cost of the Radar and Defence
systems for the nuclear weapon launch sites -
Rs. 5000 crores is enough to finance 7 years of
operation
of the National
Programme
which
Social
provides
Assistance
pensions
to
5
million rural poor, maternity allowances to 3
million expectant mothers and one time grants
to 30 j.-) )() poor families where the main bread
winner has suddenly died.
I he
v
funds
will
that
be
used
for a
nuclear
Weaponisation programme — Rs. 43000 crores
can be used to remove the entire rural housing
shortage estimated at 15 million units in 1991.
*
*•
Alternatively, the same Rs. 42000 crores can
be used to set in place an educational system
that provides primary education for all Indian
children of school going age.
This is the real burden of a nuclear weapons programme on
the people of India.
4
Nuclear Tests
4.1 Why are nuclear tests necessary?
order
In
to
design
a
nuclear
weapon,
it
is
necessary to mathematically model the processes
that
lead
to
the explosion.
The devise is then
simulated on a computer. Several assumptions go
into the modeling and one cannot be absolutely
sure how accurate the model is without actually
testing
it.
A
thermonuclear
weapon
is
significantly more complicated and requires more
testing than a fission device.
5.1 What
is NPT?
,
rhe Non-Proliferation treatv (NPT) was negotiated
in
Hog.
became
effective
in
1970
and
was
indefinitely extended in 1995. As of 1997, nearly
185 countries have signed NPT.
NPT introduced the definition of nuclear weapon
states: those, which had tested a nuclear explosive
device before January 1, 1967. The key principle of
is
NPT
possession
that
of nuclear weapons
be
limited to only these states. This was sought to be
enforced by ensuring that these nuclear ‘haves’ do
not transfer nuclear weapons capabilities to nuclear
'have-nots’.
Discussions on NPT centered around the fact that
while non-proliferation was sought to be enforced,
the
were
states
weapon
in
constrained
from
producing
Eventually,
under
pressure
no
way
more
from
being
weapons.
non-nuclear
weapon states and disarmament groups,
a clause
was added (Article VI) which urged the weapon
states
to
pursue
negotiations
“in
good
faith’’
towards nuclear disarmament.
As formulated, NPT is blatantly discriminatory and
legitimizes the weapons of the five nuclear weapon
states. India has refused to be a party to it because
of this discriminator)' nature and has not signed
NPT so far.
5.2
What is CTBT?
Negotiations
on
the
Comprehensive
Test
Ban
Treaty (CTBT) concluded in 1996.
The main purpose of CTBT is to pul an end to
nuclear explosions, which seek to test weapons
13
technology.
Signatories
to
the
treaty
cannot
conduct any nuclear explosions.
Two key features of CTBT stand out. One is that
bans
the treaty
explosions, allowing sub-
only
critical (non-explosive) weapons tests as well as
do
which
make
unnecessary. Weapon states like the
explosions
US
simulations,
computer
detailed
possess
capabilities.
such
second
The
feature is that the treaty comes into force only if
and when all countries having nuclear capabilities
sign
the
particular,
In
treaty.
this
means
that
unless India and Pakistan sign CTBT, the treaty
will not come into force at all.
Since
CTBT
does
not
weapon
states
and
others,
discriminatory.
distinguish
between
is
explicitly
it
However India
not
has
argued that
CTBT is merely a corollary of NPT and that it
perpetuates
a discriminatory order: the weapon
states
only
will
perhaps
they
stop
do
not
a
form
of testing which
need
anyway,
without
committing them to any time-bound programme
of disarmament. In
1996 India refused to sign
CTBT on these grounds, while at the same time
committing to the self-restraint of not producing
weapons. This stand was regarded as a moral and
acclaimed.
However,
after Pokhran explosions,
the
earlier
restraint has been abandoned and now there is
international pressure on India to sign the CTBT.
14
What are the implications of CTBT?
5.3
For the nuclear weapon states, the CTBT would
restrict the ability to design new types of weapons
though it will not completely eliminate it. It will
be
1
possible
modify
to
completely
new
implement
reliably
design
in
existing
will
designs
be
absence
of
a
but
difficult
to
explosive
nuclear tests.
It is however possible to make reliable nuclear
weapons
of a simple design without explosive
nuclear tests. Thus the CTBT will not be able to
prevent non-nuclear weapon states from doing so.
£
15
Chronological
events
leading
development in India and Pakistan
nuclear
to
INDIA
1948
:
India
establishes
Energy
Atomic
an
Commission for exploration for uranium
ore.
1953
: President Eisenhower launches "Atoms
for Peace" program, offering access
to
exchange atomic technology for pledges
to use it for civilian use, not weapons.
1954
: Head of India's AEC, rejects safeguards,
oversight
by
new
International
Atomic
Energy Agency.
1956
: India completes negotiations to build 40
"Canadian-Indian
megawatt
U.S."
research
supplies
heavy
used
water,
Reactor,
United
reactor.
to
States
control
nuclear fission.
1958
:
India
begins
plutonium
designing and
for
equipment
its
acquiring
Trombay
own
facility,
reprocessing
giving
the nation a dual-use capability that could
lead to atomic weapons.
U.S.
1959
trains
Indian
scientists
in
reprocessing, handling plutonium.
1963
:
Two
boiling-water
210-megawatt
reactors
are
Atomic
Power
Electric.
United States
ordered
16
for
Station
the
Tarapur
from
General
and
India agree
plutonium from India's reactors will not
be used for research for atomic weapons
or for military purposes.
1964
:
First
reprocessing
plutonium
plant
operates at Trombay.
:
1965
of
Chairman
AEC
proposes
explosion
project.
India's
nuclear
subterranean
China, one of five declared nuclear states,
3
detonates first atomic explosive device.
U.S. withdraws military aid
from India
after the India-Pakistan War.
:
1966
India declares it can produce nuclear
weapons within 18 months.
:
1968
Non-Proliferation
Treaty
completed.
India refuses to sign.
:
1969
France
agrees
to
help
India
develop
breeder reactors.
1974
: India tests a device of up to 15 kilotons
a
"peaceful
nuclear
explosion."
Canada
suspends
nuclear
cooperation.
The
and
calls
the test
United
States
allows
continued supply of nuclear fuel, but later
cuts it off.
1976
:
Soviet Union assumes role of India's
main
supplier of heavy
water.
Canada
formally halts nuclear cooperation.
Early
: India acquires and develops centrifuge
1980s
technology,
1991
builds
uranium
enrichment
plants at Trombay and Mysore.
-
:
Pakistan
India enters
agreement
with
prohibiting attacks on each other's nuclear
17
□
installations, a measure to ease tensions.
:
1992
Rare
Metals
producing
Plant
enriched
at
begins
Mysore
uranium.
Nuclear
Suppliers Group, organization of nations
with
nuclear materials,
stops
supplying
India.
1997
:
India
development
announces
technology
supercomputer
that
can
of
be
used to test nuclear-weapon designs. Fuel
reprocessing plant at Kalpakkam, a large-
scale
plutonium
separation
facility,
completes "cold commissioning" in last
phase of pre-operating trials.
1998
: India announces plans to sign deal with
1,000 megawatt nuclear
Russia for two
reactors.
: India conducts five underground nuclear
May 11-13
tests, declares itself a nuclear state.
PAKISTAN
1972
:
Following
third
its
war
with
India,
secretly decides to start nuclear
Pakistan
program
weapons
to
developing
capability.
reactor
for
the
Plant,
heavy
Karachi
water
match
India's
Canada
supplies
Nuclear
and
Power
heavy-water
production facility.
1974
Western
suppliers
embargo
nuclear
exports to Pakistan after India's first test of
a nuclear device.
1975
: Purchasing of components and technology
for Kahuta uranium-enrichment centrifuge
18
facility begins after return of Dr.
Abdul
Qadeer Khan, German-trained metallurgist
who takes over nuclear program.
: Canada stops supplying nuclear fuel for
1976
Karachi.
1977
: German seller provides vacuum pumps.
equipment for uranium enrichment. Britain
sells Pakistan 30 high-frequency inverters
for controlling centrifuge speeds.
United
States halts economic and military aid over
Pakistan's nuclear-weapons program.
: France cancels deal to supply plutonium-
1978
reprocessing plant at Chasma.
: United States imposes economic sanctions
1979
is
Pakistan
after
importing
caught
equipment for uranium enrichment plant at
Kahuta.
: Smuggler arrested at U.S. airport while
1981
attempting to ship two tons of zirconium to
Pakistan.
Nevertheless,
administration
lifts
sanctions
Reagan
and
begins
generous military and financial aid because
of Pakistani help to Afghan rebels battling
Soviets.
1983
: China reportedly supplies Pakistan with
bomb
design.
Pakistani
U.S.
intelligence
centrifuge program
believes
intended to
produce material for nuclear weapons.
1985
:
Congress
passes
Pressler
amendment.
requiring economic sanctions unless White
House
certifies
19
0
that
Pakistan
is
not
embarked
on
nuclear
weapons
Islamabad
is
certified
every
program.
until
year
1990.
1986
: Pakistan, China sign pact on peaceful use
nuclear
of
energy,
including
design,
construction, and operation of reactors.
1987
: Pakistan acquires tritium purification and
production facility from West Germany.
1989
:
A
27-kilowatt research reactor is
with
help
Chinese
built
under
comes
and
international monitoring.
1990
:
Fearing
war with
new
India,
Pakistan
makes cores for several nuclear weapons.
Bush
under
Pressler
economic-,
military
administration,
imposes
amendment,
sanctions against Pakistan.
1991
:
Pakistan
puts
ceiling
of
size
on
its
weapons-grade uranium stockpile. It enters
into agreement with India, prohibiting the
two
states
attacking
from
each
other's
nuclear installations.
1993
:
Report
Peace
by
and
the
Stockholm
Research
Institute
14,000
uranium-enrichment
installed
in
Pakistan.
International
says
about
centrifuges
German
customs
officials seize about 1,000 gas centrifuges
bound for Pakistan.
1996
: Pakistan buys 5.000 ring magnets from
China to be used
uranium
in gas
enrichment.
centrifuges
China
tells
for
U.S.
government it will stop helpina Pakistan's
20
unsafe guarded nuclear facilities. Islamabad
40-megawatt
completes
reactor
that,
provide
the
once
first
heavy-water
operational,
source
of
could
plutonium-
bearing spent fuel free from international
inspections.
1998
: Reacting to fresh nuclear testing by India,
Pakistan
conducts
explosions.
0
$
21
its
own
atomic
Impact of Use of Nuclear Weapons in
War on Human Beings and
Environment
Introduction
Immense resources have been devoted to the design of
nuclear weapons, but relatively few to studies of the
drastic impact on human beings and environment of
using these in war.
The
principal
effects
that
would
be
if a
expected
significant fraction of the world’s nuclear arsenals were
used in war are:
•
Nuclear explosions would send dust, radioactivity
•
The explosions would
and various gases into the atmosphere.
ignite fires, burning cities,
forests, fuel, and grasslands in the countries of the
nuclear alliances.
•
The fires would send plumes of smoke and gases.
tens of thousands of feet into the atmosphere.
•
Within
a
week
two,
or
some
of
the
dust,
radioactivity and smoke would be carried by the
wind
around
atmosphere
the
for
earth.
days,
depending on its height.
22
It
might
stay
or
even
months
in
the
years,
•
Daylight could be reduced to darkness for weeks,
months or years.
•
Temperatures would drop drastically, the difference
could be as
large as summer and winter and the
climate might be disturbed for years.
•
There would be serious and widespread radioactive
fallout
0
and
pollution
in
most
of
the
heavily
populated parts.
To summarize the above:
• There could be twilight at noon
• There could be a nuclear winter
• The extinction of the human race could not be
ruled out
War on the Living
'
We here consider the effects of a nuclear war on plants,
animals
and
living
systems.
For
living
things
the
immediate effects would be devastating. The multitude
of problems that would
afflict human populations -
disease, economic, social and agricultural collapse and
probably most serious of all, starvation cannot be fully
understood
without
first
examining
animals, plants and ecosystem.
23
0
the
effects
on
Effects on Plants
To summarize the effects of plants of a nuclear war
leading to atmospheric disturbances are:
•
Growth and food storage by plants could be zero
due
mainly
to
shortage
of
light
reduced
and
temperatures.
•
Many species of plants would die due to drops in
the
temperature,
virtually
including
all-temperate
annuals and chilling sensitive tropical species, all
major crop plants would be affected.
Widespread
damage to tropical perennials is also likely.
•
of vegetation
Regeneration
patchy,
with
possible
be
would
damage
slow
from
and
UV-B,
radioactive fallout and chemical pollution.
Effects on Animals
The populations of nearly all-terrestrial
animals that
lived above ground would be greatly reduced. Cold
blooded animals,
especially
insects and
species that
live and fed on the soil would be more likely to survive
than warm blooded animals.
Ultimately, species survival would depend on whether
or not individuals lasted out until conditions suitable
for
breeding
survival
returned.
would
be
Among
quite
mammals
probable
for a
and
few
birds
highly
adaptable type of mammals, such as mice and rats, but
very uncertain for most wild species, there would be
24
widespread
extinction
and
would
population
be
reduced everywhere. Overall a very impoverished and
unbalanced fauna seems to be the most likely outcome.
Effects on Ecosystems
A full assessment of biological damage is possible only
Oby
considering
ecosystem
is
together
with
possible
the
all
their
effects
living
on
non-living
ecosystems.
An
given
area
environment.
The
things
in
a
functioning and survival of an ecosystem depends on
innumerable
interactions
between
components.
its
Perhaps the most devastating and long lasting effect of
a nuclear war would be on these interactions.
A nuclear war reduces energy inputs by decreasing the
.
amount
of
dislocation
plant
of the
photosynthesis
energy
and
the
major
relationships of terrestrial
ecosystems basically spells starvation for most animals,
with damaging consequences for plants and freshwater
ecosystems like streams, rivers and lakes.
Pollution
Pollution is certain to
be a
long-term
problem after
nuclear war. Nearly all factories contain stores of toxic
chemicals and some have very large quantities indeed.
These
could
be
released
in
target
areas
and
acute
pollution of the atmosphere would be the first effect.
25
0
The death of over 2,400 people in Bhopal late in 1984
is a grim parallel, and this was a result of an accidental
release of toxic gas from just one factory.
With
toxic
fluids
drained
away
and
dry
toxins
dispersed as dust, wider pollution of the soil and wastes
would occur. There would also be global pollution by
radioactive fallout. The long-term ecosystem effects of
this pollution would depend on the persistence of the
chemicals. Plants are more resistant than mammals to
these radioactive pollutants.
The Human Cost
In terms of human cost and suffering the effects could
be more serious and certainly more widespread with
grave implications for people in every country of the
world.
Considering
the
early
effects
on
the
human
beings the following can be short-listed:
•
Cold - to what extent human death from cold is a
likely outcome of a nuclear winter. When people are
in a state of shock or have low reserves of body
fuels and no food available for consumption, it leads
to
,
voluntary
temperature
These
and
involuntary
that
regulation
conditions
are
likely
causes
in
a
breakdown
hypothermia.
nuclear winter,
which could lead to death more likely in babies,
children and old people.
26
•
The problem of food supply - starvation and bare
subsistence
which
is
already
the
fate
of many
developing countries would further augment during
a nuclear war and mass starvation
would
be the
immediate effect due to destruction of harvest and
food crop and flow of aid stopped.
•
J
Longer-term health problems - although shortage of
food could be most widespread and serious problem
among
human
certainly
be
survivors,
another.
For
poor
health
several
years
would
after
a
nuclear war, chronic and acute health problems are
predicted. These would arise from a combination of
three main factors: the breakdown of medical and
public health services,
pollution
with
the effects of world wide
exposure
to
radioactivity
fallout
immediately after the attack and probably the most
)
important factor, the spread of epidemic diseases,
due to poor living conditions, malnutrition, lack of
sanitation and severe psychological stress.
People have for long known the immediate effects of a
^nuclear war, what is now clear is also the long-term
effects of the same. Evidence from history shows a
point of no return for societies and civilizations. The
global effects of a nuclear war will be so severe and
weaken human species so much so that that the human
populations would not survive at all. If it happened this
would probably be the gradual fading away over many
27
years rather than a sudden event. The ultimate cost of a
nuclear war would be human extinction.
A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to
survive and with the development of nuclear weapons
and the realized danger of a nuclear war this thinking
has become an urgent necessity. We have to rethink the
meaning of peace and of war, of defence and security'
and of conflict and cooperation between nations. If we
do not, we may well be the last generation to have the
choice.
28
Bombing Bombay?
Effects of Nuclear Weapons
and a Case Study of a
Hypothetical Explosion
(A Summary)
Om.V. Ramana
*
OVERVIEW
The nuclear tests by India and Pakistan in May 1998
signaled the beginning of a dangerous new era in South
Asia. Nuclear war in this part of the world that is home
to over a billion people would be catastrophic. Nor
would the effects of such a war be limited to just the
region. Long-lasting radioactive fallout respects neither
spatial nor temporal boundaries.
This article describes the effects of nuclear explosions
and
the
consequences
of
a
hypothetical
nuclear
detonation over Bombay (Mumbai).
0The leading causes of casualties following a nuclear
explosion are:
•
Thermal (heat) radiation and resulting large scale
firestorms that could cause burns and other severe
injuries;
•
Shock waves and accompanying high speed winds
that could crush people or throw them around;
29
0
•
Prompt radiation and radioactive fallout that could
cause radiation sickness.
Depending on the population density in the part of the
city that is targeted, the number of deaths would range
between 160,000 to 866,000 for a 15 kiloton explosion
- approximately the
same destructive
power as
the
weapon dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. A 150 kiloton
weapon - typical of more modern hydrogen bombs -
could
cause
somewhere
and
736,000
between
8,660,000
deaths.
The
estimates
do
long-term
effects
like
cancers
that
not
include the
would
afflict
thousands of people in the following years or genetic
mutations that could affect future generations.
The first part of the article is a technical description of
the effects of a general nuclear explosion. The second
part describes the effects of a hypothetical explosion
over Bombay.
THE EFFECTS OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
There is a basic difference between nuclear explosions
and those involving conventional chemical explosives.
The energy output of any explosion comes from the
release
Nuclear
of the
binding
binding
energies
energies
are
so
of the
much
constituents.
higher
than
chemical binding energies that there is a huge increase
in the output of energy and destruction. Because of this
30
nuclear
increase,
weapons
be
never
can
‘discriminating’.
The energy released in a nuclear explosion is initially
in the form of high energy x-rays, tvhich heat the air to
create a fireball in which temperatures exceed 300,000
degrees
Celsius.
Ochemical
degrees
(light
In
explosions
temperatures
comparison,
are
unlikely
exceed
to
in
5000
Celsius.
The
enormous amount of radiation
heat)
that
comes
and
out
of the
fireball
is
sufficient to cause blindness. As the fireball expands
rapidly, the shell of air that has been compressed and
accelerated outward by the expansion separates from
the
fireball
and
‘shock’ wave.
propagates
outward
as
a
‘blast’
or
Besides thermal radiation and shock, a
third effect that causes
damage to health
is prompt
x
nuclear radiation that results from the nuclear reactions
'
that are responsible for the explosion.
The
shock
wave
everything in
from
a nuclear explosion
subjects
its path to high “overpressures ”. Even
0with ‘very small’ nuclear weapons of a kiloton or so,
the overpressure suffices to destroy ‘kutccha’ housing
up to nearly a kilometre from the point of explosion;
the wind speed due to the shock wave at this distance is
greater
than
60
kilometres/hour.
Due
to
the
complicated nature of the blast and varying standards
of construction, it is difficult to predict exact levels of
damage
at various
levels
31
0
of overpressure. Typically
light housing can be destroyed at 5psi or more, wooden
or brick houses can be destroyed at overpressures of
lOpsi
or
and
more
buildings
RCC
withstand
can
overpressures of up to 20psi.
The light and heat from the explosion leads to a very
high ‘radiant’ exposure for many miles around. This
causes burns on people and animals and starts fires at1
distances far from the site of the blast, burning paper,
Over the next 15-30 minutes, these
leaves, grass etc.
small fires coalesce to create ‘firestorms’.
Due to the
large area of the fire, the fire zone would act as a huge
pump, sucking in air from the surrounding areas and
driving heated air upwards. This pumping action would
winds
create
with
kilometres/hour.
The
velocities
as
temperature
high
50-80
as
the
in
fire
zone
would reach several hundred degrees, making it almost
certain that there would be no survivors.
Exposure to neutron
the
from
nuclear
and
gamma radiation,
reactions
resulting
responsible
for
the
explosion, would occur almost immediately after the /
explosion. High levels of radiation exposure could lead
to
a
variety
of symptoms
such
as
nausea,
bloody
diarrhea, and hemorrhages within a few days. At lower
levels
of radiation
exposure,
there
could
be
other
consequences of radiation that appear years later. These
health
effects
are
often
fatal
and
include
leukemia,
thyroid cancer, breast cancer, and lung cancer, as well
32
as non-fatal diseases such as birth defects, cataracts,
retardation
mental
in
children,
young
keloids,
and
others.
If the nuclear bomb explodes near the ground, a large
amount of material is vaporized and carried aloft into
the mushroom cloud. This material then mixes with the
fireball’s radioactive materials, which results in a cloud
of highly radioactive dust.
This radioactive
‘fallout’
can travel large distances on the winds created by the
explosion,
as
well
as
in
the
before
atmosphere,
ultimately falling back to earth. Exposure to this fallout
will
result
in
a
dose,
radiation
with
similar
consequences as described above.
HYPOTHETICAL CASE STUDY
To better appreciate the effects of a nuclear explosion,
the effects of a hypothetical
Bombay
is
considered.
As
over
nuclear explosion
the
largest
commercial
.venter in India with a huge population of about
100
lakhs, the city does present itself as a possible target of
attack.
The
aim
is
to
further
understanding
of the
consequences that result from a nuclear explosion.
It is assumed that the weapon used has the same yield
(15 kilotons) and is exploded at the same altitude (600
metres) as the weapon dropped on Hiroshima.
33
With
such a small yield, it is not possible to destroy the
whole city. The location of the attack determines which
region of Bombay is destroyed. For e.g., an attack in
the Fort area, would destroy most of the buildings from
Colaba to Victoria Terminus, along the entire width of
the island, but there is unlikely to be much damage in,
say, Chembur.
For a 15 kiloton explosion at an altitude of 600 m, the
resulting shock wave would destroy everything within
a circle with a radius of 1.1 km. Up to 1.7 km from the
point of explosion, all houses not built with concrete
would be destroyed. The quality of construction has a
great effect on the amount of damage inflicted in an
attack.
Buildings
in
Bombay
tend
to
collapse
by
themselves during the rainy season and are therefore
unlikely to withstand even small overpressures. These
collapses, therefore, are likely to occur over a much
wider area.
Over and above the destruction due to the shock wave
is the damage due to the firestorm. In the case of ffy
Hiroshima-sized explosion over a city like Bombay, the
radius of the region under flames would be
1.7 to 2
kilometers. Fire-fighting would be almost impossible
due to the combination of hurricane-force winds, thick
smoke, the destruction of water mains and tanks by the
shock wave, and the presence of debris from the blast
blocking roads and access routes. The explosions of
34
LPG
cylinders
and
other
explosive
household
materials, due to the firestorm or blast, will increase the
damage.
-
Given
the
population
in
densities
Bombay,
a
conservative estimate of only the immediate casualties
(i.e. within the first few weeks following the explosion)
•
Qlue
to
such
an
explosion
ranges
from
160,000
to
866,000 depending on the population density of the
area that is destroyed.
If, instead of assuming that the weapon is detonated at
a height of 600 meters, the explosion were assumed to
happen at ground level, the areas destroyed by blast
and fire would be smaller. However, the area subject to
levels of radioactive fallout that have a high likelihood
of being fatal would be between 25
and 100
square
kilometers. The wind direction during the period that
the fallout is aloft (which could be fluctuating) would
-
determine which areas would be subject to these levels
of radioactivity. The regions subject to high levels of
■
ujfallout
would
have
high
levels
of
casualties
and
radiation sickness.
These estimates are extremely conservative. The toll
could be even greater because
of the possibility of
damage to chemical industries leading to toxic spills of
extremely
hazardous
chemicals
reminiscent
of
the
Union Carbide accident in Bhopal, or of the possibility
35
\ J
that there would be either intended or unintentional
damage to the nuclear reactor at Trombay. Hospitals
and
medical
care
in
an
overcrowded
city
such
as
Bombay are limited to begin with, and facilities within
the
affected
area
would
be
destroyed
or
damaged
during the attack. The injured would be unlikely to find
medical treatment to help them survive.
36
CONCLUSION
Nuclear weapons
The
are, clearly,
of these
scale
immense
extremely destructive.
effects,
and
that
too
resulting from just a single fission weapon with a low
yield,
should
it
make
clear
that
any
use
of such
weapons would lead to a major catastrophe. The only
guarantee that such
a
tragedy would
never occur is
complete elimination of nuclear weapons, both
the
region
and
from
the
world,
and
the
from
means
to
manufacture them.
* M.V. Ramana has a Ph.D. in Physics from Boston
University and has held research appointments at the
University of Toronto, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and Princeton University. This study was
done for the International Physicians for the
Prevention of Nuclear War. The complete report is
available
on
the
internet
al
http://www.ippnw.org/bombay.pdf .
37
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OVA' 2-
Compiled and Edited by D.lndumathi, M-V.N. Murthy, R.Shankar.
Published for Indian Scientists Against Nuclear Weapons by TNSF
ISANW/00/2
November 2000
The Tragedy Of Hiroshima And Nagasaki
Compiled and Edited by
D. Indumathi, M.V.N. Murthy, R. Shankar
Published for
Indian Scientists Against Nuclear Weapons
by
Tamil Nadu Science Forum
e
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to the popularisation of science and the use of science only for constructive
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(gfr
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http://www.tnsf.org
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nai, committed to building and strengthening the campaign for abolition of
nuclear weapons around the world. Thirty three groups, including Indian
Scientists Against Nuclear Weapons, are members of MANW. For more in
formation, contact:
Convener: J. Sri Raman,
G-2 Seashore Apartments,
12 (Old No. 3) Jayaram Chetty Street,
Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai 600 041.
Price: Rs 10/-
Contents
1
Introduction
The Decision
2
^^he Bombing
4
The Hibakusha
5 The Children of Hiroshima
e
©
3
7
27
31
43
Preface
Fifty five years after the first atomic bombings devastated Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, it is still difficult to understand how the decision to bomb these
cities was taken.
Since 1995, the top secret documents leading to the decision (now de
classified) are publicly available. This booklet attempts to tell that story and
juxtaposes it with eye-witness accounts of the resulting horror. Rather than
argument and analysis, the account relies on blandly-stated official records
and survivors’ accounts, leaving readers to draw'their own conclusions. . ■>
For Indian readers, there are many deeply disturbing parallels here, in" _■
context of nuclear weapons in South Asia. As the story unfolds, it becomes
clear that the use of the bomb was not dictated by military necessity.
Indeed, the U.S. military does not seem to have been formally involved in a
decision of such magnitude.
It was the scientists who understood the cataclysmic potential of the bomb.
This booklet records how some of them initiated the project to build atomic
bombs, as well as how a number of them foresaw the nuclear arms race,
proliferation, and the danger to humanity from these weapons. Despite the
articulated entreaty of a few, to desist from using these weapons (as recorded
in petitions to the U.S. President), the decision to bomb was taken. What
emerges is a picture of a political decision, backed by one section of scien
tists and opposed by another, and not involving military leadership in a
*
significant way.
On the other hand, the story of the bombing itself and the horror recorded
by eye-witness accounts, reminds us of how easily such decisions can be taken
and executed, and at what cost. When photographer Matsushige talks of
high-school children running through the raging fire, skin burst open, and
hanging like rags, we realise fully that the war was not about bombing mili
tary bases, or saving lives.
It is cliched to assert that history repeats itself. Only in revisiting hist’ .
in attempting to understand the truth and its distortions, can we have hope
for the future.
Chapter 1
Introduction
August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in
Japan. Three days later, another followed, this time on Nagasaki. These two
bombs killed thousands of civilians including infants, children and the elderly,
as well as devastated the two cities. By the end of that year, nearly two lakh
people were dead. This large-scale destruction of civilian populations was on
an unprecedented scale, unknown in the history of mankind upto that time.
The events leading to this tragedy began in another part of the world and
nearly four years earlier. In the United States of America, some of the top
scientists of the day assembled to begin the process of creating the weapons
dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While it took a few years to make
these bombs, it took less than a month to make the decision about
its actual use. Dropped from a height of 600 meters above Hiroshima,
,-Sf, took only a few seconds to reduce the city of Hiroshima to rubble. Few
Wurvivors remained to tell the tales of suffering and horror.
Many questions remain: How did this tragedy occur? Why was it allowed
to happen? Did the creators of these weapons of mass destruction know
the real nature of these weapons? Many answers have become known (or
clarified) over the years. Indeed, many classified documents related to this
issue have become declassified and available to the public only since 1995.
Sjepe then, the movement to correctly record the history of the bombing
Vision has gained strength.
Let us summarise the salient points: It is now part of history that the
whole project started after Albert Einstein wrote a letter to U.S. President
Roosevelt. At that time there was a real fear among scientists that possible
research on these weapons was being done by German scientists. The socalled Manhattan project in the U.S. was begun, as a response to this fear.
However, the project gathered a momentum of its own. It did not stop even
after the very reason for its existence evaporated when Germany surrendered
in May 1945. This was a good three months before the bombing of Hiroshima.
By the middle of July, several intercepted communications between Japan
and its foreign minister in Russia clearly indicate that Japan was also willing
to sue for peace, “on the basis of the Atlantic Charter”. In spite of this, the
jBjo-ahead was given to drop the atomic bomb on not one but two cities, and
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
especially, on civilian populations.
Mr. Kosuke Shishido, one of the “Hibakusha” or survivors of the bomb
attack on Hiroshima, says,
“[personally do not blame the U.S.A. It was a war. Japan might have done
a similar thing in a different situation. However, I believe it was a sin to kill
so many people instantly. On the basis of my research, I have concluded that
the major reasons why the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima are as follows.
There was a group of people (military people and scientists) who wanted to
experiment with the bomb that they had developed. Some high level people in
the government wanted to show the world the military power of the country (in
the sense of using A-bomb politically). Some people who played a stgnificorl
role in the development of the first A-bomb in history wanted to kill as mJ i
people as possible to get even with Japan for Pearl Harbor and the Phillipines
war. The project that developed the first two A-bombs had spent a significant
amount of money and they needed a justification ..."
Indeed several documents reveal that many established and senior scien
tists played an act'ive role in identifying the targets and that they were very
much aware of the deadly consequences of their use. Intricate details as to
the height of detonation, weather conditions, etc., were discussed in great
detail by these eminent men. Voices against the use of the bombs, from some
distinguished colleagues, were dismissed by appealing to lack of competence
on matters of social, political and military importance while at the same
time recommending that the use of these weapons should be such as to have
impact on the future international situations.
The declaration of amorality in matters related to science and its uses
raises the important and disturbing question about the role of ethics in the
practice of sciences. Should one extend the presumed value-neutrality in
the practice of science, all the way from the laboratory environs to the so
cial domain, where it often concerns the very existence of societies? Such
a view, held as valid by a section of scientists, has often led to disastrous
consequences. For example, scientist Fritz Haber’s research helped in tj'V
manufacture and use of deadly gases during the first world war and earn,.j
him the epithet—father of chemical warfare. He logically analysed the “ad
vantages” of chlorine gas in warfare. Indeed once these became clear, both
sides used it with devastating effect on each other. Much like Haber, some
of our protagonists of nuclear weapons, as we shall see soon, logically anal
ysed the advantages of using nuclear weapons while their opponents invented
technologically sophisticated methods of torture and murder which were used
in concentration camps. Even corpses were not spared from further studies.
It is still heartening that several eminent scientists in this century have held
strongly humanitarian views. Einstein for one believed in the “inescapable re
sponsibility” of scientists to create an “informed citizenry” which will “act for
life and not for death”. Closer home, Raman was an outspoken critic of mil
itarisation of science in all its aspects. In particular he was very vocal about#
5
his opposition to weapons of mass destruction—“The atom-bomb is the
latest weapon created by science for the benefit of war-mongers”,
he said. He reflected deeply about aspects of science in relation to society
and believed that it must be used for humane ends.
Where does one draw the line? Scientist Leo Szilard said the following in
an interview,“... suppose Germany had developed ... and dropped one bomb,
say, on Rochester ... and having run out of bombs she would have lost the
war. Can any one doubt that we would have then defined the dropping of
atomic bombs on cities as a war crime, and that we would have sentenced the
Germans who were guilty of this crime to death at Nuremberg and hanged
them?” The Nuremberg trials upheld the fact that individuals are respon£®Sle for what they do, and are accountable for committing serious crimes
under international law. Ironically, the International Military Tribunal at
Nuremberg was established on August 8, 1945, two days after the bombing
of Hiroshima when 90,000 had already died, and thousands more were about
to be killed in Nagasaki.
We leave the question open, but not before we hear the witnesses. The
witnesses are the Hibakusha, the survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki
bombings. Many of these survivors were children in 1945 and have recorded
their experiences of that time. It is about time we heard them before their
experiences fade into distant memory.
This booklet is mainly about what the protagonists said and is almost
entirely in their words. How was this cataclysmic event allowed to happen? In
^.trying to find an answer, we found many original, now unclassified documents
(jjrn the Internet. These relate to
• the making of the bomb,
• the decision to drop the bomb, and the targets chosen, and
• the eye witness accounts of the actual bombing.
JAich of the story about the making of the decision, the bombing, and the
®fermath, is told by these documents. In the entire booklet we have let the
original writing speak of the events and experiences with as little intrusion
as possible. In trying to understand how it happened, more im
portantly why it happened, perhaps lies the hope that the “right
sense of judgement will prevail so that we will not lead mankind
to annhilition. That is our responsibility” in the words of Yoshitaka
Kawamoto, one of the survivors.
We are indebted to many sources, now freely available, on many web
sites. These are mentioned at the end of each section. We are grateful to all
those people who have spared time and effort to put together these websites.
While we have made use of the available material freely in this booklet, the
responsibility for any errors lies solely with us.
e
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
J.R. Oppenheimer, scientific leader of the Manhattan project, who also
played a major role in the decision to drop the bombs
Major General L.R. Groves, looking at Japan on a map of the Pacific.
Groves was the military leader of the Manhattan project, where the first
atomic bombs were developed
Chapter 2
The Decision
beginning
In the summer of 1939, six months after the discovery of uranium fission by
German scientists, the prospect of atomic energy and its military use was being
discussed. No official U.S. atomic energy project existed as yet. Physicist Leo
Szilard was profoundly disturbed by the possibility that Nazi Germany might make
atomic bombs using the new developments in nuclear fission, leading to disastrous
consequences for the rest of the world. He was troubled by the fact that Germany
had stopped the sale of uranium ore from occupied Czechoslovakia. Convinced
of the need to continue experiments, Szilard turned to Albert Einstein for help.
As a life-long pacifist, Einstein was opposed the making of weapons, but he
could not allow the Nazis sole possession of such destructive power. He agreed
to write the letter marking the beginning of the atomic age. The letter was sent
jjjsb the President of United States, F. D. Roosevelt, on 2nd August 1939. In his
letter Einstein wrote,
“Some recent work by E. Fermi and L. Szilard, which has been
communicated to me in manuscript, leads me to expect that the
element uranium may be turned into a new and important source
of energy in the immediate future. Certain aspects of the situation
which has arisen seem to call for watchfulness and, if necessary,
quick action on the part of the Administration. I believe therefore
that it is my duty to bring to your attention the following facts and
recommendations:
In the course of the last four months it has been made probablethrough the work of Joliot in France as well as Fermi and Szilard in
America- that it may become possible to set up a nuclear chain re
action in a large mass of uranium, by which vast amounts of power
and large quantities of new radium-like elements would be gener
ated. Now it appears almost certain that this could be achieved in
the immediate future.
This new phenomenon would also lead to the construction of bombs,
and it is conceivable- though much less certain- that extremely pow-
CHAPTER 2. THE DECISION
erful bombs of a new type may thus be constructed. A single bomb
of this type, carried by boat and exploded in a port, might very
well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding
territory. However, such bombs might very well prove to be too
heavy for transportation by air.
The United States has only very poor ores of uranium in moderate
quantities. There is some good ore in Canada and the former Che
choslovakia, while the most important source of uranium is Belgian
Congo.
In view of this situation you may think it desirable to have some
permanant contact maintained between the Administration and the >
group of physicists working on chain reactions in America. One :
possible way of achieving this might be for you to entrust with this
task a person who has your confidence and who could perhaps serve
in an unofficial capacity. His task might comprise the following:
a) to approach Government Departments, keep them informed of
the further development, and put forward recommendations for
Government action giving particular attention to the problem of
securing a supply of uranium ore for the United States.
b) to speed up the experimental work, which is at present being car- ■
tied on within the limits of the budgets of University laboratories,
by providing funds, if such funds be required, through his contacts
with private persons who are willing to make contributions for this
cause, and perhaps also by obtaining the co-operation of industrial
laboratories which have the necessary equipment.
I understand that Germany has actually stopped the sale of ura
nium from the Chechoslovakian mines which she has taken over.
That she would have taken such early action might perhaps be un
derstood on the ground that the son of the German Under-secretary
of State, von Weisacker, is attached to the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut ..
in Berlin where some of the American work on uranium is now being |
repeated.”
For the next two years, official skepticism continued to stall U.S. reseat
efforts. A large-scale U.S. atomic project did not begin until December 6,1?41
one day before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It became the “Manhattan" Project
in August 1942 and thus begins the most active phase of the atomic age.
Unfolding of the Tragedy
By the beginning of 1945 it was clear that the atom bomb was a reality. Most
the loose ends had been fixed and work was in full swing towards the actual tes»
of the bomb. The details of the "Manhattan Project" has been documented ».
both historians and the scientists who were involved in the project directly. In
what follows we reproduce several original documents related to the decision to
use the atomic bomb.
We should however note that with the surrender of Germany in early May 1945,
the European war had ended. The focus had shifted to the Pacific where Japan
was still at war with U.S. and allies. A target committee was entrusted with the
task of identifying the bomb targets. The committee consisted of many military
personnel involved in the Manhattan Project and several Scientist Leaders of the
projects. The document produced by the committee is detailed and goes into
various aspects of target selection. Excerpts from the original top secret minutes
are given below:
fW.'arget Committee, Los Alamos, May 10-11, 1945
2 May 1945
'*
<&)
Memorandum For: Major General L. R. Groves
Subject: Summary of Target Committee Meetings on 10 and 11
May 1945
1. The second meeting of the Target Committee convened at 9:00
AM 10 May in Dr. Oppenheimer’s office at Site Y with the following
present:
General Farrell, Dr. C. Lauritsen, Colonel Seeman, Dr. Ramsey,
Captain Parson, Dr. Dennison, Major Derry, Dr. von Neumann,
Dr. Stearns, Dr. Wilson, Dr. Tolman, Dr. Penne, Dr. Oppen
heimer.
Dr. Bethe and Dr. Brode were brought into the meeting for dis
cussion of Item A of the agenda. During the course of the meeting
panels were formed from the committee members and others to
meet in the afternoon and develop conclusions to items discussed
in the agenda. The concluding meeting was held at 10:00 AM 11
May in Dr. Oppenheimer’s office with the following present:
Colonel Seeman, Dr. Stearns, Captain Parsons, Dr. Von Neumann,
Major Derry, Dr. Dennison, Dr. Tolman, Dr. Penney, Dr. Oppen
heimer, Dr. Ramsey, Dr. Wilson.
After the technical discussions in section A-C, the report comes to the rea
soning behind the choice of targets,
D: Status of Targets:
A. Dr. Stearns described the work he had done on target selection.
He has surveyed possible targets possessing the following qualifica
tion: (1) they be important targets in a large urban area of more
than three miles in diameter, (2) they be capable of being dam
aged effectively by a blast, and (3) they are unlikely to be attacked
CHAPTER 2. THE DECISION
by next August. Dr. Stearns had a list of five targets which the
Air Force would be willing to reserve for our use unless unforeseen
circumstances arise. These targets are:
(1) Kyoto - This target is an urban industrial area with a popula
tion of 1,000,000. It is the former capital of Japan and many people
and industries are now being moved there as other areas are being
destroyed. From the psychological point of view there is the advan
tage that Kyoto is an intellectual center for Japan and the people
there are more apt to appreciate the significance of such a weapon
as the gadget. (Classified as an AA Target)
(2) Hiroshima - This is an important army depot and port of em
barkation in the middle of an urban industrial area. It is a good
radar target and it is such a size that a large part of the city could
be extensively damaged. There are adjacent hills which are likely
to produce a focussing effect which would considerably increase the
blast damage. Due to rivers it is not a good incendiary target.
(Classified as an AA Target)
(3) Yokohama - This target is an important urban industrial area
which has so far been untouched. Industrial activities include air
craft manufacture, machine tools, docks, electrical equipment and
oil refineries. As the damage to Tokyo has increased additional
industries have moved to Yokohama. It has the disadvantage of
the most important target areas being separated by a large body
of water and of being in the heaviest anti-aircraft concentration in
Japan. For us it has the advantage as an alternate target for use
in case of bad weather of being rather far removed from the other
targets considered. (Classified as an A Target)
(4) Kokura Arsenal - This is one of the largest arsenals in Japan
and is surrounded by urban industrial structures. The arsenal is
important for light ordnance, anti-aircraft and beach head defense
materials. The dimensions of the arsenal are 4100’ x 2000’. The
dimensions are such that if the bomb were properly placed full ad
vantage could be taken of the higher pressures immediately under
neath the bomb for destroying the more solid structures and at the
same time considerable blast damage could be done to more feeble
structures further away. (Classified as an A Target)
(5) Niigata - This is a port of embarkation on the N.W. coast of
Honshu. Its importance is increasing as other ports are damaged.
Machine tool industries are located there and it is a potential center
for industrial dispersion. It has oil refineries and storage. (Classified
as a B Target)
(6) The possibility of bombing the Emperor’s palace was discussed.
It was agreed that we should not recommend it but that any action
for this bombing should come from authorities on military policy. It
was agreed that we should obtain information from which we could
determine the effectiveness of our weapon against this target.
B. It was the recommendation of those present at the meeting that
the first four choices of targets for our weapon should be the fol
lowing:
a. Kyoto b. Hiroshima c. Yokohama d. Kokura Arsenal
C. Dr. Stearns agreed to do the following: (1) brief Colonel Fisher
thoroughly on these matters, (2) request reservations for these tar
gets, (3) find out more about the target area including exact locations of the strategic industries there, (4) obtain further photo
information on the targets, and (5) to determine the nature of the
construction, the area, heights, contents and roof coverage of build
ings. He also agreed to keep in touch with the target data as it
develops and to keep the committee advised of other possible tar
get areas. He will also check on locations of small military targets
and obtain further details on the Emperor’s palace.
E. Psychological Factors in Target Selection
A. It was agreed that psychological factors in the target selection
were of great importance. Two aspects of this are (1) obtaining
the greatest psychological effect against Japan and (2) making the
initial use sufficiently spectacular for the importance of the weapon
to be internationally recognized when publicity on it is released.
B. In this respect Kyoto has the advantage of the people being
more highly intelligent and hence better able to appreciate the sig
nificance of the weapon. Hiroshima has the advantage of being
such a size and with possible focussing from nearby mountains that
a large fraction of the city may be destroyed. The Emperor’s palace
in Tokyo has a greater fame than any other target but is of least
strategic value.
F. Use Against “Military” Objectives
A. It was agreed that for the initial use of the weapon any small
and strictly military objective should be located in a much larger
area subject to blast damage in order to avoid undue risks of the
weapon being lost due to bad placing of the bomb.
The report goes on to discuss other technical and operational aspects of the
bombing mission. While the target committee, consisting of scientists and mil
itary personnel from the Los Alamos division of the Manhattan Project, was
discussing the use of the gadget, several other scientists else where were begin
ning to worry about the consequences of its use. The Franck Report, written
h:by a seven-man panel of scientists at the University of Chicago, urged that the
CHAPTER 2. THE DECISION
bomb be demonstrated “before the eyes of representatives of all United Nations,
on a desert or a barren island". The report is long, detailed and addresses ex
tremely complex and important questions. In many ways the pronouncement of
the members was prophetic if one looks back at the last fifty years of the atomic
age. We reproduce the summary of the report.
The Franck Report
June 11, 1945
Report of the Committee on Political and Social Problems, Man
hattan Project “Metallurgical Laboratory”, University of Chicago,
June 11, 1945
Members of the Committee: James Franck (Chairman), Donald J.
Hughes, J. J. Nickson, Eugene Rabinowitch, Glenn T. Seaborg, J.
C. Stearns, Leo Szilard
Summary:
The development of nuclear power not only constitutes an impor
tant addition to the technological and military power of the United
States, but also creates grave political and economic problems for
the future of this country.
Nuclear bombs cannot possibly remain a “secret weapon” at the
exclusive disposal of this country, for more than a few years. The
scientific facts on which their construction is based are well known
to scientists of other countries. Unless an effective international con
trol of nuclear explosives is instituted, a race of nuclear armaments
is certain to ensue following the first revelation of our possession of
nuclear weapons to the world. Within ten years other countries may
have nuclear bombs, each of which, weighing less than a ton, could
destroy an urban area of more than five square miles. In the war to
which such an armaments race is likely to lead, the United States,
with its agglomeration of population and industry in comparatively .
few metropolitan districts, will be at a disadvantage compared to
the nations whose population and industry are scattered over large
areas.
We believe that these considerations make the use of nuclear bombs
for an early, unannounced attack against Japan inadvisable. If the
United States would be the first to release this new means of in
discriminate destruction upon mankind, she would sacrifice public
support throughout the world, precipitate the race of armaments,
and prejudice the possibility of reaching an international agreement
on the future control of such weapons.
Much more favorable conditions for the eventual achievement of
such an agreement could be created if nuclear bombs were first re-
13
vealed to the world by a demonstration in an appropriately selected
uninhabited area.
If chances for the establishment of an effective international control
of nuclear weapons will have to be considered slight at the present
time, then not only the use of these weapons against Japan, but
even their early demonstration may be contrary to the interests of
this country. A postponement of such a demonstration will have
in this case the advantage of delaying the beginning of the nuclear
armaments race as long as possible. If, during the time gained,
ample support could be made available for further development of
the field in this country, the postponement would substantially ing) crease the lead which we have established during the present war,
and our position in an armament race or in any later attempt at
international agreement will thus be strengthened.
On the other hand, if no adequate public support for the develop
ment of nucleonics will be available without a demonstration, the
postponement of the latter may be deemed inadvisable, because
enough information might leak out to cause other nations to start
the armament race, in which we will then be at a disadvantage.
At the same time, the distrust of other nations may be aroused by
a confirmed development under cover of secrecy, making it more
difficult eventually to reach an agreement with them.
If the government should decide in favor of an early demonstration
of nuclear weapons it will then have the possibility to take into
account the public opinion of this country and of the other nations
before deciding whether these weapons should be used in the war
against Japan. In this way, other nations may assume a share of
the responsibility for such a fateful decision.
To sum up, we urge that the use of nuclear bombs in this war be
considered as a problem of long-range national policy rather than
iff) military expediency, and that this policy be directed primarily to
the achievement of an agreement permitting an effective interna
tional control of the means of nuclear warfare.
The vital importance of such a control for our country is obvious
from the fact that the only effective alternative method of protecting
this country, of which we are aware, would be a dispersal of our
major cities and essential industries.
Despite the arguments against the bomb made by the Franck report, a scien
tific panel composed of Oppenheimer, Fermi, Compton and Lawrence found “no
acceptable alternative to direct military use":
CHAPTER 2. THE DECISION
Recommendations on the Immediate Use of Nuclear Weapons, by
the Scientific Panel of the Interim Committee on Nuclear Power
A. H. Compton, E. O. Lawrence, J. R. Oppenheimer, E. Fermi
(signature) J. R. Oppenheimer, For the Panel
June 16, 1945
You have asked us to comment on the initial use of the new weapon.
This use, in our opinion, should be such as to promote a satisfactory
adjustment of our international relations. At the same time, we
recognize our obligation to our nation to use the weapons to help
save American lives in the Japanese war.
(1) To accomplish these ends we recommend that before the weapons
are used not only Britain, but also Russia, France, and China be
advised that we have made considerable progress in our work on
atomic weapons, that these may be ready to use during the present
war, and that we would welcome suggestions as to how we can
cooperate in making this development contribute to improved in
ternational relations.
(2) The opinions of our scientific colleagues on the initial use of
these weapons are not unanimous: they range from the proposal of
a purely technical demonstration to that of the military application
best designed to induce surrender. Those who advocate a purely
technical demonstration would wish to outlaw the use of atomic
weapons, and have feared that if we use the weapons now our po
sition in future negotiations will be prejudiced. Others emphasize
the opportunity of saving American lives by immediate military use,
and believe that such use will improve the international prospects,
in that they are more concerned with the prevention of war than
with the elimination of this specific weapon. We find ourselves
closer to these latter views; we can propose no technical demon
stration likely to bring an end to the war; we see no acceptable
alternative to direct military use.
(3) With regard to these general aspects of the use of atomic energy,
it is clear that we, as scientific men, have no proprietary rights. It
is true that we are among the few citizens who have had occasion to
give thoughtful consideration to these problems during the past few
years. We have, however, no claim to special competence in solving
the political, social, and military problems which are presented by
the advent of atomic power.
Surprisingly, an important warning against the use of the atom bomb also
came from some members of the administration. Undersecretary of the Navy
Ralph A Bard wrote the following memorandum:
Memorandum on the use of S-l Bomb
June 27, 1945
Ever since I have been in touch with this program I have had a
feeling that before the bomb is actually used against Japan that
Japan should have some preliminary warning for say two or three
days in advance of use. The position of the United States as a
great humanitarian nation and the fair play attitude of our people
generally is responsible in the main for this feeling.
During recent weeks I have also had the feeling very definitely that
. the Japanese government may be searching for some opportunity
which they could use as a medium of surrender. Following the threepower conference, emissaries from this country could contact repre
sentatives from Japan somewhere on the China Coast and make rep
resentations with regard to Russia’s position and at the same time
give them some information regarding the proposed use of atomic
power, together with whatever assurances the President might care
to make with regard to the Emperor of Japan and the treatment
of the Japanese nation following unconditional surrender. It seems
quite possible to me that this presents the opportunity which the
Japanese are looking for.
I don’t see that we have anything in particular to lose in following
such a program. The stakes are so tremendous that it is my opinion
very real consideration should be given to some plan of this kind.
I do not believe under present circumstances existing that there
is anyone in this country whose evaluation of the chances of the
success of such a program is worth a great deal. The' only way to
find out is to try it out.
While the scientific leadership of the Manhattan Project was hawkish in rec
ommending the targets for actual use of the bomb, the scientists in Chicago.
(jjlakridge and other laboratories were more concerned. The first version of Leo
Szilard’s petition was circulated around on July 3, 1945.
The July 3 version received 59 signatures at the Chicago Metallurgical Labo
ratory, but it was not submitted to the President in this form. Szilard sought to
broaden support, and rewrote it into the final version of July 17. Some excerpts
from the original petition:
The Szilard petition
July 3, 1945
We, the undersigned scientists, have been working in the field of
atomic power for a number of years. Until recently we have had to
reckon with the possibility that the United States might be attacked
by atomic bombs during this war and that her only defense might
CHAPTER 2. THE DECISION
lie in a counterattack by the same means. Today with this danger
averted we feel impelled to say what follows:
The war has to be brought speedily to a successful conclusion and
the destruction of Japanese cities by means of atomic bombs may
very well be an effective method of warfare. We feel, however,
that such an attack on Japan could not be justified in the present
circumstances. We believe that the United States ought not to
resort to the use of atomic bombs in the present phase of the war,
at least not unless the terms which will be imposed upon Japan
after the war are publicly announced and subsequently Japan is
given an opportunity to surrender....
Atomic power will provide the nations with new means of destruc
tion. The atomic bombs at our disposal represent only the first
step in this direction and there is almost no limit to the destructive
power which will become available in the course of this develop
ment. Thus a nation which sets the precedent of using these newly
liberated forces of nature for purposes of destruction may have to
bear the responsibility of opening the door to an era of devastation
on an unimaginable scale.
In view of the foregoing, we, the undersigned, respectfully petition
that you exercise your power as Commander-in-Chief to rule that
the United States shall not, in the present phase of the war, resort
to the use of atomic bombs.
(Signed by Leo Szilard and 58 co-signers)
The Szilard petition immediately inspired a similar petition at the Manhattan
project laboratory at Oak Ridge. Excerpts of the Oak Ridge:
The Oak Ridge petition
mid-July 1945
We, the undersigned scientific personnel of the Clinton Laborato
ries, believe that the world-wide social and political consequences
of the power of the weapon now being developed on this Project
impose a special moral obligation on the government and people of
the United States in introducing the weapon in warfare.
It is further believed that the power of this weapon should be made
known by demonstration to the peoples of the world, irrespective
of the course of the present conflict, for in this way the body of
world opinion may be made the determining factor in the absolute
preservation of peace.
(Signed by 67 personnel)
By now it was also becoming clear that Japan, while still being at war, was
suing for peace through the Russians. Several communications between the
17
Japanese ambassador to Russia and the Japanese Prime Minister were inter
cepted by the U.S. Military.
Intercepted cables on July 12-13 showed Japan’s Emperor had intervened to
attempt to end the war. They also showed Japan responding positively to a U.S.
offer of a surrender based on the "Atlantic Charter" as put forward in an official
American radio broadcast on July 21, 1945.
The Atlantic Charter was the declaration of peace aims set forth by Roosevelt
and Churchill on August 14, 1941 and later (January 1942) affirmed by repre
sentatives of 26 nations. Its key passage and promise lay in the third point, a
declaration that the signatory nations "respect the right of all peoples to choose
the form of government under which they will live; and they wish to see sovereign
i«ghts and self-government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of
aem." (This would have allowed Japan to keep its Emperor). The broadcast
was allowed to stand with Presidential sanction, but U.S. officials chose to ignore
this indication of Japan's willingness to surrender.
On July 25, an intercepted message from Japanese Foreign Minister Togo
to Ambassador Sato in Moscow cited the radio broadcast-and stated without
reservation:
“The fact that the Americans alluded to the Atlantic Charter is
particularly worthy of attention at this time. It is impossible for us
to accept unconditional surrender, no matter in what guise, but it
is our idea to inform them by some appropriate means that there is
no objection to the restoration of peace on the basis of the Atlantic
Charter.”
$
The Trinity Test tower; the explosion took place at the top
The success of the first atomic bomb test changed the political climate of the
; day and the years to follow for ever. The Trinity Test, the test of the atomic bomb
CHAPTER 2. THE DECISION
in the New Mexico desert, that took place on July 16, 1945 was a spectacular
success. The test date itself was set in such a way that the President of the United
States, Harry Truman, would have the results on hand before the beginning of
the meeting of the superpower leaders at Potsdam in Germany.
Many accounts of the period recounted by the civilian and political leadership
of the time indicate that after the Trinity Test, the diplomatic end to the Pacific
war was not even seriously considered. The main focus shifted to the role Russia
would play in such a scenario (and the importance gained therefrom). The im
mense desire to be the sole superpower of the world in control of all international
affairs seems to have overridden any humanitarian or moral obligations.
Even in the background of this powerplay, Truman did think for a while that
he was actually ordering the atomic bombing of a military target, as he noted ir
his diary:
The Truman diary entry
July 25, 1945
We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the
world. It may be the fire destruction prophesied in the Euphrates
Valley Era, after Noah and his fabulous Ark.
Anyway we “think” we have found the way to cause a disintegration
of the atom. An experiment in the New Mexico desert was startling
- to put it mildly. Thirteen pounds of the explosive caused the
complete disintegration of a steel tower 60 feet high, created a crater
6 feet deep and 1,200 feet in diameter, knocked over a steel tower
1/2 mile away and knocked men down 10,000 yards away. The
explosion was visible for more than 200 miles and audible for 40
miles and more.
This weapon is to be used against Japan between now and August
10th. I have told the Sec. of War, Mr. Stimson, to use it so
that military objectives and soldiers and sailors are the target and
not women and children. Even if the Japs are savages, ruthless,
merciless and fanatic, we as the leader of the world for the common
welfare cannot drop that terrible bomb on the old capital or the
new.
He and I are in accord. The target will be a purely military one
and we will issue a warning statement asking the Japs to surrender
and save lives. I’m sure they will not do that, but we will have
given them the chance. It is certainly a good thing for the world
that Hitler s crowd or Stalin’s did not discover this atomic bomb.
It seems to be the most terrible thing ever discovered, but it can be
made the most useful...
Note that the diary entry says that a warning was to be issued and also that
it should not target women and children. Nevertheless, when the actual order of
bombing was issued, there was no mention of Truman's concerns:
The Handy Order
July 25, 1945
25 July 1945
To:
'■ J?
~
General Carl Spaatz
Commanding General
United States Army Strategic Air Forces
1. The 509 Composite Group, 20th Air Force will deliver its first
special bomb as soon as weather will permit visual bombing after
about 3 August 1945 on one of the targets: Hiroshima, Kokura,
Niigata and Nagasaki. To carry military and civilian scientific per
sonnel from the War Department to observe and record the effects
of the explosion of the bomb, additional aircraft will accompany the
airplane carrying the bomb. The observing planes will stay several
miles distant from the point of impact of the bomb.
2. Additional bombs will be delivered on the above targets as soon
as made ready by the project staff. Further instructions will be
issued concerning targets other than those listed above.
3. Discussion of any and all information concerning the use of the
weapon against Japan is reserved to the Secretary of War and the
President of the United States. No communiques on the subject or
releases of information will be issued by Commanders in the field
without specific prior authority. Any news stories will be sent to
the War Department for specific clearance.
4. The foregoing directive is issued to you by direc- tion and with
the approval of the Secretary of War and of the Chief of Staff, USA.
It is desired that you personally deliver one copy of this directive
to General MacArthur and one copy to Admiral Nimitz for their
information.
(Sgd) Thos. T. Handy
Thos. T. Handy, General, G.S.C. Acting Chief of Staff
The actual bombing of Hiroshima took place on August 6, 1945. Followed by
Nagasaki on August 9. Even in his radio speech, after the bombing on August
9, 1945, Truman referred to Hiroshima as a military base:
k,
“...The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on
Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in this
first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians. But
that attack is only a warning of things to come. If Japan does not
20
CHAPTER 2. THE DECISION
surrender, bombs will have to be dropped on her war industries
and, unfortunately, thousands of civilian lives will be lost. I urge
Japanese civilians to leave industrial cities immediately, and save
themselves from destruction.”
But Hiroshima was not a military base, as the Target Committee had already
noted. Indeed it was a thickly populated city, which was one of the reasons why it
was chosen; it had been kept apart from earlier bombing raids to provide a clean
target for atomic bombings. Nor were the lives of civilians spared subsequently,
since Nagasaki was bombed three days later.
In many recorded interviews, members of the U.S. administration later claimed
that these bombings achieved an end of the Pacific war and saved nearly a quarter
of a million American lives.
In various statements, President Truman asserts that he "made that decision
because I thought 200,000 of our young men would be saved by making that
decision, and some 300,000 or 400,000 of the enemy would be saved by making
that decision" (April 6, 1949). He repeats this figure in several of his subsequent
addresses as also for the offical history of the Air Force in World War II.
These numbers appear to have been invented as a post-facto justification. The
primary source of this figure seems to be based on the estimate of nearly mil
lion casualities offered by Truman's secretary Henry Stimson-"the major fighting
would not end until the latter part of 1946, at the earliest. I was informed that
such operations might be expected to cost over a million casualities, to American
forces alone." (Harper’s Magazine, 1947.)
Not only do later studies not offer any convincing evidence of these estimates,
the highest estimate given in earlier planning reports (prepared prior to the bomb-'
ings), was in the range of 40,000-60,000 and this assumed full scale invasion.
In fact, if the same terms of surrender had been given prior to the bombing of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki as those that were offered later, perhaps much fewer
casualities would have resulted.
The Military View
In all the original accounts of the crucial four month period from May 1945 to
August 1945, we have not encountered the Military point of view, in particular of
the Generals and others who were actually present in the Pacific theatre of war.
Many of these were recounted later in many interviews and memoirs written by
the military leaders.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff never formally studied the decision and never made
an official recommendation to the President. Brief informal discussions may have
occurred, but no records exist of these. There is no record whatsoever of the usual
extensive staff work and evaluation of alternative options by the Joint Chiefs, nor
did the Chiefs ever claim to be involved.
In official internal military interviews, diaries and other private
as well as public materials, literally every top U.S. military leader
involved subsequently stated that the use of the bomb was not
dictated by military necessity.
We reproduce below excerpts from some of these views:
Navy Admirals
In his memoirs Admiral William D. Leahy, the President’s Chief of Staff—and
the top official who presided over meetings of both the Joint Chiefs of Staff and
the Combined U.S.-U.K. Chiefs of Staff—minced no words:
“The use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was
of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese
were already defeated and ready to surrender. . . .
In being the first to use it, we . . . adopted an ethical standard
common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages. I was not taught to
make war in that fashion, and wars cannot be won by destroying
women and children.”
Air Force Generals
The commandinggeneralofthe U.S. Army Air Forces, Henry H. “Hap" Arnold,
gave a strong indication of his views in a public statement only eleven days after
Hiroshima was attacked. Asked on August 17 by a New York Times reporter
whether the atomic bomb caused Japan to surrender, Arnold said:
“The Japanese position was hopeless even before the first atomic
bomb fell, because the Japanese had lost control of their own air.”
General Carl Spaatz, who commanded the U.S. Army Strategic Air Force in
July 1945 stated in an official 1962 interview:
i
’
“I thought that if we were going to drop the atomic bomb, drop it
on the outskirts—say in Tokyo Bay—so that the effects would not
be as devastating to the city and the people. I made this suggestion
over the phone between the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and
I was told to go ahead with our targets.”
Spaatz insisted on receiving written orders before going forward with the
atomic bombings in 1945. He also commented that the decision to drop the
bomb was purely a political decision and not a military one.
Army Generals
On the 40th Anniversary of the bombing former President Richard M. Nixpn
reported that:
X
“[General Douglas] MacArthur once spoke to me very eloquently
about it, pacing the floor of his apartment in the Waldorf. He
thought it a tragedy that the Bomb was ever exploded. MacArthur
CHAPTER 2. THE DECISION
22
believed that the same restrictions ought to apply to atomic weapons
as to conventional weapons, that the military objective should al
ways be limited damage to noncombatants. . . ■ MacArthur, you
see, was a soldier. He believed in using force only against military
targets, and that is why the nuclear thing turned him off. . . .”
In his memoirs Dwight D. Eisenhower reports the following reaction when
Secretary of War Stimson informed him the atomic bomb would be used:
“During his recitation of the relevant facts, I had been conscious of
a feeling of depression and so I voiced to him my grave misgivings,
first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and
that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly
because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world
opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought,
no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives. . . .”
The Final Word
We began this article with Szilard’s prodding of Einstein regarding the develop
ments in the field of nuclear fission and its deeper underpinnings. Szilard reflected
on many developments during the crucial months of 1945 and had this to say in
an interview on August 15, 1960 (some excerpts):
Leo Szilard, photographed at Oxford
How the other scientists felt: “Very many other scientists felt this way.
This is particularly true of Oak Ridge and the Metallurgical Laboratory of the
University of Chicago. I don t know how the scientists felt at Los Alamos." (j
23
Did he get a full hearing: “When I was asked to go to the White House
and see Matt Connelly, Truman’s Appointments Secretary, I suggested to
Walter Bartky, associate director of our project, that he accompany me.
Mr. Connelly read my memorandum with attention ... He told us that the
President had an inkling of what our business might be and that he wanted
us to go to Spartanburg and see James Byrnes. We didn’t know why we were
sent to see Byrnes, since at that point Byrnes held no Government position.”
“... When I saw Mr. Byrnes I was very much concerned about the fact that
no governmental policy had been developed on the issue of how to cope with
the problem that the bomb would pose to the world. I raised the question
of whether it might be wise to gain time for developing such a governmental
policy by postponing the testing of the bomb. It seemed to me that once the
'bomb had been tested its existence could not be kept secret for long. Byrnes
did not think that postponing the test was a good idea, and, in retrospect, I
am inclined to agree with him. In retrospect, I don’t think that postponing
the test would have solved our problem.”
“Byrnes was concerned about Russia’s having taken over Poland, Rumania
and Hungary, and so was I. Byrnes thought that the possession of the bomb
by America would render the Russians more manageable in Europe. I failed to
see how sitting on a stockpile of bombs, which in the circumstances we could
not possibly use, would have this effect, and I thought it even conceivable
that it would have just the opposite effect.”
“When I returned to Chicago and learned that Byrnes had been appointed
A Secretary of State, I concluded that the arguments that I regarded as im< portant would receive no consideration. I didn’t realize at that time that
Secretary Stimson would play a major role in the final decision and that he
might be able to understand my point of view better than Mr. Byrnes had
done.”
“In Chicago I collaborated in the writing of the so-called Franck Report.
This report was addressed to Secretary Stimson, but none of those who par
ticipated in the writing of the report, including Prof. James Franck, had an
^opportunity to see Mr. Stimson.”
“Ip the meantime I drafted a petition to the President w'hich did not go
into any considerations of expediency but opposed, on purely moral grounds,
the use of atomic bombs against the cities of Japan. This petition was signed
by about 60 members of the Chicago project. Some of those who signed
insisted that the petition be transmitted to the President through “official
channels.” To this I reluctantly agreed. I was, at this point, mainly concerned
that the members of the project had an opportunity to go on record on this
issue, and I didn’t think that the petition would be likely to have an effect on
the course of events. The petition was sent to the President through official
channels, and I should not be too surprised if it were discovered one of these
days that it hadn’t ever reached him.”
A Was a demonstration of the bomb feasible?: “It is easy to see, at least
CHAPTER 2. THE DECISION
in retrospect, how an effective demonstration could have been staged. We
could have communicated with Japan through regular diplomatic channels say, through Switzerland - and explained to the Japanese that we didn't want
to kill anybody, and therefore proposed that one city—say, Hiroshima—be
evacuated. Then one single bomber would come and drop one single bomb.”
“But again, I don’t believe this staging a demonstration was the real issue,
and in a sense it is just as immoral to force a sudden ending of a war by
threatening violence as by using violence. My point is that violence would
not have been necessary if we had been willing to negotiate. After all, Japan
was suing for peace.”
How the bomb boomeranged: “I think it made it very difficult for u j
to take the position after the war that we wanted to get rid of atomic bombs
because it would be immoral to use them against the civilian population.
We lost the moral argument with which, right after the war, we might have
perhaps gotten rid of the bomb.”
“Let me say only this much to the moral issue involved: Suppose Germany
had developed two bombs before we had any bombs. And suppose Germany
had dropped one bomb, say, on Rochester and the other on Buffalo, and then
having run out of bombs she would have lost the war. Can anyone doubt
that we would then have defined the dropping of atomic bombs on cities as a
war crime, and that we would have sentenced the Germans who were guilty
of this crime to death at Nuremberg and hanged them?”
“But, again, don’t misunderstand me. The only conclusion we can draw 4
is that governments acting in a crisis are guided by questions of expediency,
and moral considerations are given very little weight, and that America is no
different from any other nation in this respect.”
About obligations of a great power: “Great power imposes the obliga
tion of exercising restraint, and we did not live up to this obligation. I think
this affected many of the scientists in a subtle sense, and it diminished theiLj
desire to continue to work on the bomb.”
Truman did not understand: “I think it depends on the person of the
President. Truman did not understand what was involved. You can see that
from the language he used. Truman announced the bombing of Hiroshima
while he was at sea coming back from Potsdam, and his announcement con
tained the phrase—I quote from the New York “Times” of August 7, 1945:
“We have spent 2 billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history—
and won.”
To put the atomic bomb in terms of having gambled 2 billion dollars and
having “won” offended my sense of proportions, and I concluded at that time
that Truman did not understand at all what was involved ”
25
Sources
1.
http://www.dannen.com/decision/ - Atomic Bomb: Decision - contains
the original, now declassified, documents on the decision to use atomic
bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
2.
http://www.dannen.com/szilard.html/- The Leo Szilard page, which not
only contains various reports of the time, but also has details on the role
played by Leo Szilard and other scientists.
3.
http://www.peak.org/danneng/decision/usnews.html - Authorised web
reprint of the full text of the Leo Szilard interview, “President Truman
did not understand”.
4.
http:/www.doug-long.com- Hiroshima: Was it necessary? A personal ex
ploration of morality and WW-H military history. An excellent analysis
of the events in 1945.
The atomic bombs, Little Boy and Fat Man, that were dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
28
CHAPTER 3. THE BOMBING
exactly 09:15 plus 15 seconds2 the world’s first atomic bomb exploded. The
course of history and the nature of warfare was changed.
Col. Paul Tibbets, photographed with the Enola Gay
Nagasaki
Excerpts from the release written by William L. Laurence, Science writer for the
New York Times, and Special Consultant to the Manhattan Engineer District and
Pulitzer Prize winner are given below.
“We are on our way to bomb the mainland of Japan. Our flying contingent
consists of three specially designed B-29 Superforts, and two of these carry
no bombs. But our lead plane is on its way with another atomic bomb, the
second in three days, concentrating its active substance, and explosive energy
equivalent to 20,000, and under favourable conditions, 40,000 tons of TNT.
“We have several chosen targets. One of these is the great industrial and
shipping center of Nagasaki, on the western shore of Kyushu, one of the main
islands of the Japanese homeland ...”
“This atomic bomb is different from the bomb used three days ago with
such devastating results on Hiroshima3 ...”
“The briefing period ended with a moving prayer by the Chaplain. We
then proceeded to the mess hall for the traditional early morning breakfast
before departure on a bombing mission ...”
“In command of our mission is Major Charles W. Sweeney ... Major
Sweeney’s co-pilot is First Lieutenant Charles D. Albury ...”
’The time of explosion of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, given in these accounts, are one hour
ahead of Japanese local time: Ed.
’This was a plutonium bomb and not a uranium one unlike the one dropped on Hiroshima: Ed.
29
“The other two Superforts in our formation are instrument planes, carrying
special apparatus to measure the power of the bomb at the time of explosion,
high speed cameras and other photographic equipment ...”
“We took off at 3:50 this Ynorning and headed northwest on a straight line
for the Empire ... We reached Yakoshima at 9:12 and there, about 4,000 feet
ahead of us, was “The Great Artiste”4 with its precious load ...”
“The winds of destiny seemed to favour certain Japanese cities that must
remain nameless. We circled about them again and again and found no
opening in the thick umbrella of clouds that covered them. Destiny chose
Nagasaki as the ultimate target...”
“We flew southward down the channel and at 11:33 crossed the coastline
fjjyd headed straight for Nagasaki about a hundred miles to the west. Here
\jgain we circled until we found an opening in the clotlds. It was 12:01 and
the goal of our mission had arrived.”
“We heard the pre-arranged signal on our radio, put on our ARC welder’s
glasses and watched tensely the- maneuverings of the strike ship about half a
mile in front of us.”
“'There she goes!’ someone said. Out of the belly of the Artiste what
looked like a black object came downward.”
“Captain Bock swung around to get out of range, but even though we
were turning away in the opposite direction, and despite the fact that it was
broad daylight in our cabin, all of us became aware of a giant flash that broke
through the dark barrier of our ARC welder’s lenses and flooded our cabin
zj with an intense light.”
1W “We removed our glasses after the first flash but the light still lingered on,
a bluish-green light that illuminated the entire sky all around. A tremendous
blast wave struck our ship and made it tremble from nose to tail. This was
followed by four more blasts in rapid succession, each resounding like the
boom of cannon fire hitting our plane from all directions.”
“Observers in the tail of our ship saw a giant ball of fire rise as though
from the bowels of the earth, belching forth enormous white smoke rings.
Qext they saw a giant pillar of purple fire, 10,000 feet high, shooting skyward
with enormous speed.”
“By the time our ship had made another turn in the direction of the atomic
explosion the pillar of purple fire had reached the level of our altitude. Only
about 45 seconds had passed. Awe-struck, we watched it shoot upward like
a meteor coming from the earth instead of from outer space, becoming ever
more alive as it climbed skyward through the white clouds. It was no longer
smoke or dust, or even a cloud of fire. It was a living thing, a new species of
being, born right before our incredulous eyes ...”
Note that Laurence’s account could equally well have been describing the
bombing of a desert, with no human inhabitation anywhere. To say that "destiny
4Actually, it was the “Bock’s car” which carried the bomb. Captain Bock and Captain Sweeney had
exchanged planes for the mission: Ed.
CHAPTER 3. THE BOMBING
30
chose Nagasaki as the ultimate target" shows a callous disregard for life. The
poetic description is devoid of any concern for the people of Nagasaki who were
the most unfortunate victims of the second world war. Their misfortune acquires
a more tragic dimension when it is realised that the bombing of Nagasaki was
probably an experiment and not a military manouvre.
Sources
1.
http://www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB - This site contains the quotation from
Paul Tibbet reproduced in this chapter (special report, “Hiroshima:
August 6, 1945”). It also contains lots of other material including pho
tographs related to the atomic bombings.
2.
http://www.theenolagay.com/- For information on the Hiroshima bomb
ing misison- also contains biographical details about Paul Tibbets.
3.
http://www.enviroweb.org/issues/nuketesting/hiroshim/laurencl.htm
- Trinity atomic web site. This site contains the eyewitness account of
the Nagasaki bombing.
Mushroom clouds over Hiroshima and Nagasaki from the atomic bombing
Chapter 4
The Hibakusha
3tfie Hiroshima bomb exploded 570 meters above the city and left about 1,40,000
”ople dead. The Nagasaki bomb, exploding 600 meters above the city, killed
about 74,000
*.
Many "Hibakusha", the atom bomb survivors, have recorded
their experiences in the hope that it would help in preventing a repetition of such
a tragedy. We reproduce some of the Hiroshima accounts here. The stories from
Nagasaki are frighteningly the same. They are presented in the order of increasing
distance from the hypocenter (from the centre of the explosion).
Ms. Akiko Takakura
Ms. Akiko Takakura was 20 years old when the bomb fell. She was in the bank
of Hiroshima, 300 meters away from the hypocenter. Ms.Takakura miraculously
escaped death despite. She is one of the few survivors who was within 300 meters
fr.of the hypocenter.
Takakura: After the air-raid alarm was called off, I walked from Hatchobori
to the bank of Hiroshima in Kamiya-cho. I arrived at the bank some time
around 8:15 or so, and signed my name in the attendance book. When I was
doing my morning routine, dusting the desks and things like that, the Abomb was dropped. All I remember was that I saw something flash suddenly
... it was like a white magnesium flash. I lost consciousness right after or
jimost at the same time I saw the flash. When I regained consciousness, I
.Jund myself in the dark.
I heard my friends, Ms. Asami, crying for her mother. Soon after, I found
out that we actually had been attacked. Afraid of being caught by a fire, I
told Ms. Asami to run out of the building. Ms. Asami, however, just told
me to leave her and to try to escape by myself because she thought that she
couldn’t make it anywhere. She said she couldn’t move. I said to her that I
couldn’t leave her, but she said that she couldn’t even stand up. While we
were talking, the sky started to grow lighter, Then, I heard water running
in the lavatory. Apparently the water pipes had exploded. So I drew water
with my helmet to pour over' Ms. Asami’s head again and again. She finally
regained consciousness fully and went out of the building with me.
'The population of the two cities at that time was 3,50,000 and 2,40,000.
31
32
CHAPTER 4. THE HIBAKUSHA
We first thought to escape to the parade grounds, but we couldn’t because
there was a huge sheet of fire in front of us. So instead, we squatted down in
the street next to a big water pool for fighting fires, which was about the size
of this table. Since Hiroshima was completely enveloped in flames, we felt
terribly hot and could not breathe well at all. After a while, a whirlpool of
fire approached us from the south. It was like a big tornado of fire spreading
over the full width of the street. Whenever the fire touched, wherever the
fire touched, it burned ... The whirlpool of fire that was covering the entire
street approached us from Ote-machi. So, everyone just tried so hard to keep
away from the fire. It was just like a living hell.
After a while, it began to rain. The fire and the smoke made us so thirsty
and there was nothing to drink, no water, and the smoke even disturbed oy'
eyes. As it began to rain, people opened their mouths and turned their faces.
towards the sky and try to drink the rain, but it wasn’t easy to catch the
rain drops in our mouths. It was a black rain with big drops ... They were
so big that we even felt pain when they dropped onto us. We opened our
mouths just like this, as wide as possible in an effort to quench our thirst.
Everybody did the same thing. But it just wasn’t enough. Someone found
an empty can and held it to catch the rain ...
What I felt at that moment was that Hiroshima was entirely covered with
only three colors. I remember red, black and brown, but, nothing else.
The streetcar passengers
Seven hundred and fifty meters from ground zero, these are the testimonies of.
the passengers who were on a streetcar in Hatchobori area when the atomic
bomb fell. A little after eight in the morning on August 6th, the streetcar for
Koi left Hiroshima Station. And at 8:15 it approached Hatchobori Station, 780
meters from the hypocenter. An intense flash and blast engulfed the car, instantly
setting it on fire. It is said that seventy cars were running in the city at the same
time. They were an important means of transportation for the citizens, and all
the trains were packed with people since it was the morning rush hour. Near!
100 passengers are said to have been on board on the streetcar which was nea.
Hatchobori. But the survival of only ten has been confirmed to date. Seven of
these survivors have recorded their testimonies.
Eiko Taoka, then 21, was heading for Funairi with her one year old son to
secure a wagon in preparation for her move out of the building which was to be
evacuated. Her son died of radiation sickness on August 28.
Taoka: When we were nearing Hatchobori and since I had been holding my
son in my arms, the young woman in front of me said, “I will be getting off
here. Please take this seat. We were just changing places when there was
a strange smell and sound. It suddenly became dark and before I knew it, I
had jumped outside.
Interviewer: What about your son?
33
Taoka: I held him firmly and looked down on him. He had been standing
by the window and I think fragments of glass had pierced his head. His face
was a mess because of the blood flowing from his head. But he looked at my
face and smiled. His smile has remained glued in my memory. He did not
comprehend what had happened. And so he looked at me and smiled at my
• face which was all bloody. I had plenty of milk which he drank all throughout
that day. I think my child sucked the poison right out of my body. And soon
after that he died. Yes, I think that he died for me.
Tsutaichi Matsuzaka, then a 37 year old factory worker in Mukaihara, was
on his way to the main office of his company in Hatsukaichi to get woodwork
materials with three of his coworkers. His coworkers died one after another within
wro or three weeks after the bombing.
Matsuzaka: My hair fell off. I had a fever and spots appeared-on my body.
I heard all kinds of talk in those days, for instance, that one was doomed if
these spots appeared. So I was in constant fear for my life.
Interviewer: Two out of your three coworkers died?
Matsuzaka: No, No. three.
Interviewer: All three?
Matsuzaka: Yes, Hayashi died the following week. The next man died two
weeks later and the third, a little after that. I pray that there never be
another nuclear war like that. It was a living hell.
Keiko Matsuda, then 14, was on her way to Miyajima with two friends since
-they had no mobilized labour on that day. One of her friends who had been
Qtlosest to the front and received the worst burns died in the first-aid station in
Nukushina.
Matsuda: It was very, very hot. I touched my skin and it just peeled right
off. The driver of the streetcar was not in sight. I thought he had been quick
to run away but now I think that he was probably hurled outside in the blast.
It was around August 25 that a pile of my hair just fell off all at once. I had
a high fever and maggots infested in my eyes.
/Aterviewer: In your eyes?
Matsuda: Yes. I was afflicted with erysipelas as well. I had two children,
but I had not told them about this experience. And I don’t want to talk
about it. But this time many people are testifying together and since I’ve
been asked, I will talk. But I have tried to avoid it until now.
Akira Ishida, then a 17 year old junior air-man in the army, had the day off
and was going to Miyajima with his elder brother to pray for good luck in the
war. His elder brother died in September 1945 of radiation sickness.
Ishida: Several months later, I can remember, I remember a cold morning,
I don’t know why but my mother always kept a round hand mirror by my
pillow, which I picked up without thinking. I looked at my face and I saw
something so shiny on the corner of my head. Using all my energy, I called
f) out to my mother who was in the kitchen, and I said, “Mother! My hair is
34
CHAPTER 4. THE HIBAKUSHA
growing back!” She was so happy that she held me and she cried. I’ll never
forget that day and the feel of the tears that my mother shed for me while she
held, me in her arms. It still comes back to me even, though the people here
are of different ages, we are also all of the same age. On August 6th, 1945,
all of us died once and then, we were brought back to life. We were all born
again. And we’re in our second life now. Everyone gathered here today is
now 41 years old if you count the number of years from the bombing. It s like
a class reunion. I feel that we must testify in the hope that our experience
will help to keep mankind from perishing.
Mr. Yoshitaka Kawamoto
Mr. Yoshitaka Kawamoto was thirteen years old. He was in the classroom
Zakoba-cho, 0.8 kilometers away from the hypocenter. He is now working as the
director of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, telling visitors from all over
the world what the atomic bomb did to the people of Hiroshima.
Kawamoto: As the director of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum,
today, I am handing my message over to the children who visit. I want them
to learn about Hiroshima. And when they grow up, I want them to hand
down the message to the next generation with accurate information. I’d like
to see him conveying the right sense of judgment so that we will not lead
mankind to annihilation. That is our responsibility.
Mr. Mamoru Yukihiro
Mr. Mamoru Yukihiro was 36 years old when the bomb fell. He was at the
agricultural office of Hiroshima prefecture, one kilometer away from the general
affairs section at that time, rescued many people who were caught under the
crumbled buildings. He lost two of his children because of the A-bomb.
Yukihiro: My daughter who was bombed when she was four years old lived
in Hiroshima with us for a long time after the A-bomb fell. She went to
a local elementary school attached to the university. When she was in th'
fourth grade, she began to lose weight. By the second term of her sixth grac..
year, she became very skinny.. She had to stay in bed and she couldn’t go to
school. I was afraid that my daughter had some illness caused by the A-bomb
radiation. But the local doctor said that she just caught a cold, then I went
to another doctor at Mizuno Clinic, west of the Kokusai Hotel. This doctor
said that she was suffering from a serious case of anemia, not just a cold, and
that she needed to be hospitalized. So she was hospitalized. When she was
given a blood transfusion, she felt relief immediately. Her pillow was covered
with three or four towels each night and these towels became bloody each
morning because she was bleeding from her gums during the night. But she
washed the towels by herself each morning to hide them from me I think
she was embarrassed. Since she was suffering from an illness caused by the
atomic bomb radiation, the media including the television, the newspapers,
35
I)IHK, Chugoku Broadcasting and many others came to interview her. At
first she refused to meet the press because she didn’t want other people to
see her miserable condition. I told her that she was the first A- bomb survivor
who suffered from an internal disease caused by the A-bomb radiation. Many
other survivors had already died, hiding themselves from the public. I also
said that she was the only person who could show the disease and help the
other victims in the future. She understood what I was saying and decided
to talk and to let them take pictures. Finally, at the beginning of February
of 1954, she died. If one country drops a nuclear bomb, the other ones would
do the same for sure. This is the fact. It will eventually destroy the entire
world. I hope that the nations of the world stop nuclear war now and forever.
Mr. Akira Onogi
Mr. Akira Onogi was 16 years old when the bomb was dropped. He was at home
1.2 km away from center of explosion. The house was under the shade of the
warehouse, which protected him from the first blast. All five members of the
Onogi family miraculously survived an immediate fire at their house.
Onogi: When we were escaping from the edge of the bridge, we found this
small girl crying and she asked us to help her mother. Just beside the girl,
her mother was trapped by a fallen beam on top of the lower half of her
body. Together with neighbors, we tried hard to remove the beam, but it
was impossible without any tools. Finally a fire broke out endangering us. So
we had no choice but to leave her. She was conscious and we deeply bowed
\\ to her with clasped hands to apologize to her and then we left.
'
... It was such an awful experience. You know for about 10 years after the
bombing I always felt paralyzed whenever I saw the sparks made by trains
or lightning. Also even at home, I could not sit beside the windows because
I had seen so many people badly wounded by pieces of glass. So I always sat
with the wall behind me for about 10 years. It was some sort of instinct to
self-preservation.
^Vlr. Takehiko Sakai
«.
Mr. Takehiko Sakai, 21 years old at that time, was at the west drill ground when
the atomic bomb was dropped. He did not lose consciousness and remembers
his military uniform catching fire. The bomb fell two days after Mr. Sakai had
arrived in Hiroshima from his regiment in Yamaguchi. He has this to say about
the days after the bombing.
The bomb fell on the sixth and we remained here until about 3 o’clock
in the afternoon of the tenth. Then, on the evening of August 15, we heard
that the war was over. I was happy, I was really happy that the war had
ended. But I was also worried, I was worried about what would happen
next. I didn’t know if I could be useful to society or not, but I wanted to do
something constructive and so I decided to become a teacher. The situation
36
CHAPTER 4. THE HIBAKUSHA
in Japan those days was quite pitiful. There was very little to eat. Everyone
was very poor. During the period immediately after the bombing, because
of my injuries, people had to look after me and it was through their care
that I was able to get better. So I tried to repay this debt, by teaching my
students to be kind and considerate whenever I had the opportunity to do
so. Consequently, I think it was a good thing that I became a teacher and in
this way to somehow pay back society.
Mr. Kosuke Shishido
Mr. Shishido is a business consultant who lives in Yokohama. He was a Colonel
in the Japanese army at the time of the Bomb. He was a staff member of the area
headquarters. He served as the president of the Chugoku Renovation Foundation
immediately after his military service. He has published five books; two of them
are related to the Atomic Bomb being dropped on Hiroshima.
Shishido: I felt a huge explosion (sound, vibration and wind) near by. I
thought a large conventional bomb had been dropped near the shelter. Later,
I heard that many people on the street saw two B29s fly over the city. Those
people saw a huge fire-ball in the sky soon after. It took a few moments for
those people to feel the strong wind. Then people realized that they had
been bombed.
The bomb generated a very strong wind at the moment of its explosion.
The wind reflected when it hit the mountains surrounding the city. The
houses and building near the mountains were destroyed by the reflected wind.
Actually, I felt a strong wind twice; and the second one was stronger than ■
the first.
Mr. Yoshito Matsushige
Yoshito Matsushige was a 32 year old cameraman for the Chugoku Newspaper at
that time. He was at his home in Midori-cho, 2.7 kilometers from the hypocen
ter when the A-bomb was dropped. He walked around the city right after the/'
bombing and took five photographs which have become important historical doc- ■
uments.
Matsushige: I had finished breakfast and was getting ready to go to the
newspaper when it happened. There was a flash from the indoor wires as if
lightning had struck ... Immediately after that, the blast came ... I could
barely see the room because of all the dirt. I pulled my camera and the
clothes issued by the military headquarters out from under the mound of the
debris, and I got dressed. I thought I would go to either the newspaper or
to the headquarters. That was about 40 minutes after the blast. Near the
Miyuki Bridge, there was a police box. Most of the victims who had gathered
there were junior high school girls from the Hiroshima Girls Business School
and the Hiroshima Junior High School No.l. They had been mobilized to
evacuate buildings and they were outside when the bomb fell. Having been
37
directly exposed to the heat rays, they were covered with blisters, the size of
balls, on their backs, their faces, their shoulders and their arms. The blisters
were starting to burst open and their skin hung down like rags. Some of the
children even had burns on the soles of their feet. They’d lost their shoes and
run barefoot through the burning fire. When I saw this, I thought I would
take a picture and I picked up my camera. But I couldn’t push the shutter
because the sight was so pathetic. Even though I too was a victim of the
same bomb, I only had minor injuries from glass fragments, whereas these
people were dying. It was such a cruel sight that I couldn’t bring myself
to press the shutter. Perhaps I hesitated there for about 20 minutes, but I
finally summoned up the courage to take one picture. Then, I moved 4 or 5
^neters forward to take the second picture. Even today, I clearly remember
now the view finder was clouded over with my tears.
i’f-
One of the photographs of Yoshito Matsushige, taken three hours after the
bombing of Hiroshima
I felt that everyone was looking at me and thinking angrily, “He’s taking
our picture and will bring us no help at all.” Still, I had to press the shutter,
so I hardened my heart and finally I took the second shot. Those people must
have thought me duly cold-hearted ...
After that, I walked around, I walked through the section of town which
had been hit hardest. I walked for close to three hours. But I couldn’t take
even one picture of that central area. There were other cameramen in the
army shipping group and also at the newspaper as well. But the fact that
not a single one of them was able to take pictures seems to indicate just how
brutal the bombing actually was. I don’t pride myself on it, but it’s a small
consolation that I was able to take at least five pictures.
38
CHAPTER 4. THE HIBAKUSHA
Mr. Isao Kita
Mr. Isao Kita was 33 years old when the bomb fell. He was working for the
Hiroshima District Weather Bureau 3.7 km from the hypocenter. He was the
chief weather man and his shift was from August 5 to 6. He observed the
weather minutely during and after the explosion.
Kita: Well, at that time, I happened to be receiving the transmission over
the wireless. I was in the receiving room and I was facing northward. I
noticed the flashing light. It was not really a big flash. But still it drew
my attention. In a few seconds, the heat wave arrived. After I noticed the
flash, white clouds spread over the blue sky. It was amazing. It was as if
blue morning-glories had suddenly bloomed up in the sky. It was funny,
thought. Then came the heat wave. It was very very hot. Even though there
was a window glass in front of me, I felt really hot. It was as if I was looking
directly into a kitchen oven. I couldn’t bear the heat for a long time. Then 1
heard the cracking sound. I don’t know what made that sound, but probably
it came from the air which suddenly expanded in the room.
By that time, I realized that the bomb had been dropped. As I had been
instructed, I pushed aside the chair and lay with my face on the floor ... I
covered my eyes and ears with hands like this. And I started to count. You
may feel that I was rather heartless just to start counting. But for us, who
observed the weather, it is a duty to record the process of time, of various
phenomena. So I started counting with the light flash. When I counted to
5 seconds, I heard the groaning sound. At the same time, the window glass
was blown off and the building shook from the bomb blast. So the blast
reached that place about 5 seconds after the explosion. We later measured
the distance between the hypocenter and our place. And with these two
figures, we calculated that the speed of the blast was about 700 meters per
second. The speed of sound is about 330 meters per second, which means
that the speed of the blast was about twice as fast as the speed of sound. It
didn’t move as fast as the speed of light but it moved quite rapidly.
There is a path which leads by here over there. And on that day, a largr
number of injured persons walked this way along the path toward the Orrii
Hospital. They were bleeding all over and some of them had no clothes. Many
of them were carrying people on their shoulders. Looking at the injured, I
realized how seriously the town had been damaged. The fire was its peak
at around that time. It thundered 10 times between 10 and 11 o’clock. The
sound of thunder itself was not so great but still I could see the lightning over
the fire. When I looked down on the town from the top of that hill, I could
see that the city was completely lost. The city turned into a yellow sand. It
turned yellow, the color of the yellow desert ... The smoke was so thick that
it covered the entire town. After about 5 minutes, fire broke out here and
there. The fire gradually grew bigger and there was smoke everywhere and
so we could no longer see towards the town ... It remained like this for some
time.
39
From Koi, looking towards Hiroshima Station, you could see the black
rain falling. But from here, I couldn’t judge how much rain was falling. But
based on the information I heard later, it seems that the rain fell quite heavy
over a period of several hours. It was a black and sticky rain. It stuck to
everything. When it fell on trees and leaves, it stayed and turned everything
black. When it fell on people’s clothing, the clothing turned black. It also
stuck on people’s hands and feet. And it couldn’t be washed off ...
The atomic bomb does not discriminate. Of course, those who were fight
ing may have to suffer. But the atomic bomb kills everyone from little babies
to old people. And it’s not an easy death. It’s a very cruel and very painful
way to die. I think that this cannot be allowed to happen again anywhere in
fie world. I don’t say this just because I’m a Japanese atomic bomb survivor.
r feel that people all over the world must speak out.
Mr. Hiroshi Sawachika
Mr. Hiroshi Sawachika was 28 years old when the bomb was dropped. He was an
army doctor stationed at the army headquarters in Ujina. When he was exposed,
he was inside the building at the headquarters, 4.1 km from the hypocenter.
Being rather far from the hypocenter, he was not seriously injured. Afterwards,
he was very busy getting medical treatment to the survivors.
Sawachika: "... We first treated the office personnel for their injuries. Most
of them had broken glass and pieces of wood stuck into them. We treated
them one after another. Afterwards, we heard the strange noise. It sounded
£)as if a large flock of mosquitoes were coming from a distance. We looked out
- of the window to find out what was happening. We saw that citizens from
the town were marching towards us. They looked unusual. We understood
that the injured citizens were coming towards us for treatment. But why, we
thought that there should be Red Cross Hospitals and other big hospitals in
the center of the town. So why should they come here, I wondered, instead
of going there. At that time, I did not know that the center of the town had
faen so heavily damaged.
After a while, with the guide of the hospital personnel, the injured persons
reached our headquarters. With lots of injured people arriving, we realized
just how serious the matter was. We decided that we should treat-them also.
Soon afterwards, we learned that many of them had been badly burned. As
they came to us, they held their hands aloft. They looked like they were
ghosts. We made the tincture for that treatment by mixing edible peanut oil
and something. We had to work, in a mechanical manner in order to treat so
many patients. We provided one room for the heavily injured and another
for the slightly injured. Treatment was limited to first aid because there were
no facilities for the patients to be hospitalized.
Interviewer: How many patients did you treat on August 6?
Sawachika: Well, at least 2 or 3 thousands on that very day if you include
fl those patients whom I gave all directions to. I felt that as if once that day
40
CHAPTER 4. THE HIBAKUSHA
started, it never ended. I had to keep on and on treating the patients forever.
It was the longest day of my life. Later on, when I had time to reflect on that
day, 1 came to realize that we doctors learned a lot through the experience,
through the suffering of all those people. It’s true that the lack of medical
knowledge, medical facilities, integrated organization and so on prevented us
from giving sufficient medical treatment. Still there was a lot for us medical
doctors to learn on that day. I learned that the nuclear weapons which
gnaw the minds and bodies of human beings should never be used. Even the
slightest idea using nuclear arms should be completely exterminated from the
minds of human beings. Otherwise, we will repeat the same tragedy. And
we will never stop being ashamed of ourselves.
Ms. Kinue Tomoyasu
Ms. Kinue Tomoyasu was 44 years old at the time of the A-bomb attack. Previ
ously her husband had died of illness and her only son was sent to a battle field.
She was living with her only daughter who died in the bombing. Ms. Tomoyasu
was admitted to the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Victims Nursing Home in 1973.
She was at home, 5 kilometers from the hypocenter, when the bomb was
dropped. She then entered Hiroshima City to search for her daughter, so anxious
to find her that she never even saw the mushroom cloud that rose over Hiroshima.
Tomoyasu: I didn’t see the mushroom cloud. I was trying to find my
daughter. They told me I couldn’t go beyond the bridge. I thought she
might be back home, so I went back as far as Nikitsu Shrine. Then, the black
rain started falling from the sky. And I wondered what it was. And it was
what’s called the black rain.
It was like a heavy rain. And I had my air-raid hood on, so I didn’t get it
on my head fortunately, but it fell on my hands. And I ran and ran. I waited
for her with the windows open. I stayed awake all night waiting and waiting
for her, but she didn’t come back ...
Around Hiroshima Station, I saw more people lying dead, more on the
morning of the 7th than on the 6th. When I reached the (Ota) river bank
I couldn’t tell who was who. I kept wondering where my daughter was. B.
then, she cried for me, “Mother!” I recognized her voice. I found her in
a horrible condition. Her face looked terrible. And she still appears in my
dreams like that sometimes. When I met her, she said, “There shouldn’t be
any war.” ... And nine hours later, she died.
... I had bedding folded on the floor, but I held her in my arms. When
I held her on my lap, she said, “I don’t want to die.” I told her, “Hang on
Hang on.” She said, “I won’t die before my brother comes home.” But she
was in pain and she kept crying, “Brother. Mother.” On August 15th, I
held her funeral. And around early October, my hair started to come out. I
wondered what was happening to me, but all my hair was disappearing. In
November, I become bald. Then, purple spots started to appear around my
neck, my body and my arms, and on the inner parts of my thighs, a lot of
41
them, all over, the purple spots all over my body. I had a high fever of forty
degrees. I was shivering and I couldn’t consult the doctor. I still had a fever
when I was admitted here for a while, but now I don’t have a fever so often.
Interviewer: After your son returned home from the war, what did he do?
Tomoyasu: He came back in February of 1946, and he took care of me.
When he heard how his sister died, he said he felt so sorry for her. He told
me he hated war. I understand. Many of his friends had died in the war. He
told me he felt sorry that he survived. He was just filled with regret. My son
got malaria during the war, also. He suffered a lot. I don’t know why, but
he became neurotic and killed himself, finally, by jumping in front of a train
in October. I was left alone. I had to go through hardships, living alone. I
^ave no family. I joined the white chrysanthemum organization at Hiroshima
“university, pledging to donate my body upon death for medical education
and research. My registration number is number 1200. I’m ready ...
Sources
1.
http://www.konradh.net/jp/history/hibakusha - This site, called “Voice
of Hibakusha”, contains eye-witness accounts of the bombing of Hi
roshima, from the video HIROSHIMA WITNESS produced by Hiroshima
Peace Cultural Center and NHK. The individual accounts were input and
translated into English by Yumi Kodama, Junko Kato, Junko Kawamoto,
Masako Kubota, Chiharu Kimura, and Kumi Komatsu, who were ad
vised by Laurence Wiig.
2.
http://www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/hibakusha.html- Some more eyewitness
accounts may be found here.
Yoshitaka Kawamoto: “I stood up in the water and so many bodies were
floating away along the stream. I can't find the words to describe it. It was
horrible" (Artist’s depiction).
42
Yoshito Matsushige: “The blisters were starting to burst open and thexr
skin hung down like rags.” (Artist’s depiction)
Masato Yamashita: “With no one to help her, a girl died, leaning on
bank of the Enko River" (Artist's depiction).
L
Chapter 5
The Children of Hiroshima
An Appeal from the Children of Hiroshima was compiled by Professor Arata
(^sada (1887-1961) and published in 1951. He experienced the A-Bomb. He was
appointed President of the Hiroshima University of Humanities and Science in
1945 and retired in 1949. The book is a collection of stories written by children
who experienced the A-Bomb.
In his preface of the book, Professor Osada wrote:
’■S'
“There is a branch office of the Osaka Bank about five hundred
yards away from the center of the explosion....If you look at it, you
will find it encloses a dark silhouette of a man printed on the stone
wall and the steps. Upon these steps at the moment of the blast,
a man must have been sitting, perhaps with an elbow on one knee
and one hand supporting his chin, in an attitude of deep thought.
The powerful action of the radioactive waves “printed” the outline
of this man on the wall, marking the moment of his death. The dark
silhouette is gradually disappearing and, as time passes, memories
of that tragic time will gradually be forgotten. But the shadows
will never lift from the hearts of the people of Hiroshima who lost
their parents, brothers and sisters and friends. Though they smile
cheerfully in answer to inquiries after them from sympathizers and
even appear carefree at times, the agony remains profound and
lasting ...
It is my purpose here to present to the public a collection of essays
written by boys and girls who were living in Hiroshima at the time
the atom bomb fell. The essays are accounts relating their personal
experiences at the time.”
Keiko Sasaki: 6 years old in 1945
She (Grandmother) heard from a man who escaped from Hiroshima that the
city was completely destroyed by the bomb. When she heard that, she went
to Hiroshima-right away. When she.came back after a week, I asked “Where’s
Mother?”
“I brought her on my back” was the answer.
43
44
CHAPTER 5. THE CHILDREN OF HIROSHIMA
I was very happy and shouted, “Mummy!” But when I looked closely, I
saw she was only carrying a rucksack. I was disappointed. My sister and our
neighbours began to cry. I couldn’t understand why. Then my grandmother
put the rucksack down and .took some bones out of it and showed them to
everybody. There were my mother’s gold tooth and a piece of her elbow bone.
I still didn’t understand.
Kimiko Takai: 5 years old in 1945
I shiver whenever I think of August 6, 1945, the day when Hiroshima was
destroyed in just a few minutes.
As we walked along, we saw soldiers with bloated stomachs floating dow.
the river. They probably had to dive into the river to get away from the
flames. A little farther on, we saw many dead people piled up at the side of the
road. As we walked on, my father saw a woman whose leg was caught under
a large timber. She couldn’t get free so he shouted for help but no one came.
Everyone was too busy trying to get away to pay any attention to anyone
else. Finally, my father shouted angrily, “Aren’t any of you Japanese?” Then
he got the woman loose by sawing off her leg with a rusty, old saw.
Further on, we saw a man who must have been burned to death while he
was walking.
Mother said that she couldn’t go any further and told us to go on without
her. She sat down to rest but we couldn’t go on by ourselves, leaving her
behind. Then she scooped up a handful of muddy water from the roadside,
and drank it. This must have made her feel better because she got up and
joined us again.
As we got to the countryside, farmers stared at us in amazement and asked
us what had happened. When we passed farm houses, people would come
out and give us rice balls to eat, or ask us whether we would like to wash our
faces.
We stayed with our relatives for about a month.
After we arrived, Mother complained that her back hurt. I looked at h&
back and found a piece of glass about 3/4 inches wide and 1 1/2 inches long
stuck in it. It had gone in quite deep because she had been carrying my
brother on her back. We went to see a doctor and learned that we had been
rather lucky. Many people had died and hundreds had been injured.
From the next day, Father went out looking for my sister. The bomb had
exploded over Aioi Bridge,, near the Hiroshima post office where my sister
worked. She must have died without time to call for her mother or even
to say, Oh! My uncle and aunt had gone to a place near the post office to
collect some manure that day and both were killed. Their ashes were brought
back to us, though. Not even my sister’s ashes have come back to us
All but one of the workers at the post office was killed. He picked up the
remains of the other workers and then took a little of the ashes to each of J
45
the dead persons’ families. We put the ashes before God and prayed that my
sister would rest in peace.
Yasuo Fujita: 5 years old in 1945
The saddest thing for me was that I lost my brother, sister and grandmother.
My grandmother was folding up some quilts and things and when the
house fell she was caught under many beams. She screamed for help but the
beams were too heavy for my father to lift alone.
They brought our sister to us about three days after the bombing but she
had lost so much blood that she died two days later.
My brother was missing for about four months. Then one day, we heard
’they had found him but when we went to take a look all we saw was some
buttons lying here and there.
Masatada Asaeda: Class 3 Student in 1945
When we were playing in the school ground, an airplane came, but we kept
on playing, only saying “Why did they give the all-clear?” All of a sudden,
there was something like lightning and I covered my face with my hands.
When I opened my eyes and looked around, it was dark and I couldn’t see
anything. While I was feeling around in the darkness, it became light. I was
thinking of going home, and I found that all the houses around me had been
destroyed and fires were burning here and there.
I started running home, crying and calling, “Mother! Mother!” But I
’ couldn’t tell where my house had been. I just went around this way and
that, and then I heard my sister calling my name. I was shocked when I saw
her, because she was stained with blood all over. I looked at myself; the skin
of both my arms and feet had peeled away and was hanging off. I didn’t know
what all this meant, and I was frightened, so 1 burst into tears. Meanwhile,
Mother had crawled out from the pile of tiles and dragged an overcoat and
..father’s cloak out of a trunk and wrapped us in them.
We spent the night in Yasu Shrine in Gion. Because of their burns, ev
eryone was crying for water all night. The next morniug, we were taken by
truck to a Buddhist temple in Kabe. That night, my sister died. How can I
describe Mother’s grief? How can I describe the horrible scenes I saw in the
temple then? Who can imagine the miseries we went through except those
who were there themselves? It is entirely beyond my power to put the terrible
sight into words. Countless people suffering from burns and wounds, groan
ing with pain, their bodies covered with maggots, and dying in delirium, one
after another. It was hell on earth.
Tadataka Kuribayashi: Class 6 student in 1945
Kuribayashi was evacuated, along with many other children of Hiroshima, to
Fr
46
CHAPTER 5. THE CHILDREN OF HIROSHIMA
Saihoji Temple in Tsutsuga Village before the bombing. Both his parents died
from the bomb. The Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) and RERF
Labor Union distributed his note about his experiences of that time, where he
also talks about going back to Hiroshima and seeing his mother die.
At the beginning of September, I received a wrinkled-up postcard. Though
my mother’s name was mentioned, the handwriting with a pencil, some parts
of which were blurred, was not my mother’s. The card simply said, I am
in the reception center in Miyajima. Come here immediately,” and a simple
map of the place was shown. I wondered why my mother had not written it
herself, but was glad to know where she was. However, the date on the card
showed that many days had passed since it had been written. Next day, I<—
accompanied by Mr. Yamakawa, left for Miyajima. That was September 2.
I looked at the town of Hiroshima while I proceeded from Yokogawa to
Koi. It was a field of charred ruins. The city streetcar which just began to
run between Koami-cho and Koi had numerous flies on the ceiling. It was a
strange sight. We took a boat from Miyajima-guchi. I saw the old big torii
(Shinto shrine archway) and the beautiful Itsukushima Shrine, but they just
looked a faded landscape painting to me. I wanted to go to the reception
center and see the face of my mother as soon as possible. I was so eager
to see her that I felt the boat was extremely slow. Soon we arrived at the
center, which was a big building to the north of the shrine. When I stood at
the entrance, I felt some kind of anxiety, which was an emotion difficult to
express.
I looked for Mother with my teacher. It was a big room with tens of tatami •<
mats, and the spaces between A-bomb survivors lying on futon (bedclothes)
produced a forlorn atmosphere. We took one round, but couldn’t find her.
While I took the second round, looking into the face of each person, I was
astonished to find Mother, lying on her face and exhausted. She was a small
person, but she looked even smaller. Suppressing the tremor of my voice, I
called her quietly. There was no answer. I called her again. Then she noticed
and slightly raised her head. She saw the teacher behind me, and took ouVT
some bills to give to him. He refused to receive them, and left there after ashort while saying that he had business at the school.
When Mother told me about the death of Father, I was not so surprised.
I might have been somewhat ready to hear the news. Deprived of a flush of
hope, I imagined my father being burnt to death in agony. My heart was
wrung. We didn’t know if my elder brother, who have gone abroad to war
was dead or alive. I naturally had a dark prospect about our future but
resolved firmly to continue to live with my mother no matter how poor we
would be. Mother told me to take the cloth off her back. 1 found brown
burns all over her back. Because of the burns, she couldn’t lie on her back
Why does my mother, as innocent as a person could be, have to be tortured
like this? I could not suppress the anger I felt. From that day, I took care
of her for 2 nights and 3 days. However, the only medicine provided was
47
mercurochrome. We were even short of cresol. When Mother arrived at the
center, she was fine and even washed other people’s clothes, but when I got
there she couldn’t even move her body.
... Looking at the B-29 bomber which sometimes came flying, I shouted
to myself “Idiot!” It was all the resistance I, as a boy, could offer. And I
sometimes cried secretly in the lavatory.
At lunch-time on 4 September, the third day, Mother started to writhe
in pain. Her unusual action completely upset me. All I could do was to
absentmindedly look at my suffering Mother. After suffering for 30 minutes,
she regained her calmness. However, it was the last calmness, the sign of the
end of life; I continued calling her name, clinging to her body. Tears welled
Jp in the eyes of my speechless mother and tears rolled down her cheek. I
wondered if the tears were from the sorrow of eternal parting between mother
and child or from an anxiety about my future. I shall never forget the tears
of my Mother I saw on that day ...
I am over 30 years old now, but I can never forget my experiences in
this village (Tsutsuga village) as a memory of stamped wheat plants. Is this
nothing but my sentimentality?
Sadako Sasaki: 2 years old in 1945
We end this section with the moving story of Sadako Sasaki which carries a
■ message of peace and hope.
Sadako Sasaki
Sadako Sasaki was almost two when the bomb exploded a mile from her
home in Hiroshima. Seemingly unharmed, she fled with her mother and older
brother to the Oto River, where they were drenched by the radioactive black
rain that fell throughout the day.
CHAPTER 5. THE CHILDREN OF HIROSHIMA
48
Until the age of twelve, Sadako appeared to be a normal, healthy girl. She
was the best runner in her sixth grade class when she suddenly developed
leukaemia or blood cancer.
“Tsuru” the crane, is an ancient Japanese symbol of long-life, hope, good
luck and happiness. It is believed that if you fold a thousand paper cranes,
they will protect you from illness. Sadako said of the cranes, “I will write
peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world.”
But Sadako did not have the strength to reach a thousand. After having
folded nine hundred and sixty four, she died on October 25, 1955. Her friends
added the missing paper cranes and placed them in the coffin with her. Since
then the paper crane has become an international symbol of the
movement for nuclear disarmament.
(
Sadako’s class began a national campaign to build a monument to her.
It was erected in 1958 and it honours all children who suffered from the
bomb. On the top of the oval granite pedestal, which symbolizes the fabled
Mountain of Paradise, Mt. Horai, a young girl stands holding a golden crane
in her outstretched arms. Inside the pedestal is a space for the thousands
of colorful paper cranes that people from all over Japan and the world send
every year. On the monument is written,
“This is our cry, this is our prayer: PEACE IN THE WORLD!”
Sadako Peace Monument in Japan
Sources
1. http://www.csi.ad.jp/children.html - This site contains the accounts of
children of Hiroshima.
2.
http://www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/RERF/setb-4.html- Tadataka Kuribayashi’s detailed note appears here.
"... We scientists recognise our inescapable responsibility to carry
to our fellow citizens an understanding of atomic energy and its impli
cations for society. In this lies our only security and our only hope—we
believe an informed citizenry will act for life and not for death."
Albert Einstein, January 22, 1947
1
MOTOR INDUSTRIES CO.LTD,, BANGALORE
NOTICE
1.10.1976
We have been informed by the Director, Bureau of Economics and Statistics, Government
of Karnataka, that he C.P.I. Number for the working class of Bangalore Centre,
compiled by the Labour Bureau, Government of India, is 301, 312 and 312 points (base
I960) for the months of June, July and August 1976 respectively. These index numbers
average out to 308 points (308.33), an increase of 6 points from the average C.P.I.
Number for the previous quarter, and as a result, the existing all inclusive wages/
salaries of hourly/monthly rated employees will be increased by Rs.8.40.
After making the above adjustment, the all inclusive wagos/salaries in the various
scales will be as follows for the months of October, November and December 1976.
1\
A. Category and Scales of all inclusive wage for Hourly Rated Workmen :
„
Nd. of
Years
SI.
No.
Category
1.
G1
Pr
Rs.
218.350
454717
2.350
4789"
241.860
503707"
2.650
5751
268.350
558717"
20
G2
Pr
Rs.
222.326
462744
2.851
5793"
250.836
521774"
3.202
6766"
282.855
588.34"
20
G3
P.
Rs.
228.293
474.85"
3.900
8.11
267.284
555795
4.399
9.15"
311.274
647.45
20
G4
P±
Rs.
234.259
487.26
5.048
10.50
284.740
592.26
5.649
11.75
341.230
709776
20
G5
Pr
Rs.
240.221
499766
6.250
13.00
302.721
629766"
7.048
14766
373.201
776726
20
FsT
246.187
512.07
8.00
16.64
326.187
678.47
8.399
17.47
410.177
853717"
20
Fs7
261.100
543.09"
9.101
18793
352.110
732739"
10.250
21732"
454.610
945759"
20
512.125
1065.22
20
567.524
1180.45
20
2.
A
4.
5.
6.
G6
7.
G7
u.
9.
G3
G9
Per Hour
Per~Month~(~208~working~Goursy
ca e
£&
276.115
574732"
11.100
23709
387.125
805722
12.500
26.00"
p.
Rs.
288.053
599.15"
13.149
27.35"
419.543
372.65
14.798
30.78
B. Category and Scales of all‘inclusive salaries for Monthly Rated Employees :
No. of
Years
SI,
.T
No.
Category
1.
T1
Rs.
518•38
15
593.38
16
673.33
17
843.38
20
2.
T2
Rs.
599.37
20
699.37
21
804.37
22
1024.37
20
3.
T2a
Rs.
717.72
25
342.72
27
977.72
29
1267.72
20
4.
Cla
Rs.
488.29
10
533.29
11
593.29
12
713.29
20
5.
Clb
Rs.
513.38
15
593.38
16
673.38
17
843.38
20
Scale
6.
Clc
Rs.
559.94
17
644.94
18
734.94
19
924.94
20
7.
Cid
Rs.
559.94
19
654.94
20
754.94
21
964.94
20
8.
Cle
Rs.
590.03
21
695.03
22
805.03
23
1035.03
20
9.
C2
Rs.
658.54
23
773.54
24
393.54
25
1143.54
20
Increments are granted by the Company each year subject
attendance and conduct being found satisfactory.
kkd/dnh
cc: Managers/Departments/Shops
cc: MEA
PSL
■4
WIDENING
HORIZONS
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH IN BHEL
THE IMPORTANCE OF DOING
WELL TO DO BETTER
Industry is not just production, machines and their
maintenance, but a group — a special group of
productive people at work, their anxieties and worries,
their hopes and aspirations, their health and happiness.
Therefore the promotion of "Positive Health" among
the employees with special reference to work and the
psychophysical environment inside the factory is an
absolute essential for better output and happiness in
industry. It is only a healthy, strong and productive
work-force that can contribute to the national
prosperity and the all-round development
of the nation.
Indeed, Man
Maintenance is more
important than Machine
Maintenance.
HEALTH HAS MANY FACETS
"Health depends on many factors. It depends on
the circumstances, physical, social and psychological. It
depends on the influence of home, on matters like
nutrition, housing, happiness in industry, industrial
hygiene, personal hygiene and most important of all
on a man's work".
How many of us are aware
of the influence that work
may have on health
and that a person's
health may affect
his or her capacity
for work ?
^r7~o
'"Qi
And, so, our conception of health goes much,
much farther; farther than it is normally taken
to be. Farther than you can even imagine.
The well-being and growth of an employee as a
total man — 'A state of complete physical, mental and
social well-being and not a mere absence of disease
or infirmity'.
WIDENING HORIZONS :
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH IN BHEL
At BHEL-Tiruchi we believe that tapping our
employees' chests perfunctorily when they fall sick
and come to the hospital is not enough.
Service. Occupational Health deals with healthy
people at work everyday and sees that they
remain healthy, that fit people become more adapted
to their work.
Occupational Health works while they work.
HOW TO MAKE PEOPLE
HAPPIER
Considerable thought has been given to it
and a seemingly simple formula has been chosen.
It is 'adaptation of work to man and each man to his job'.
Simple ? Isn't it ??
WIDENING HORIZONS :
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH IN BHEL
At BHEL-Tiruchi we believe that tapping our
employees' chests perfunctorily when they fall sick
and come to the hospital is not enough.
That's why we have started our Occupational Health
Service. Occupational Health deals with healthy
people at work everyday and sees that they
remain healthy, that fit people become more adapted
to their work.
Occupational Health works while they work.
THE FABRIC OF
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
Occupational Health can be defined as the
promotion and maintenance of the physical and mental
well-being of workers with particular reference to the
jobs they are doing. This also includes the effort to
achieve a psychophysical balance between an employee
and his job.
Quite a complete health-care programme—a
comprehensive approach to the total health needs of the
employed population—starting right from the time of
recruitment to extend throughout an employee's
working life.
Here is a service which goes to the workspot
and studies the man in action before he gets into in
action.
Here is a service which aims at the well-being and
growth of an employee as a total man.
'What cannot be cured must be endured' is now
a story of the past. It can be prevented.
TIRELESS STRIVING
STRETCHES ITS ARMS
WHAT OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH DOES
—ITS CONTENT
■ '
Occupational Health Service of BHEL-Tiruchi
conducts regular medical examinations of its employees
—right from recruitment onwards. Positive promotion
of health, specific protection against industrial health
hazards and communicable diseases, medical aid,
supervision of work places at intervals, health education,
psychological guidance and the maintenance of health
statistics are all included in this service.
As a first step, it protects the employees against
any health hazard arising out of their jobs or the
conditions in which they work.
Then it contributes to the employees' physical and
mental adjustment, in particular by the adaptation of
work to man and each man to his job.
HOW OCCUPATIONAL
HEALTH WORKS
1.
Placing people in suitable work. Through pre
placement and periodic medical examinations
and placing employees in jobs that are suited
to their physiological and psychological equipment.
Preplacement examination also provides baseline
data together with periodic examinations.
Periodic examination is a monitoring procedure
supplementary to environmental monitoring.
2.
Providing treatment service—to maintain a safe
and healthy working environment by providing
prompt and efficient initial treatment of illnesses
and injuries at work. This also provides
epidemiological evidence of hazards.
3.
Controlling recognised health hazards. Eliminating
the hazard by substitution of the process or at least
by successfully controlling the ill-effects.
4.
Research and Development —
by identifying the unrecognized hazards. Detective
work in identifying health hazards—from the
apparently trivial that interfere with comfort and
efficiency to those that endanger life. R & D on
ways to control them.
This depends on two distinct types of enquiry :
(a)
The clinical observation of sick individuals
who seek treatment.
(b)
Field surveys and other epidemiological
methods.
R & D on ways to further our medical benefits
also.
5.
Avoiding potential risks of disease and injury by
the application of ergonomics considering fatigue
and adverse psycho-social factors.
6.
Well-person screening and treatment by screening
for early evidence of any disease that may be
setting in—both occupational and non-occupational.
In particular, occupational health service gives
unrivalled opportunity for identifying and dealing
with mental illness in its very early stages.
7.
Executive health supervision.
8.
Psychological guidance and counseling.
Occupational health here serves by two different
types of counseling—first at attendance for
treatment and other routine examinations—this
ranges from simple advice about a specific
complaint to a more extensive counseling about
personal, social, emotional and even economic
problems—secondly when employees come
voluntarily for advice about a much broader
problem connected with their work or domestic
life. Psychological guidance and counseling
forms an important and useful function of
Occupational Health Service.
9.
Health education -—
Both individual and group by educating the
employees towards healthier modes of living.
10.
Supervision of welfare amenities especially
canteen and periodic checks of kitchen.
Special periodic examinations of food handlers
and canteen staff.
Thus we go on...
Striving, tirelessly, stretching our arms and
embracing health in all its aspects.
MOTTO IS POWER TO THE PEOPLE
MOTIVE IS POWERFUL PEOPLE
BHEL's success in the power club is entirely due to
its power—its 50,000 strong work force—the power
that creates power.
A manufacturer of power equipment—its main and
powerful motive is the health and happiness of the men
who make the machines move.
Occupational Health Service is a means to the desired
state of health and happiness.
Occupational Health too.
Yet another feather in the cap.
Not that it is so much fond of the 'feather in the cap';
as it is of the 'bird in the nest'.
It is the love of its men that prompts BHEL in
anything it does. In this respect, BHEL is quite
possessive too.
THE EMERGING POWER
India today is totally self-reliant in her power
equipment needs.
In the last two decades, India has
experienced a seven-fold increase in power generation
capacity.
140 power stations, thermal and hydel, dot
the Indian countryside.
Over and above, 79 hydel, 45
thermal and 3 nuclear power stations are in various
stages of design, manufacture and erection.
Significantly, almost all the equipment for these
power stations is being manufactured in India by BHEL.
Yes, India today is an emerging member of the
international 'Power Club.' And is one of the 10
countries in the world which manufacture steam
generating equipment.
Now, India has the technological know-how and
production capability at BHEL to offer turn-key power
projects to countries the world over.
The BHEL complex employs about 50,000 engineers,
technicians and other staff. It has four production units
located at Bhopal, Hardwar, Hyderabad and Tiruchi.
The Corporate headquarters of BHEL at New Delhi
co-ordinates the production and marketing of products
emanating from the units.
A full-fledged Research &
Development Unit keeps abreast of the latest
developments, standardises and—simplifies product
designs to place at your service products that are
economical to run.
BHEL's Services & Spares Unit
provides specialist after-sale services for maintenance
and operation of sophisticated equipment.
It has a
Consultancy Wing and a Power Projects Division. And
now it has a Comprehensive Occupational Health
Service to take care of the total health needs of its
man power—the power that creates power.
J
POWER
TO THE
* PEOPLE
kTIRUCHIRAPALLIJ
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited
(A Government of India Undertaking)
High Pressure Boiler Plant,
Tiruchirapalli 620 014
Efficient Dust
Collector
European
Patent Office
Laser
Microscope
rplIE European Patent.Office, newly opened in Munich. Federal fpHE laser beam has become a
npHE plant and machinery divi- the gas to collide with water Republic
scalpel In the hands of sur
of Germany, will revolu
*• sion of Nippon Steel is a spray, it must be followed by a
geons and dentists and an instru
patent law,
manufacturer as well as user of section to separate the water and tionise
A single patent application now ment of therapeutists. The cohe
pollution control equipment.
dust. Those separation methods protects inventions in Britain, rent (narrowly directed) laser
One of the division’s specialities include cyclone, inertial impac France. Germany, Benelux. Swe beam can produce a three-dimen
is dust collectors. Detailed study tion, and settling method. Nippon den
and Switzerland. Austria, sional image on multi-layered
of gas and dust cumpostion has Steel has developed the Circular Denmark, Ireland and Italy are X-ray films, which allows one to
enabled the division to manufac Louver System and the stuffed shortly to join the club. Eventu use the laser for giving diagnoses.
ture a wide range of dust collec system.
ally all sixteen signatories of the
The laser has made its contri
tors.
Nippon Steel has developed a 1973 European patent convention. bution to the development of mi
To maintain constant dust col new type of second-stage venturi will be covered by an application croscopy, which started with the
simple lens microscope. The sys
lecting efficiency in the venturi scrubber system.
to the Munich office.
The cost per application is sub- tems of the laser projection microscrubber, the rates of water id?
The new system was developed
scope, designed over the past few
jection and gas flow at the throat due
to (1) increase in the size of
must be constant. If, for example, BF gas cleaning equipment, sep dividual' application in cacn coun- years, are ever more widely ap
plied. -Such a microscope makes it
tum valve and muffler, and In trative board chairman of the possible to examine the object of
DIAGRAM OF ONE TOWER
crease in noise level from septum organisation. ««■ “ should in- studies directly on a large screen.
valve due to increases in the size terest not only the well-heeled
of such systems, developed
TYPE 2-STAGE V.S
and pressure of blast furnaces, multi-nationals but also smaller atOne
the Physical Institute of the
(2) necessity of reducing the companies.
•USSR Academy of Sciences, raises
noise level of the septum valve
The legal position will be less •many times—with the aid of la
to cope with severer restriction complicated. Companies and indi ser amplification—the brightness
for noise control, and (3) evasion viduals with new ideas to patent -of the image without increasing
of troubles arising In the septum should feel more sure of them the intensity of illumination of
valve due to shock waves. In con selves. The office will also be the' object under observation.
ventional systems, the functions the first to deal directly with the This is of great importance in
o gas cleaning, top pressure con general public.
many scientific investigations, es
Initially applications will be pecially in medicine anc
trol and noise control are separa
rA<rw
tely performed by V.S., septum checked for formal accuracy at an
The Physical Institute
---valve, and muffler; whereas, in office in The Hague. There and created a system of transmitting
in
West
Berlin
technical
prelimi
the new system, the functions are
a television image by laser beam.
naries
will
also
be
conducted.
performed by a second VS. to
where the signals of the image
...
e system compact.
inv“nUontawc°UlflhhVdtaifiyreiheJ "re 7ran™iUed““through“‘glass“ ft
make
the
MIST
J adv’mLSv™ haS lh° f0110'V’ Proc"ss°"s of the XlkatiJn will bro only 0.15 mm thick. ............ ~
SEPARATOR
ing advantages:
In addition, the institute sug;
he from the Munich head office.
(1) The elimination of septum
gusted that the conventional
valve and muffler makes the sys
kinescope should be replaced by a
tem compact.
Especially, the
kinescope with a laser screen,
“One tower type” system empiovwithout changing the circuit ol
the
television set. Such a
ed by No. 1 BF of Kamaishi
screen
is formed by a thin
Works (Figure) where the first
.
monocrystalline
semiconductor
VS. arranged above the second
plate
grown and
a spe-,
y s is useful for relining work
1
11*
piaie.......
aim treated inAleotron
A nAnfrnllahlo
dial way. A
controllable electron
to be done at a limited space
gRIDESTONE
Tire
--..........
Company,
beam,
running
on the ------surface of
(2) Elimination of the septum
,
japan's
rep
auto
tyre
maker,
this
plate
lino
by
line as in a
valve and muffler reduces the ini
has developed a unique
alarm kinescope, produces
a glowing
tial cost.
cvoTnm for
T«». detection
.4
_ n abnormal- image.
•....... mV.n
’hfnn— of
~e 1U
'rt
of
The knirt
brightness
the~ rse(3) Compared with conventional system
ly low tyre pressure that results miconductor screen, one square
a venturi scrubber with a fixed »?„„
p p^h^r%c?,ntn„01L bv
QV, thG
lno SCD
sod'centimetre, in area, is so .great
throat
(hnftnrflv
------- is used for treatment of" lum va
(butterfly valve), the In flat tyres or causes other trou- that
the image can be projected
BOF gas, which is generated at ‘°rp pr„e,“u,re cont™1 at the throat ■bles.
The system is initially develop- to a cine-screen whose area is se
highly fluctuating rates, the gas
sc™bber generates ed for use on heavy-duty vehicles veral square metres. Using plates
flow rale at the throat wifi change
‘luc to th« damping but it can be adopted for passen- nf
of Hirrnront
different materials, one can ob
frequently, which will In turn cffect 01 watertain emissions of any colour, while
ger cars.
affect the dust collecting efficien
combination of pictures of the
The device consists of a diaph the
cy. Therefore, it is important tn
elementary colours produces an
ragm,
to
be
attached
to
the
hub
colour image.
make the gas throat adjustable
of a wheel, and a cell oscillator excellent
Thermonuclear synthesis
be
to accommodate changes in gas
that
sends
pulse
signals
to
the
one of the most pi^Bsiml
flow rate.
diaphragm and relay the return come
sources of energy. ScienWs all
To meet the above require
signals to the indicator.
over
the
world
are trying to tame
ments, Nippon Steel developed
The blip indicator, to be In a thermonuclear reaction.
and patented the R-damper type
stalled at the instnimtnts panhl
nol
i?Qr this purpose the energy ol
variable-throat venturi scrubber.
in
’s seat
*- lasers is also used. Such studies
... front of
w. the driver
uu,ua
scat u
Since the function of the throat
powered by the car battery.—Our are being conducted at the Physiis to force the dust particles in
Bombay Staff Sorrtspondent.
cal
cai Institute
institute which
wnicn designed
designer a
unique laser installation—the Dot
phin. In this device 54 laser
beams with a total energy of about
5,000 joules are recused, in a va
chamber, on a special deu
A NEW ultrasonic system for the to. the batchwise operation of con influence of gravity and of vibra- cuum
r
*«uu. «and
I)U tritium
uuluai target. These
terium
■rk rapid and thorough cleaning ventional ultrasonic systems. It tions induced by an ultrasonic laser
beams must produce a very
of mass-produced parts prior to consists of a heat’and sound in emitter. This is said to ensure that short (about 0000,001 second)I
metallic surface coating has been sulated stainless steel tank, with every single detail is exposed to Powerful light pulse. The capadeveloped by the Axel Johnson '.he system’s ultrasonic transducer ultrasonic waves. The goods are pHv
city of the flash ’it*■ ’will generate
------Institute for Industrial Research, being placed in a steel box. The transported from the bath on a will exceed the capacity of all
Nynashamn. Soot, coke, oxides, latter’s top doubles as slide for continuous belt conveyor.
power stations in the world.—
oils, etc., are completely removed the goods.
In addition to drastically cut- APNand pickling time can be cut by
ting pickling time, the new svs- .
SO per cent, it is stated.
The goods are evenly fed into tern eliminates the need for lye
the ■cleaning bath — normally
cleaning and the
__
The new ultrasonic cleaner plain water and detergent — and or electrolytic
of treatment steps is ref
Works continuously, as opposed travel down an incline under the number
duced, the Institute says.
I
Automatic Tyre
PrGSSUre
DpfPCflOn
Engineering
Continuous Ultrasonic Cleaning
■SPECIAL PEPOPT==
The wage bill alone in the last coopera
tive year was Rs 12 crore and the sales
turn-over Rs 20 crore. The workers who
had to depend on the government for the
initial share capital contribution not only
repaid the amount but even created a Rs
2-crore deposit of their own which made
the society do away with financial
dependence on any other institution
including commercial banks. In fact, the
district cooperative bank in Cannanore
depended on the society for the major
portion of its deposits.
The achievement, however, had not
been all that tearless. The beginnings of
the society and its brand of beedis were
marked by a long drawn confrontation
with a private manufacturer on a trade
mark issue. Perhaps deliberately, the
society had branded its products similar
to the one being marketed by an existing
producer, whose was one of the bigger
establishments in the district which were
evade the levy, taking advantage of the
exemption given to manufacturers of up
to 20 lakh unbranded beedis a year. Nor
mally these products of the small manu
facturers are being bought by the bigger
ones who could make a clean extra profit
of Rs 3.84 for every thousand beedis,
evading excise levy.
The excise levy and the huge disparity
in wage levels were an invitation for the
unscrupulous traders in neighbouring
states. All that they needed to do was to
get the labels of Dinesh beedis printed
and affix them to their own bundles of
beedis before dumping them on the
unsuspecting smokers. Already not less
than 30 cases of such spurious Dinesh
beedis have been detected and it is estab
lished that a thriving business has been
going on in some Tamil Nadu towns in
printing fake labels. The Government of
India, too, has not heeded the distress
pleas of the workers’ cooperative urging
Keeping the count. Women employees of the cooperative
closed down. Even a contempt of court
case was hurled against the chairman of
the society, G.K. Panikkar, an IAS
officer belonging to the industries depart^hnt of Kerala, who was specially
Warned to organise the society.
Another major problem that the
society faced in later years followed the
decision of the Government of India in
the mid-seventies to levy an excise duty
on branded beedis and shift the levy on
tobacco too to the branded beedi. At
present the levy comes to Rs 3.84 per
thousand beedis and the Kerala Dinesh
Beedi Cooperative is forced to pay nearly
Rs 300 lakh a year to the government. But
more than the levy itself, it was the
appearance of spurious beedis in the
market that posed a major challenge to
the society. Private traders could easily
Dec. 16—22
it to shift the levy back to tobacco so that
the competition between the private and
workers’ sectors became fairer.
A more recent problem for the coop
erative was when the authorities insisted
on Employees State Insurance coverage
for the beedi workers of Cannanore. That
would have entailed a liability of one
crore rupees for the society without any
commensurate benefit for the workers.
The society has, however, been successful
at least in temporarily warding off this
danger, pointing out that beedi workers
in other states were not generally covered
by the ESI and that they could get medi
cal aid through the special hospitals and
dispensaries established 'under another
scheme. The arithmetic of ESI coverage
for beedi workers in the country proved
their point. In Kerala, 23,154 beedi
workers in 31 establishments are covered
by ESI, while in Karnatgka none came
under\the scheme, and in West Bengal
only 56 beedi workers are covered.
The success of the cooperative ven
ture has been not without its impact on
the private sector in Kerala and outside.
The immediate result had been the crea
tion of an awareness on the part of the
workers in the neighbouring areas that
they deserved a much better deal. Private
manufacturers were forced to fall in line
and enhance the wage rgtes to a great
extent. Said a spokesman of the Kerala
Dinesh Beedi: “We are now capable of
absorbing all the beedi workers in Canna
nore district should the manufacturers
resort to any drastic step like closure
as they did in the sixties."
It is this possibility that has now
emboldened the workers to challenge the
employers based in Karnataka in their
latest agitation. Even in Karnataka, the
government had become aware of the
miseries of the beedi workers and there is
some effort to improve their condition.
Already a cooperative society on the lines
of the Kerala venture has been sponsored
in the South Kgnara district of Karnataka
with eight primaries and a central society.
More are on the anvil. In Kerala itself a
second society, with headquarters at Shoranur and covering workers in two dis
tricts with large concentrations, has
been formed.
The Government of India also was
inspired by the Kerala experiment and
asked G.K. Panikkar to chalk out a pol
icy for the organisation of beedi workers
in the country on cooperative lines. The
action plan that Panikkar has formulated
envisages the formation of at least 100
cooperatives covering a minimum of five
lakh workers in various states.
Although the total commitment to be
borne by the state governments was esti
mated to be a meagre Rs 17.5 crore, the
powers that be appeared to lack the will
and the drive to put through the plan to
save the beedi workers, 90 per cent of
whom live below the poverty line, from
the clutches of exploiters and middlemen.
Even the West Bengal government has
not pursued it vigorously yet. The result
is that the beedi workers continue to
labour with ridiculously low wages, like
the Rs 8 paid for rolling thousand beedis
in West Bengal or the Rs 5 paid in the
former Prime Minister’s constituency of
Rae Bareily in Uttar.Pradesh. An intrigu
ing reluctance on the part of the state,
governments, indeed! .
—P. ARAVINDAKSHAN
35
SPECIAL REPORT. 1— . -
'
— '
■ .....■
Rolling up the sleeves
Kerala’s beedi workers fight for survival
ISERY and militancy go with the
ment nor the Karnataka government workers to form the society with a share
nearly 80,000 beedi workers of
showed the courage or inclination to subscription of one rupee per. head and
Cannanore district which has the largest
give a similar helping hand to their weak another Rs 19 per head from the
concentration of them. These people est section of working class. The disparity government. Though the beginning was
who roll the poor man’s smoke also play
in wage rates between these states, there with only 3,000 workers with the remain
one of the biggest roles in the sustained
fore, continued to grow with the conse ing put on the waiting list, because of the
and heroic working class struggles in the
quent emigration of manufacturers from need to limit production in view of the
country, interspersed with thrilling victo
Kerala as in the case of some other tradi initial difficulty of marketing a new
ries and frustrating defeats. It was they
tional industries like coir and cashew.
brand of beedi, the growth of the society
who provided the fertile ground for mil
Moreover, the manufacturers began to
was indeed phenomenal. In just about
itant movements, from communism in
resort increasingly to several undesirable five years it could absorb all the 12,000
the early stages to the Rashtriya Swayampractices. Most of them began operating unemployed workers and continued its
sevak Sangh and the extremist Naxalite
invisibly through middlemen and con further expansion enlisting more workers
adventures in the late sixties. And they
tractors, with no employer-employee at the rate of 2,000 every year. Today the
are at it again.
relationship between the manufacturers society has 35,000 workers organised in
About 15,000 of them in the border
and the workmen.
22 primary societies, manufacturing and
areas of Kerala with Karnataka are on
the war path, demanding a hike in the
minimum wages. As in the past, the pres
ent confrontation also is with: the beedi
lords operating from Karnataka who
take advantage of the comparatively low
wages prevailing in that state—around
nine rupees for rolling 1,000 beedis, the
average daily output of a worker. Every '
time the workers demanded an increase
in wages the manufacturers have been
getting away with mass closure of facto
ries located on the Kerala side.
The migration of factories from Ker
ala to the neighbouring Tamil Nadu and
Karnataka has been a steady process ever
since the workers started asserting their
rights and demanded a fair deal in the late
sixties. Then their demands were backed
A success story. A work centre of the Kerala Dinesh beedi cooperative
by the communist-led government of
E.M.S. Namboodiripad. More than ,
selling beedis worth Rs 10 lakh everyday.
The latest agitation too is no more
12,000 workers were subsequently than another step in the continuing strug
The average daily wage of Rs 25;30 paid
thrown out on the streets as several lead gle of the workers, inspired by the exhi
by the society for rolling 1,000 beedis is
ing Karnataka-based manufacturers larating success of their counterparts in
the highest in the industry anywhere in
withdrew from Kerala when the state the cooperative society known as the
the country.
government’s decided to enforce from Dinesh Beedi Workers’ Central Cooper
It did not take long for the society,
November 1968 the provisions of the ative Society based in Cannanore. A
which was essentially an organisation of
Central Beedi and Cigar Workers comparison of their own plight with the
militant trade unionists, to extend to the
(Conditions of Employment) Act.
workers several benefits and incentives
conditions of service under the society
though under a phased programme. They
Although many among them des (which employs 35,000 workers and
included national festival holidays, Sun
paired, the majority of the victimised pays them, an average daily wage of Rs
day wages,'one day's wage extra for every
25-30) spurred the workers in the private
workers were not cowed down by the
twenty days of work, maternity leave,
sector into a sustained struggle which has
cruel strategy of the manufacturers, The
gratuity, provident fund and bonus, all of
became the nightmare of private manu
government came to their rescue and they
which remained the dream of the average
facturers, Once again, the manufactur
started an organisation for beediunaking
worker in the private sector.
on cooperative lines, which led to the , ers’ answer was to withdraw from Kerala,
An index of the growth of the society
emergence of one of the biggest real , closing.down many of their depots.
is that its annual budget is Rs 45 crore,
In the sixties, when in a similar move
workers’ sector in the Country at
which is more than the annual budgets of
the manufacturers closed shops in Ker
Cannanore.
ala, the state government helped the
all the universities in Kerala put together.
Yet neither the Tamil Nadu govern
M
34
THE WEEK
“SPECIAL REPORT^S=!
The wage bill alone in the last coopera
tive year was Rs 12 crore and the sales
turn-over Rs 20 crore. The workers who
had to depend on the government for the
initial share capital contribution not only
repaid the amount but even created a Rs
2-crore deposit of their own which made
the society do away with financial
dependence on any other institution
including commercial banks. In fact, the
district cooperative bank in Cannanore
depended on the society for the major
portion of its deposits.
The achievement, however, had not
been all that tearless. The beginnings of
the society and its brand of beedis were
marked by a long drawn confrontation
with a private manufacturer on a trade
mark issue. Perhaps deliberately, the
society had branded its products similar
to the one being marketed by an existing
producer, whose was one of the bigger
establishments in the district which were
evade the levy, taking advantage of the
exemption given to manufacturers of up
to 20 lakh unbranded beedis a year. Nor
mally these products of the small manu
facturers are being bought by the bigger
ones who could make a clean extra profit
of Rs 3.84 for every thousand beedis,
evading excise levy.
The excise levy and the huge disparity
in wage levels were an invitation for the
unscrupulous traders in neighbouring
states. All that they needed to do was to
get the labels of Dinesh beedis printed
arid affix them to their own bundles of
beedis before dumping them on the
unsuspecting smokers. Already not less
than 30 cases of such spurious Dinesh
beedis have been detected and it is estab
lished that a thriving business has been
going on in some Tamil Nadu towns in
printing fake labels. The Government of
India, too, has not heeded the distress
pleas of the workers’ cooperative urging
Keeping the count. Women employees of the cooperative
closed down. Even a contempt of court
case was hurled against the chairman of
the society, G.K. Panikkar, an IAS
officer belonging to the industries depart^knt of Kerala, who was specially
Touted to organise the society.
Another major problem that the
society faced in later years followed the
decision of the Government of India in
the mid-seventies to levy an excise duty
on branded beedis and shift the levy on
tobacco too to the branded beedi. At
present the levy comes to Rs 3.84 per
thousand beedis and the Kerala Dinesh
Beedi Cooperative is forced to pay nearly
Rs 300 lakh a yearto the government. But
more than the levy itself, it was the
appearance of spurious beedis in the
market that posed a major challenge to
the society. Private traders could easily
Dec. 16—22
it to shift the levy back to tobacco so that
the competition between the private and
workers’ sectors became fairer.
A more recent problem for the coop
erative was when the authorities insisted
on Employees State Insurance coverage
for the beedi workers of Cannanore. That
would have entailed a liability of one
crore rupees for the society without any
commensurate benefit for the , workers.
The society has, however, been successful
at least in temporarily warding off this
danger, pointing out that beedi workers
in other states were not generally covered
by the ESI and that they could get medi
cal aid through the special hospitals and
dispensaries established 'under another
scheme. The arithmetic of ESI coverage
for beedi workers in the country proved
their point. In Kerala, 23,154 beedi
workers in 31 establishments are covered
by ESI, while in Karnataka none came
undeAthe scheme, and in West Bengal
only 56 beedi workers are covered.
The success of the cooperative ven
ture has been not without its impact on
the private sector in Kerala and outside.
The immediate result had been the crea
tion of an awareness on the part of the
workers in the neighbouring areas that
they deserved a much better deal. Private
manufacturers were forced to fall in line
and enhance the wage rptes to a great
extent. Said a spokesman of the Kerala
Dinesh Beedi: “We are now capable of
absorbing all the beedi workers in Canna
nore district should the manufacturers
resort to any drastic step like closure
as they did in the sixties.”
It is this possibility that has now
emboldened the workers to challenge the
employers based in Karnataka in their
latest agitation. Even in Karnataka, the
government had become aware of the
miseries of the beedi workers and there is
some effort to improve their condition.
Already a cooperative society on the lines
of the Kerala venture has been sponsored
in the South Kqnara district of Karnataka
with eight primaries and a central society.
More are on the anvil. In Kerala itself a
second society, with headquarters at Shoranur and covering workers in two dis
tricts with large concentrations, has
been formed.
The Government of India also was
inspired by the Kerala experiment and
asked G.K. Panikkar to chalk out a pol
icy for the organisation of beedi workers
in the country on cooperative lines. The
action plan that Panikkar has formulated
envisages the formation of at least 100
cooperatives covering a minimum of five
lakh workers in various states.
Although the total commitment to be
borne by the state governments was esti
mated to be a meagre Rs 17.5 crore, the
powers that be appeared to lack the will
and the drive to put through the plan to
save the beedi workers, 90 per cent of
whom live below the poverty line, from
the clutches of exploiters and middlemen.
Even the West Bengal government has
not pursued it vigorously yet. The result
is that the beedi workers continue to
labour with ridiculously low wages, like
the Rs 8 paid for rolling thousand beedis
in West Bengal or the Rs 5 paid in the
former Prime Minister’s constituency of
Rae Bareily in Uttar.Pradesh. An intrigu
ing reluctance on the part of the state
governments, indeed!
—P. ARAVINDAKSHAN
35
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4
i
HEALTH
EDUCATION
PROGRAMME
liiffli MIK
never relax on safety!
4 safe worker is a happy worker
His family is a happy family
INDUSTRIAL
ACCIDENTS
DO YOU KNOW THAT
★
Tkhere were 2,78,485 accidents in 1970 in recognised industries-
*
500 to 600 persons are killed
553 proved fatal — A TRAGEDY !
every year due to
industrial
accidents.
*
Rs.
were
19,60,00,000
paid
in
1970
by
ESI
Corporation
as disability benefits — COLOSSAL!
★
Lower accident rate results in
★
17 Millions mandays were
★
More mandays
higher efficiency.
lost due to industrial accidents-
in 1971 -72 —A NATIONAL WASTE !
are
lost on account of
industrial
accidents
than any other cause.
CAUSES OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS
*
Safety Measures Unsatisfactory.
★
Safety Officer’s warnings have been disregarded by the Supervisory
Staff
★
responsible for the achievement of production
targets.
Workers are not cautioned against working without safety devices
and
supervisory
staff
are
not
held
responsible
for
not
providing them.
★
Protective appliances such as shoes, gloves, overalls,
goggles
etc. are not used.
★
Trade Unions do not take sufficient interest in instructing workers
on Safety Measures.
*
Safety has to come about
more as a habit and a way of life
than by Compulsion.
Printed by B EL
DIABETES
If you have some of these symptoms persisting, consult a doctor at once.
a history
of diabetes
in your a
family
frequent and
excessive
urination
abnormal
thirst
persistent
hunger
undue
fatigue and
drowsiness
recurring boils,
carbuncles
and other skin
infections
loss of weight
visual blurring
and other
persistent
disturbances
itching
of sight
cuts, scratches and
burns that heal slowly
What is diabetes:
Diabetes is a metabolic disorder in which there will be persistent high blood •
sugar which spills out in urine due to deficiency of “insulin” in the body.
Who gets diabetes:
It is essentially a disease of the middle and old age, but it can affect even
children or youth. Usually it runs in families and is passed on from generation
to generation.
But
9
out
About 1% of the population suffer from this disease in India.
of 10
go undetected
cases
as most
patients
do not
have
the
knowledge of the disease.
Causes:
The exact cause or causes of Diabetes are still unknown.
Something happens
to the body due to which it is not able to use all the sugar that one eats. More
than half of what you eat is carbohydrate which is ultimately converted into
glucose (sugar) in the body and used to provide energy to the body.
Due to
inadequate secretion of insulin from pancreas in the body, the glucose fails
to find its way into the muscle cells and the sugar level in the blood rises.
Symptoms:
In many cases no symptoms are found.
But some of the symptoms, for which
one should be on the look-out, are
1.
Loss of body weight.
2.
Sugar in urine.
3.
Frequent urination and abnormal thirst.
4.
Poor healing of wounds.
5.
Itching in genitals.
6.
Boils and infection of the skin and visual disturbances.
7.
Drowsiness in young patient.
8.
Weariness.
Any of the above symptoms, if present, may not be due to Diabetes—as such
if any symptoms are present, please consult a doctor.
Treatment:
There
is no
complete
cure
for
diabetes.
administration of insulin or other substitutes.
The
treatment
at
present
is
Control:
The disease can be effectively controlled by: —
(i)
Regulated Diet
(ii)
Exercise
(iii)
Insulin treatment
Mild cases can be controlled just by regulating diet and exercises.
Diet:
The diabetic person has the same nutritional needs as any one else.
His diet
should contain less of carbohydrates and enough milk, cheese, butter, meat,
eggs, fruits and leafy vegetables.
soft drinks.
He should avoid sugared coffee or tea or
Doctor’s advice should be strictly followed.
Exercise:
Exercise is very important as it helps to burn up sugar
maintain
general
condition
of
the
body.
This
in the body
should
be
decided
and
in
consultation with the doctor.
insulin:
As insulin secretion in the body is insufficient, insulin is to be supplied in the
form of injection or oral drugs regularly, as advised by the doctor.
Suggested Diet for Diabetic Patients
BREAKFAST-300 CALORIES
Two
Chappatis
with
Two spoons
Chutney
or
Two
Idlies
LUNCH-750 CALORIES
Broken wheat (cooked)
8 ozs
Rasam
Kootu or Sambar
4 ozs
Cooked vegetables
4 ozs
8 ozs
Curd (skimmed)
4 ozs
Pappad (not fried)
Two
or
4 ozs
Upma
or
One
Rice Rotti
or
Dosa (plain)
Two
with
Chutney
Coffee
Two spoons
6 ozs
or
Chappatis
Two
Dall
Vegetables
4 ozs
4 ozs
Sambar or Curry (palya)
4 ozs
Rice (cooked)
Curds
4 ozs
Pappad (not fried)
Two
Pickle
2 pieces
4 ozs
TEA-200 CALORIES
A
cup
one
of
or
Coffee
of the
Tea
(6 oz)
with
saccharin,
a
and
plantain
any
following snacks: —
Vada
Two
Upma
4 oz
Rava Idli
Two
Pakoda
Six
Plain Dosa
One
Mixture (Chow Chow)
4 ozs
DINNER- 650 CALORIES
Same
as
lunch,
but
quantity
of wheat or
rice
reduced
to
half.
Remember:
★ There is no known permanent cure for diabetes.
It
can be successfully
controlled by
★
(i)
insulin treatment
(ii)
regulated diet and
(iii)
exercise.
A tendency
towards
obesity
considered as warning.
with a family
history of diabetes
should be
Consult a doctor at once.
★
Early diagnosis and treatment are important, lest subsequent complica
★
Once the disease is diagnosed, the patient should place himself under the
tions should arise.
care of a qualified physician.
if
★
Doctor-patient
diabetes."
co-operation
is
an
essential
factor
in
the
control
of
The patient should learn to live with the disease, and if proper precautions
are taken, he can live a useful life as any other person.
if you are ©verweight
you are more likely to get diabetes
Printed by BEL
HEALTH
EDUCATION
PROGRAMME
PREVENTION OF ^EA!RT DISEASES
YOUR HEALTH IS IN YOUR HEART
Prevention of Heart Diseases
(A talk by Dr. C. R. Rao, MRCP)
Of all the ailments that may blow out life’s little candle, heart disease is the chief. The
main causes of death in advanced countries today are heart attacks, strokes and cancer. Heart
attacks are due to Atherosclerosis,
the hardening and thickening, the clogging and
narrowing of the vital arteries carrying nourishing blood to the muscle tissues of the heart and
to the cells of the brain demanding life-sustaining Oxygen.
What are the types of heart diseases ? There are many congenital defects present since
birth. A rheumatic heart is due to rheumatic fever. Then there is heart disease due to
narrowing of the arteries by hardening and clogging; disease due to high blood
pressure; coronary heart disease due to narrowing of the arteries by hardening and
clogging; diseases of the heart secondary to diseases of the lungs and a few more types.
O1 all these, coronary heart disease is the one that causes the so-called heart attacks, and
1 am going to mention a few of its causes and prevention of the same.
Heart attack, Coronary Thrombosis, Myocardial Infraction and Angina Pectories
are all different names or kinds of the same disease process, i.e.. Atherosclerosis affecting
the coronary arteries, the arteries that supply vital blood to the heart itself.
Coronary heart disease is also known as Ischamic heart disease and has assumed
enormous proportions throughout the world in recent years, particularly in the west and
other economically advanced countries. Its incidence, the deaths and disability due to it,
have reached an alarming level in these countries. Each day, on the average, this assassin
called heart attack, kills not one, not one hundred, bin 1,400 Americans. Of the
various cardiovascular diseases, one stands out as the leading cause of death — coronary
artery disease heart attack. It alone has accounted for more than 500,000 deaths in USA.
Men are' affected more than women. The ratio between men and women is 4:1
between the ages of 40-50; 3:1 between 50-60; 2: 1 between 60-70; and after 70, it is
about equal. These figures are from USA. Similar figures are obtained in UK and other
countries. No accurate figures are available for India. There is no doubt that heart attacks
are increasing at a staggering rate, as one can see from the admissions to the hospitals
and the longer growing lists of the obituary columns in the newspapers. The WHO Expert
Committee recorded: “It will result in coming years in the greatest epidemic mankind
has faced unless we are able to meet it by concentrated research into its causes and
prevention”.
A careful study of the natural history of the disease reveals more and more younger
people in the prime of their life, when they are most needed by their family, society and
country, are becoming victims of this great assassin — heart attack. The disease is
spreading to developing countries too. It is generally a disease associated with property.
The death rate from it is higher among the higher economic strata.
2
In India, heart attacks are certainly more common among professionals and businessmen
But in my experience, it is becoming more frequent among the lower classes.
We know the name of the killer — Atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries.
Atherosclerosis is really due to a conspiracy of factors. There is not one single cause, but
a constellation of causes. The chief criminal subjects in this deadly syndicate are:—
1. High blood pressure
2. High levels of cholesterol, a dangerous fatty material, particularly in
the blood stream
3. Overweight
4. Excessive eating, especially of certain type of cholesterol-bearing fats.
5. Too little exercise and physical activity.
6. Diabetes
7. Excessive cigarette smoking
8. Tension and stress
and sometimes
9. Heredity.
Of the nine factors mentioned, high blood pressure increases the work of the heart
which enlarges in size without corresponding adequate increase in blood supply. Diabetes,
high cholesterol containing diet and consequently a high level of cholesterol in the blood
precipitate Atherosclerosis, which narrows the blood vessels that supply the vital needs of
the heart. The disease is more common among families who suffer heart attacks and may
be due to common living habits, environment, etc., rather than due to heredity itself. In
this connection, the results of the Framingham study are interesting. It has demonstrated
that certain habits are associated with more risk of developing heart disease. The findings
provide clues to possible causes of coronary heart disease and suggest means of prevention,
since habits and environment can be made susceptible to change. Excessive cigarette
smoking, over-weight and sedentary living are among suspect factors associated with
increasing the chances of developing coronary heart disease.
PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES
In males, a sustained high level of physical activity may confer protection against
heart attacks by stimulating development of additional channels to supply blood to the
heart. It also prevents overweight with attendant benefits of lowering serum cholesterol
and blood pressure, and reducing work for the heart. The risk of death from heart attacks
is three times more in least active males as compared with most active males.
RELATIVE WEIGHT
Attacks of chest pains which are called angina are three times more in individuals
who are more than 20 percent overweight compared with people 10 percent underweight.
Grossly overweight individuals have an increased risk of sudden death.
CIGARETTE SMOKING
The risk of heart attack among heavy cigarette smokers is twice than in non-smokers.
The lower risk among pipe and cigar ^smokers suggests that tobacco smoke must be inhaled
3
to produce its baneful effect. When an individual gives up the cigarette smoking habit,
his risk quickly descends to a lower level. As far as heart disease is concerned, it pays to
quit smoking now.
ALCOHOL
Alcohol consumed in moderation apparently has no harmful effects on circulation.
However, it does not protect the blood vessels against the consequences of Atherosclerosis.
MODERATE AMOUNTS OF COFFEE
A moderate amount of coffee drinking does not seem to increase the coronary risk,
neither the habitual lack of adequate sleep.
MARITAL STATUS
Marital status or the condition of a marriage is unrelated to risk of coronary heart
disease, even though changes in marital status through separation, divorce or death of one of
the partners would be regarded by many as evidence of long-standing emotional stress.
Neither is the size of a family, small or large, related to the risk of developing coronary
heart disease.
HIGH INTAKE OF FATS
It is well known that a high intake of fats leads to higher levels of blood
cholesterol and other substances responsible for Atherosclerosis. Besides, rich diet high in
calories, fat and protein may also lead to high blood pressure and high blood sugar, etc.
Animal fat which is more saturated is more dangerous than fat of vegetable origins :
Substance
Fat Content
Substance
Fat Content
Ghee
Gingely Oil
58%
12%
Groundnut Oil
Coconut Oil
18%
91%
Vanaspati
Mustard Oil
20%
28%
From the above it can be seen that it is far better to use gingely oil, followed by
groundnut oil, and mustard oil, than coconut oil and animal fat (ghee or butter.)
PREVENTION OF HEART DISEASE
Now let me tell you a few points concerning the prevention of heart attacks. First
let us consider over-eating, overweight and taking too much food rich in cholesterol. You
can easily eat yourself into a high risk of heart attack. What changes in one’s habits
should one adap to keep away the risk? It is simple.
You must reduce your intake of saturated fats. For example, less or no cream,
butter, animal fats, eggs, cheese, chocolates and coconut oil. Hydrogenated oil fats may
be better, but unsaturated oils of vegetable origin, such as groundnut oil, mustard oil,
corn oil, saffola sunflower oil, soyabean oil, and cottonseed oil are superior.
In dairy products, you should prefer skimmed milk, buttermilk and cottage cheese to
sweet creams, sourcreams, butter and other cheeses.
4
Egg yolk is very rich in cholesterol and consumption of eggs should be reduced to
two or three a week.
Lean meat is also advisable. You should trim all the visible fat surrounding the
meat. In the case of birds, lean white meat of chicken, turkey or game birds is preferable
if the skin is avoided because their fat is concentrated under the skin.
Sea food, high in protein content but low in saturated fats, must be encouraged.
As also vegetables and fruits that are low in calories
nutrients.
but rich in essential
Sweets, cakes and pastries must be limited or avoided completely, if one is over
weight.
It is acceptable to use white bread, as well as cereals and potatoes in the attempt
to lower cholesterol. The only condition is to watch one’s total calories if one is over
weight.
Nuts of almost all kinds are good items in your diet for they are high in unsatura
ted fats and cholesterol-free. However, they are high in calories and. weight-watchers
should consume them sparingly.
You should spread your meals over the day rather than consume one huge meal
with semi-starvation at other meals, because the single large dinner raises blood cholesterol.
Alcohol in moderation is neither harmful nor beneficial.
one is overweight.
It adds only calories if
Now, we come to the next point of how to lose extra pounds, if overweight. One is
by means of diet and the other through exercise. I recommend to overweight patients to
avoid alcohol, fried foods, sweets and sugar, potatoes and beetroots. Cut down rice or
wheat to half of what you are taking at present. But consume a fair amount of vegetables
and fruits.
This diet without the agency of cumbersome dietetics and calculation of calories
helps in getting rid of unwanted weight.
•
Exercise is another step in shedding extra pounds. You can increase your physical
activity by walking, avoiding automobiles whenever possible, walking up steps and avoiding
lifts. Games and sports like tennis, golf, swimming, etc., played regularly, are a great
help. But one of the simplest forms of exercise that I have come across is stationary
running for 10 to 30 minutes daily. Regular exercise in some form or the other helps tdcontrol weight, maintain the tone of the muscles, and improve the blood circulation to the
heart itself.
Smoking is not the critical factor in the epidemic of heart attacks. But statistical
studies unanimously point to smoking as one important mal-influence, with significantly
less risk encountered by non-smokers or those who have stopped smoking. Cigarette
smoking is best given up.
5
Psychological, social, cultural or economic stress and tension by themselves do not
produce heart attacks. But these stresses and strains could be a factor acting in concert
with other influences to produce heart disease over a period of years. Hence, one should
change one’s way of life.
Routine annual medical check-up is particularly important for people like business
executives and professionals, who are prone to heart disease after the age of 45. This, along
with routine investigations and electrocardiograms, will help to pick-up knowledge of silent
or early cases of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease in general. Once diagnosed
early, these people can be treated and an attempt be made by them to avoid heart attacks.
In the case of heart disease, it is most imperative that once a man has had a heart
attack, doctors invariably urge him to change his pattern of life with regard to diet, body
weight, smoking etc., Then, why not try to protect the person who is heading for a heart
attack before it happens?
Your defence at any age is in your own hands. The measures you have to take are
simple, and alluring old habits can be modified. Therefore, one need not become a
hypochondriac, fearful of every shadow of statistics, of every egg on his plate, of every
cigar or cigarette smoked, and of every vague pain.
Reduce your weight if you are obese. Eat less in the hope that you will live longer
to eat more. Increase the amount of daily exercise. Reduce blood pressure if it is
moderately elevated. If blood cholesterol is high, see a doctor and change your dietary
habits immediately.
Stress is man’s challenge to greatness—meet it with equanimity. Avoid excess of all
kinds but don’t miss anything. Do not forbid things—they are for use—not for abuse.
Our error is over-indulgence in the easy pleasures of living.
Many men abuse cigarettes, food and liquor, and idle their muscles.
Adults must learn to distinguish between moderation and abuse.
in disciplining oneself and not in forbidding.
The answer lies
The best description now is one you can formulate yourself: stop abusing the good
things of our modern life and use today’s knowledge in the hope of saving your heart.
I would like to conclude with what Dr. Page says:
“Understand heart disease.
You will not fear it"
Printed by BEL
Q8bl Z W j
700 DEAO ET
220,000INJURED
Industrial accidents take a heavy toll because owners of factories
and mines do not observe safety rules- Why this carelessness?
by Winifred Costa
•A maintenance superintendent at the Tarapur
Atomic Power Station was overcome by fumes ■
and killed while trying to rescue two of his
colleagues from a nitrogen gas chamber.
•Ten persons died and twelve were injured in an
explosion in a pharmaceutical factory in
Ahmedabad some time ago. The chief chemist
was among those killed. The blast occurred while
the anti-tuberculosis vaccine was being prepared.
•Two workers were crushed to death and eleven
seriously injured when the loft of a foundry in
suburban Bombay collapsed. The bodies were
buried under a heap of iron scrap, heavy metal
pieces, coal and firewood.
—►
“The very idea of reducing absenteeism and
accidents was vitiated by workers, their doctors
and labour leaders,” he added.
there are a hundred ready to take his place”, an
industrialist claimed) their health and well-being
have not received adequate attention. There is
also no suitable deterrent for the increasing
number of industrial accidents. The compensation
paid is niggardly. One must consider that the chief
executive and the top men of an industrial
organisation do not run the same accident risk as
the worker.
Wrong judgement about the speed of the
machines, irresponsibility, lack of training,
nervousness, fatigue, poor lighting, faulty
supervision and defective machines are some of
the causes for a growing number of accidents.
Records of successful enterprises reveal that
productivity is linked with safety: a worker cannot
be motivated into higher productivity unless he
trusts that the management is genuinely interested
in his welfare.
“When we buy a new car or a new machine, we
train operators to look after them. Is the same
attention given to a recruit when he joins a
manufacturing plant?” asks a technical expert.
Safety has not attracted the same notice of the
trade unions as their claims for higher wages.
Accidents cause a lot of human suffering. Workers
with serious injuries become cripples and human
wrecks. They are left to their fate with the pittance
they may receive as compensation.
Another cause is inadequate inspection. Safety
rules and regulations exist only on paper. In
Orissa, Assam and Rajasthan a large number of
factories are not inspected at all. Hundreds of
small factories do not even have a licence to
operate. Government inspectors are few and
there are complaints that they are not averse to
taking bribes from employers. Others seem to be
overworked: having to inspect 200 factories or
more at a time. Their visits are cursory.
Every management aims at obtaining optimum
production. This is possible only when the
workers are satisfied and properly motivated. In
many cases, industrialists feel that once they
provide a job and pay the worker, their obligation
is over.
Can industrial establishments escape the blame
for the prevailing laxity? The problem of
occupational exposure is serious because complex
tools and manufacturing processes have brought
in new hazards like noise, fumes, chemical dust,
heat and harmful vapours.
But what about the physical well-being of their
workers? Why has there been a big decline in
safety standards in our industrial establishments?
These effects depend on the concentration of a
particular toxic substance at the work place and
the number of years he is exposed to it. Our
workers have poor health and are prone to illness.
Many a worker is the sole breadwinner in the
family and in his anxiety to earn a little more he
may take risks which are beyond his physical
capacity.
•Eleven persons were injured when a hydrogen
gas cylinder burst in a factory at Sion (Bombay)
manufacturing vegetable food products.
* A chemist and his assistant were scalded to death
in a factory while supervising the mixing of sodium
salt with caustic soda in an open vessel. The
chemist started the stirrer, the mixture frothed
and the burning contents splashed on them.
All these tragedies need not have taken place if
there were better safety measures in our factories
and industrial establishments.
Out of five million industrial workers about 700
die every year and 220,000 receive injuries.
It was estimated that 83 percent of such accidents
were caused by negligence, 10 per cent by unsafe
conditions and seven per cent could be termed
“acts of God”.
Seventy per cent of our mines and factories have
obsolete machinery.
Because of toxic substances and chemicals used,
the workers’ lungs, kidneys and heart are seriously
affected.
Cancer due to “occupational exposure” takes a
heavy toll.
Human Life Is Cheap
Accidents in our factories, shipyards, mines and
construction sites do not get the same newspaper
coverage as plane crashes and rail smashes. Often
the dependents of the victims secure only a
pittance by way of compensation which is an insult
to the dead and the bereaved.
A recent instance. A contractor engaged in
carrying out repair work to a building in Bombay
was required to pay only Rs 250 each to the
families of two workers who were killed when a
slab came down on them. Those injured were
awarded Rs 50. How are the families of
those who have lost their breadwinners to live
while the authorities concerned decide about the
compensation they are going to receive?
A safety adviser in a petroleum firm claimed that
best results were achieved “when accident
prevention efforts are built into executive
decisions and blended with normal operating
procedures”.
During 1961-71, nearly 3,800 workers lost their
lives and 1.3 million suffered serious injuries. The
loss to the nation because of the absence of
workers during this period was estimated at Rs 21
crores. There were 320,000 industrial accidents in
1971 alone.
Industrialists Do Not Care
Do employers, by and large, care for the lives of
the workers who contribute to the welfare of their
organisation? A noted industrialist deplored that
a “humanitarian cause such as prevention of
accidents in industrial concerns lacked support
from the employers”. He mentioned that out of
several thousand employers he could mobilise
support only from 300!
But the Chairman of Premier Automobiles
claimed that industrial accidents could not be
reduced “unless workers cooperated with the
management”. He deplored absenteeism among
workers even when they suffered “minor
injuries”.
Workers with a rural background may be slow to
familiarise themselves with modem industrial
operations. Sometimes because of the heat and
humidity, they are unwilling to demand gloves,
overalls, helmets, masks and glares which are vital
to protect their persons.
What has been the attitude of our managements?
There is a feeling that because the workers are
available in plenty (“for every one who goes out
“Of all the Ms (money, materials, methods,
machines and men) we should realise that Man is
the most important of them all. But is Man in our
factories and mines being treated as a resource or
the creator and exploiter of resources? The feeling
has grown that he is considered as a resource (like
materials). Because of the prevailing
unemployment there is a tendency to discount his
value. This is tragic and undesirable.”
Let us take the case of Maharashtra where there
was an unprecedented spurt in industrial
accidents last year. As many as 155 workmen lost
their lives, 93,000 others sustained injuries while
on duty—rendering a number of them disabled.
The Industrial Workers’ Union has blamed this on
the “criminal negligence and violation of statutory
safety and preventive measures by employers”
and the callous attitude and inefficient
administration of the Factories Inspectorate
Office. These deaths and accidents did not include
those which occurred in the 4,000 factories
(employing 28,000 workers) not covered by the
Factories Act.
Nearly 650 cases were pending before the labour
courts or civiljudges under the Workmen’s
Compensation Act—that is compensation for
labourers who died while on duty.
The chaotic conditions prevailing throughout the
country even in the organised sector have been
HAZARDOUS TO WORK IN SUCH AN ENVIRONMENT
described in a random survey of the chemical
industry which found that 47% of the units had no
medical room and 73% had not held any health
checks for their employees. Things are not getting
any better. This is proved by the fact that there has
been a 20% increase in industrial accidents in
West Bengal in just four years, from 55.618 in
1974 to 66,895 in 1978. The highest incidence of
accidents, not surprisingly, is in jute followed by
cotton and engineering. The picture is not very
■different in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
While the casual attitude of managements and
workmen has a lot to do with the high incidence of
accidents, what can one say about a Government
that does not insist on adequate safety precautions
in its own organisations? That there was only one
fire hydrant at the Santa Cruz airport when a
disastrous fire broke out in the terminal building
and that water pumps of requisite power were not
available to cope with a precarious flood situation
in the Chasnala mines four years ago shows how a
casual approach to industrial safety is a sure road
to disaster.
Based on their past industrial experience, the
American Conference of Governmental
Industrial Hygienists had laid down safe limits
(Threshold Limit Values, TLV) for 400 industrial
chemicals and dusts. It had been accepted that if
the concentration in the working environment was
kept within these limits the workers’ health would
not be impaired.
Managements whose responsibility it is to ensure
the health and welfare of the workers, the
Hygienists said, could make sure of safe working
environment by: i) getting the different work
room environments in their plants monitored for
concentration of toxic substances; ii)
implementing control measures suggested by
experts on the basis of their studies; and iii)
checking the improvement in the environmental
• conditions attained by a second monitoring
survey.
The Bombay Port Trust has a safety training
programme for their shed superintendents, labour
supervisors and inspectors. There is also need to
train crane drivers, winchmen, fork-lift
operators, riggers and tindals. It has been
estimated that 85% of accidents in the docks are
caused by wrong handling of cargo, falling objects
and persons falling from a height. In factories,
mishaps are due to lack of guards for machines
and faulty maintenance, failure to wear protective
equipment, lack of fencing to prevent heavy
objects from falling on workers and storing
dangerous materials without a licence.
The Central Labour Institute in Bombay is well
equipped and has undertaken several surveys.
Industrialists who care for the lives of their
workmen would do well to seek their advice.
LACK OF
MOTIVATION
CRIPPLES
WORKERS
S.P. GODREJ
QuR industrialists have yet to accept that
BRIG. G.R. CHAINANI
they have a social responsibility —besides making
profits for themselves. More man-days are lost
due to industrial mishaps than through strikes and
lock-outs. There are nearly 300,000 such
accidents every year.
that it is the managers who formulate and
implement the policies.”
Stressing the need for Workers’ Leadership and
Productivity, Dr Rashmi Mayur, Chief of Urban
Systems Centre, NITIE, explained: “There is
further need to share leadership between the
management and workers. They cannot be pitted
against each other. An experience of such a joint
project in New York City in 1969 proved not only
reduction by 50 per cent of unemployment but
so 3 per cent increase in production. It is easy for
e management to become complacent and
isolated while the workers can think that the only
recourse to their grievances is to go on strike.
"A great deal has been said about the illiteracy of
workers. Many implications of illiteracy are
exaggerated and used against workers.”
Brig. G.R. Chainani (Central Labour Institute)
participating in a seminar on Humanisation of
Industry said: “Experience in India fully
corroborates that investment in safety leads to
reduction in accidents and increase in
productivity. Our research has revealed numerous
such cases."
Mr R.S. Pande, Managing. Director, TISCO, gave
the following example: “In my own city of
Jamshedpur, I have seen long queues of workers
and their family members standing for 11 hours
fordrawing a ration of500 gms fora fortnight. At
the end of this long waiting, they are not sure
whether they would get their ration. Ration or no
ration, they have to reach their workplace in time.
In such a situation, what do you think will be the
workeds mood when he comes to the factory? It is
easy to talk about productivity and prevention of
accidents, but difficult to take positive measures in
the prevailing situation. Workers’ behaviour on
the shop floor is influenced by the situation on the
home front.”
Housing — Low Priority?
He gave another instance: “What is the state of
housing provided by the industry? Even today,
industries which claim to be highly developed, with
good profit, give a relatively low priority to
housing. The modern management concept
considers investment in housing unproductive,
and therefore, it is not given the priority that it
deserves.
“All of us who are involved in industry—manager,
supervisor and worker—have to understand that
management is not one man’s job. It is not the
workers alone who are responsible for the illness
of the industry. The managers are equally
responsible. Whatever we say, the fact remains
K
■The President of All India Port and Dock
^Workers’ Federation, Mr S.R. Kulkarni, pointed
out that the middle management employees had
become the worst sufferers.
“Middle management cadre acts as the agent in
the process of production but their conditions are
worse than the people over whom they supervise.”
he said. “Now, this particular cadre which really
gets the work done on the production line is totally
ignored in terms of wages and fringe benefits. This
cadre deserves our sympathy and needs
consideration.”
Prof Nitish De (Indian Institute of Management,
Calcutta) dealing with the problem of “how to
overcome the alienation of the working class”
added: “I do not think that one union for one
industry is the answer. I do not think that a highly
conformist union leader is the answer. Then you
will have to buy a union and make them members
of the company on the pay roll. That is not
possible. There is no point in attacking and
criticising the environment unless you try to carry
out a revolution in the country and change the
entire democratic structure. There is no point in
arguing that there is too much of politics and too
RASHMI MAYUR
many trade unions. Too much of politics in trade
unions cannot be a cause of criticism.”
“For a vety long time workers have been treated
merely as a source of labour or output,” Mr S.P.
Godrej, a noted industrialist countered. “It is not
at all surprising that the workers were called
‘ hands’. Many of us are familiar with what we have
read and seen in photographs: the long tiring
hours that men, women and children spend in
badly ventilated and cramped work
places trying to make out a living. Many of them
j^bably feel that they are not getting the just
Mfieof the national output and I do not think that
there is any dispute in the fact that they are not
much better off.”
Can Trade Unions Help?
v can trade unions help in prevention of
dents? Mr H.N. Trivedi (INTUC), gave the
following facts: “Regarding the use of personal
protective equipment, it has been seen that
employers purchase and bring these in a lot and
often are found to be defective, bad smelling or
not properly fitting to the body of the workers.
. Hence they do not find them really useful. It is
therefore, necessary that the personal protective
equipment should be of a high standard and be
freely supplied.
t
“ It is often found that accidents are due to mental
or physical conditions of the workers. It may be
difficult to counteract the mental state of the
person. The physical condition can only be
observed and, if not corrected, the worker may
think it to be the correct one, continue to work in
an unsafe manner and in the process get injured.”
Industrialists must realise that higher pay in itself
does not yield best results. What is required is
motivation through involvement in work. This
unfortunately is sadly lacking.
X. Alvares
THE ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY OF INDIA, NOVEMBER 2. 1980
23
Int. J. Epidemiol. Advance Access published November 22, 2005
Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association
© The Author 2005; all rights reserved.
OH -Z
International Journal of Epidemiology
dol:10.1093/ijc/dyi235
POINT-COUNTERPOINT
Is modern Western culture a health hazard?
Richard Eckersley
Epidemiology, health, and culture
The cultures of societies are underestimated determinants of
their population health and well-being. This is as true of modem
Western culture, including its defining qualities of materialism
and individualism, as it is of other cultures. This paper draws on
evidence from a range of disciplines to argue that materialism and
individualism are detrimental to health and well-being through
their impacts on psychosocial factors such as personal control and
social support.
The focus of the resurgent scientific and political interest in the
effects of the social environment on health has been on
socioeconomic inequalities in health—especially those associated
with income inequality. Two developments strengthen the case
for paying more attention to the role of culture in health. The first
is that, at the population level, the role of income inequality has
become less clear, with recent research challenging the view that
it is a major determinant of population health differences.1-3
Instead it suggests that population health is the product of a
complex interaction of history, culture, politics, economics, and
the status of women and ethnic groups4; and that we need, in
particular, a better appreciation of how broad indicators of social
and economic conditions are related to the levels and social
distribution of major risk factors for particular health outcomes.3
The second development is a general acceptance that
psychosocial factors are a significant pathway by which
inequality and other social determinants affect health and that
perceptions and emotions are important to health outcomes.2'4
This position is now common ground between those who believe
that sources of health inequalities are primarily, or fundament
ally, material—resulting from differences in material exposures
and experiences—and those who argue that their sources are
psychosocial—stemming from people's position in the social
hierarchy and their perceptions of relative disadvantage.2
Psychosocial processes involve interactions between social
conditions and individual psychology and behaviour,5 and are
associated with (in their negative forms) stress, depression,
anxiety, isolation, insecurity, hostility, and lack of control over
one’s life.6'7 Whether psychosocial factors affect health only (or
principally) through health-related behaviours or also act via
direct effects on the neuroendocrine and immune systems
remains contested, but this does not affect the case for taking
culture into account. Once we allow a role in health for
psychosocial factors and for perceptions, expectations and
National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian
National University, ACT 0200, Australia.
E-mail: richard.eckcrsley@anu.cdu.au
emotions, then cultural factors have to be considered because
culture influences these things.8
Epidemiology understands 'culture' mainly in terms of
'subcultures' or 'difference', especially ethnic and racial, and so,
usually, as one dimension of socioeconomic status.9-11 Culture
in the broader sense of the dominant or defining culture of a
society has been given scant attention in the recent social
determinants literature.12 Of the many books and reports on the
subject published over the past two decades, only a few give
cultural determinants more than a passing mention.
(The exceptions include the works of Corin on culture in
general,10'11 and my own work on modem Western culture in
particular.12'13)
Generally speaking, the influence of culture (in this broad
sense) on health and well-being has been seen as distal and
diffuse, pervasive but unspecified.12 Yet it seems plausible, if not
self-evident, that cultural characteristics such as materialism or
individualism can have as important an impact on psychosocial
factors such as social support and personal control as socioeco
nomic inequality—perhaps even more important.
Marmol and Wilkinson,7 in noting the relationship between
income inequality and social affiliation, suggest there is a 'culture
of inequality' that is more aggressive, less connected, more
violent and less trusting. Singh-Manoux and Marmot14 take this
cultural perspective further in suggesting that socialization
provides a mechanism for integrating the cultural, behavioural,
structural, and material explanations of social inequalities.
Socialization is the process of transferring attitudes, beliefs,
and behaviours between and within generations, the means by
which societies shape patterns of behaviour and being that then
affect health. Drawing on Bourdieu's concept of 'habitus', they
argue that social structures become embodied as schemes of
perception that provide individuals with class-dependent and
predisposed ways of thinking, feeling, and acting, which are then
reproduced.
However, we can also think of such processes as going beyond
matters of class; socialization reproduces lifestyles and identities,
not just social differences in them. A culture of individualism and
materialism could also produce those attributes of a culture of
inequality. In other words, these developments in thinking about
inequality in essentially cultural terms invite a broader
consideration of cultural factors as determinants of health.
The neglect of culture is surprising in some respects, but not
others. Il is surprising given that some of the earlier social
epidemiological research—for example, the work by Marmot and
Syme15'16 in the 1970s on the effects of exposure to Western
influence on heart disease in ethnic Japanese—pointed to its
significance. It is unsurprising in that cultures tend to be
'transparent' or 'invisible' to those living within them because
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2 of 7
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
they comprise deeply internalized assumptions and beliefs, groups. Culture could also influence levels of inequality—for
making their effects hard to discern. As Corin says, cultural example, through the part individualism plays in marketinfluences are always easier to identify in unfamiliar societies.10 oriented, or neo-liberal, political doctrines that are associated
Our own cultures appear to constitute a natural order that is not with greater inequality. It might also interact with socioeconomic
itself an object of study. This impression, she says, is an status to moderate or amplify its health effects—for example,
'unsupported ethnocentric illusion'.
materialism and individualism might accentuate the costs of
Another reason for underestimating the role of culture is the being poor or of low social status by making money more
extent to which its impacts are 'refracted' through a host of other, important to social position and weakening social bonds and
more specific influences, including a person's personal circum group identity. However, culture's role is perhaps more
stances and temperament (this is also true of other distal important in explaining health differences among societies, or
determinants of health). In other words, changes that affect changes in a population's health (or, more accurately, health
everyone can, nevertheless, affect people differently and potential) over time. (As the novelist L. P. Hartley famously said
contribute to specific problems that only some experience.
in The Go-Between: 'The past is a foreign country: they do things
A third explanation is that culture is a much debated and differently there'.)
contested subject, defined and used in many different ways in
This paper is an exercise in multidisciplinary synthesis.
different disciplines and even within the same discipline. Rather than improving our understanding of the world by
Culture, as I use the term here, refers to the language and creating new knowledge, as empirical research does, synthesis
accumulated knowledge, beliefs, assumptions, and values that seeks to improve understanding by bringing together existing
are passed between individuals, groups, and generations17; a knowledge from different disciplines. I acknowledge that: there is
system of meanings and symbols that shape how people see the a lack of research in many areas I discuss; much of the research
world and their place in it and give meaning to personal and remains in its infancy (many of the associations are correlational
collective experience11; or, more simply, as the knowledge we and do not prove causation); the interplay between social factors
must possess to function adequately in society.18
and individual behaviours is both subtle and complex; and
In discussing the effects of modem Western culture on health, I cultural influences, with their intangible, subjective qualities, are
do not mean to suggest that culture exerts a uniform effect on difficult to measure. Given these limitations, the evidence is often
everyone, regardless of gender, class, and ethnicity; or that indirect and circumstantial, and the arguments are to some
individuals passively absorb cultural influences, rather than extent theoretical and speculative, intended to stimulate greater
interacting actively with them; or that there is not a variety of research interest in the topic.
subcultures marked by sometimes very different values, mean
ings, and beliefs. To rephrase Ehrlich's comments about genes:
cultures do not shout commands to us about our behaviour, they Materialism and individualism
whisper suggestions (although, as I will show, the whispers are The psychological and sociological literatures suggest powerful
loud and persistent).19
effects of culture on psychological well-being. Take materialism,
My arguments about culture and health draw mainly on the by which I mean attaching importance or priority to money and
sociological, psychological, and epidemiological literatures. While possessions (and so broadly equate here with consumerism), and
this analysis differs in its scope and focus from anthropological which underpins consumption-based •economies. Many psycho
perspectives, it is, f believe, conceptually consistent with those logical studies have shown that materialism is associated, not
perspectives. For example. Dressier er al.18 argue that individuals with happiness, but with dissatisfaction, depression, anxiety,
possess cultural models that derive both from their own anger, isolation, and alienation.13,20 Human needs for security
biographies and from the collective or shared understandings and safety, competence and self-worth, connectedness to others,
that form the traditions of their society. These models reflect a and autonomy and authenticity are relatively unsatisfied when
'cultural consensus' about the way the world works, but this materialistic values predominate.
consensus is not complete and can be contested, even bitterly so.
People for whom "extrinsic goals' such as fame, fortune, and
'Cultural consonance' is the extent to which individuals reveal in glamour are a priority in life experience more anxiety and
their own beliefs and behaviour the cultural consensus (with depression and lower overall well-being than people oriented
one focus of research being the association between cultural towards 'intrinsic goals' of close relationships, self-knowledge
and personal growth, and contributing to the community.13, 0
consonance and disease risk).
It follows that, just as inequality can be studied at both People with extrinsic goals tend to have shorter relationships
population and individual levels so too can culture. It can be with friends and lovers, and relationships characterized more by
measured as differences between societies (reflecting differences jealousy and less by trust and caring.
As materialism reaches increasingly beyond the acquisition of
in cultural consensus), or as differences between individuals and
groups within a society (reflecting degrees of cultural conson things to the enhancement of the person, the goal of marketing
ance). Some societies are more materialistic or individualistic becomes not only to make us dissatisfied with what we have, but
than others (even among Western nations), and some individu also with who we are. As it seeks evermore ways to colonize
als and groups within any one society will reveal these qualities our consciousness, the market both fosters and exploits the
more than others. Thus the evidence f draw on relates to both restless, insatiable expectation that there must be more to life.
In short, the more materialistic we are, the poorer our quality
individual-level and population-level effects of culture.
Culture may help to explain health differences within societies of life.
Individualism, by which I mean placing the individual at the
in several ways. As already noted, they could arise from
variations in cultural characteristics between individuals and centre of a framework of values, norms, and beliefs and
MODERN WESTERN CULTURE A HEALTH HAZARD?
celebrating personal freedom and choice, is another cultural
quality with profound significance for well-being, but here the
evidence is contradictory. Well-being is associated with several
qualities that individualistic societies should encourage, notably
personal control and self-esteem12'13; individualism is, after all,
supposed to be about freeing us to live the lives we want.
Historically, individualization has been a progressive force,
loosening the chains of religious dogma, class oppression, and
gender and ethnic discrimination, and so associated with a
liberation of human potential.
However, just as the reality of commitment differs from the
ideal, so the reality of freedom differs from its ideal, especially
when it is taken too far or is misinterpreted. Sociologists note that
individualization has transformed identity from a 'given' into
'task'; it has replaced determination of social standing with, in
Bauman's21 words, 'compulsive and obligatory self-determina
tion'. The individualized life is a fate, not a choice; we cannot
choose not to play the game.
This process has had a range of consequences; a heightened
sense of risk, uncertainty, and insecurity; a lack of clear frames
of reference; a rise in personal expectations, coupled with a
perception that the onus of success lies with the individual,
despite the continuing importance of social disadvantage and
privilege; and a surfeit or excess of freedom and choice, which is
experienced as a threat or tyranny.22-25 To cite Bauman21 again,
there is ‘a nasty fly of impotence in the ointment of freedom', an
impotence that is all the more upsetting in view of the
empowerment that freedom was expected to deliver.
Psychology offers at least two mechanisms by which
individualism not only reduces social connectedness and
support, but also diminishes personal control. First, Twenge26
has argued that a lack of control over one's life can be part of a
defensive strategy to maintain self-esteem. The modern indi
vidual needs high self-esteem and one way to maintain that high
self-esteem is to believe that the things that threaten it are
beyond one's control.
Second, building on the work of Ryan and co-workers,27 I
have suggested that Western individualism confuses autonomy
(the ability to act according to our internalized values and beliefs)
with independence (not being reliant on or influenced by
others).13 Someone who holds collectivist values is behaving
autonomously, but not independently, when acting in the
interests of the group. (Or, to put it somewhat differently,
'thinking for ourselves' has been redefined as 'thinking of
ourselves’.)
The confusion of autonomy with independence encourages a
perception by individuals that they are separate from others and
the environment in which they live, and so from the very things
that affect their lives. The more narrowly and separately the self is
defined, the greater the likelihood that the personal influences
and social forces acting on us are experienced as external and
alien. The creation of a 'separate self' could be a major dynamic
in modern life, impacting on everything from citizenship and
social trust, cohesion and engagement, to the intimacy of
friendships and the quality of family life. So the issue here is
not just a matter of the changed relationship between the
individual (as an entity) and society, but of the way in which
the individual self is construed, fn other words, the result is not
only increased objective isolation, but also more subjective
loneliness (even in company or within relationships); out of
3 of 7
regard for privacy—our own and others’—we may fail to seek
support when we need it, or hesitate to offer it to others when we
should.
An important means by which individualism and materialism
affect well-being is through their influence on values.12'13
Values are a core component of culture, a property of societies
and their people and institutions, as well as of individuals. Like
culture more broadly, values have been underestimated in
health research because their effects are hard to measure; they
are abstract, generic, pervasive, flexible, and internalized (just
the sort of 'rules' complex adaptive systems like human societies
need). Values provide the framework for deciding what is
important, true, right, and good, and have a central role in
defining relationships and meanings, and so in determining
well-being.
Most societies have tended to reinforce values that emphasize
social obligations and self-restraint and discourage those that
promote self-indulgence and anti-social behaviour. Virtues are
concerned with building and maintaining strong, harmonious
personal relationships and social attachments, and the strength
to endure adversity. Vices, on the other hand, are about the
unrestrained satisfaction of individual wants and desires, or the
capitulation to human weaknesses. 'We define virtue almost
exclusively as pro-social behaviour, and vice as anti-social
behaviour', Ridley28 observes in his analysis of human nature
and society.
Christianity's seven deadly sins are: pride (vanity, selfcentredness), envy, avarice (greed), wrath (anger, violence),
gluttony, sloth (laziness, apathy), and lust. Its seven cardinal
virtues are faith, hope, charity (compassion), prudence (good
sense), temperance (moderation), fortitude (courage, persever
ance), and religion (spirituality). Extending this list, ComteSponville29 gives these as 'the great virtues': politeness, fidelity,
prudence, temperance, courage, justice, generosity, compassion,
mercy, gratitude, humility, simplicity, tolerance, purity,
gentleness, good faith, humour, and, finally, love (which
transcends virtue). He says that a virtuous life is not masochistic
or puritanical, but a way of living well and finding love and
peace.
Modem Western culture undermines, even reverses, universal
values and time-tested wisdom.12'13 The result is not so much a
collapse of personal morality, but a loss of moral clarity: a
heightened moral ambivalence and ambiguity, a tension or
dissonance between our professed values and lifestyles, and a
deepening cynicism about social institutions. Without appropri
ate cultural reinforcement, we find it harder to do what we
believe to be 'good'; it takes more effort. And, conversely, it
becomes easier to justify or rationalize bad behaviour. There are
positive (reinforcing) feedbacks in the process: anti-social values
weaken personal and social ties, which, in turn, reduce the 'hold'
of a moral code on individuals because these ties give the code its
'leverage'; they are a source of 'moral fibre'.
Social perspectives on population health must also take
personality into account because new research shows that our
personalities are changing in ways that may impact on the
psychosocial pathways between social conditions and health. For
example, in a series of studies drawing on psychological tests
conducted with American children and college students over
periods of up to 60 years, Twenge et al.26'30'3* have found large
shifts (up to 1 SD) in scores on a range of personality traits and
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
other psychological qualities. Twenge30 says her findings show
that broad social trends—not just genes and the family
environment, as psychologists have assumed—are important
influences on personality development. She quotes an Arab
proverb: 'Men resemble their times more than they resemble
their fathers'.34
Twenge and her colleagues found increases in trait anxiety
(or neuroticism), self-esteem, extraversion, and, in women,
assertiveness, while sense of control over life had declined (that
is, locus of control had become more external). To give two
examples of the extent of these shifts, the average American
child in the 1980s reported more anxiety than child psychiatric
patients in the 1950s,30 and the average college student in
2002 felt less control over their lives than 80-90% of college
students in 1962.26 Using a range of indicators (for the anxiety
study these included divorce rate, birth rate, women's age at
first marriage, proportion of people living alone, crime rate, and
youth suicide rate), Twenge links most of these trends to
rising individualism and freedom through declining social
connectedness and increasing environmental threat. Economic
factors such as unemployment and poverty seem not to be
involved.
With respect to the negatives, trait anxiety has been associated
with depression, suicide attempts, alcohol and drug abuse, and
poorer physical health;30 an external locus of control is
associated with lower well-being, depression, anxiety, poor
school achievement, helplessness, ineffective stress manage
ment, and decreased self-control.26 The associations of anxiety
and lack of control with depression, for example, can be stronger
than those between depression and experiences such as parental
divorce, domestic violence, relationship break-ups, unemploy
ment, and financial hardship.35
Turning to the positives, the benefits of high self-esteem to
well-being are now being questioned and it might itself
have costs, including aggression and risk-taking.13 It may also
work against personal control, as already mentioned. And
while extraversion is associated with higher well-being, its
combination with the other personality changes could lead to
a more narcissistic or 'contingent' self-esteem, which
requires constant external validation or affirmation to be
sustained.13'20 This development is consistent with an extrinsic
goal orientation that is associated with diminished well-being, as
noted above.
Most of the associations between culture and well-being
are correlational, as I have said; they do not prove that
materialism, for example, causes a deterioration in well-being;
it could also work the other way, with unhappier people drawn
to materialistic pursuits as a distraction or antidote—as 'retail
therapy'. However, the associations do suggest that the cultural
promotion of materialism and individualism is not conducive
to well-being. The causal relationships are likely to be complex
and reciprocal, and to involve interactions with other, more
specific influences, including genetic and socioeconomic
factors.
Culture's impacts on health
Culture's impacts are most clearly observed in the study of
psychological well-being, as the above discussion shows. Given
this, and epidemiology's traditional focus on physical disease, it is
worth noting the personal and social costs of menial illness.
Depression is the leading cause of disability in the world.36 In the
global ranking of the burden of disease, measured in terms of
both disability and death, major depression is projected to rise
from fourth in 1990 to second in 2020.36 In high-income
countries, depression and other neuropsychiatric conditions
account for more of the disease burden than heart disease or
cancer.37 Suicide, which has been called the mortality of
depression, ranks in the 10 leading causes of death in these
countries.36
The extent to which we are falling short of maximizing human
well-being, despite falling mortality and rising life expectancy
and material wealth, has been demonstrated in a large study of
Americans aged 25-74, which examined mental health not just
as the absence of mental illness but as 'a syndrome of symptoms
of positive feelings and positive functioning in life'.38 The study
and found that 26% of people were either 'languishing',
depressed, or both—that is, mentally unhealthy; 57% were
moderately mentally healthy—neither mentally ill nor fully
mentally healthy; and only 17% of people were 'flourishing'—
that is, they enjoyed good mental health. (Consistent with other
research, older, well-educated, or married people were more
likely to be flourishing and less likely to be languishing or
depressed.)
When it comes to physical ill-health such as heart disease and
cancer, cultural influences are likely to be hard to disentangle
from the many other social and personal factors involved, as we
have already learned with other distal determinants such as
income inequality.3 These factors include health care: in
attempting to measure the health effects of social and cultural
determinants, we must take into account the growing role of
biomedical advances, which are extending life but, in doing so,
may be masking the health effects of the changes in the social
conditions in which we live.
Nevertheless, the combined evidence linking culture, via
psychosocial pathways, to psychological well-being, and well
being, through behavioural and physiological pathways, to
physical health is, I believe, persuasive. Health authorities now
accept that there is strong and consistent evidence for a causal
association between depression, social isolation and lack of social
support, and heart disease; and that the increased risk posed by
these factors is of a similar order to that of more conventional risk
factors such smoking, high blood pressure, and high choles
terol.39 Mortality among people who are socially isolated is two
to five times higher than for those with strong ties to family,
friends, and community.40 Cultural factors, especially material
ism or consumerism, are also implicated in adverse social trends
such as growing obesity and inactivity, which, in turn, are linked
to a wide range of physical health problems including heart
disease, diabetes, and cancer.41
The strength of the subjective—of perceptions, expectations,
and emotions—in influencing health more broadly is highlighted
in an American study (reported in the psychological, not health,
literature) that found that older people who had more positive
self-perceptions of ageing lived an average 7.5 years longer than
those with less positive attitudes.42 The advantage’ remained
even after age, gender, socioeconomic status, loneliness, and
functional health were taken into account. The study says this
effect on longevity is greater than the survival advantages
associated in other studies with low blood pressure and
MODERN WESTERN CULTURE A HEALTH HAZARD?
cholesterol, not being overweight, not smoking, and exercising.
The study notes one likely cause of poor self-perceptions of
ageing: 'socially sanctioned denigration of the aged’. This is a
cultural characteristic of modem Western societies with their
adulation of youthfulness (if not youth), a trait promoted by
materialism and individualism.
Most of the evidence cited above concerns individual-level
health effects of psychosocial and attitudinal factors that culture
influences (so making these effects a valid means of assessing the
health impacts of culture). Several recent studies have also found
population or ecological effects that are attributable to culture. A
cross-country study of crime found that tolerance for a set of
'materially self-interested’ attitudes—such as keeping something
you have found, lying in your own interest, or cheating at tax—
was higher in men, younger people, larger cities, and had
increased over time, mirroring patterns of criminal offending.43
These values were also associated with national crime victim
ization rates, more strongly so than were social trust and
inequality. The relationships of inequality and social trust with
crime were conditional on the prevalent values of society; thus
inequality per se was only modestly associated with higher crime,
but when it occurred in societies that were characterized by high
levels of self-interested values its effects became more pro
nounced.
In another cross-country analysis, a colleague and I found
strong and positive correlations between national youth suicide
rates, especially among men, and several different national
indicators of individualism, including a measure of young
people's perceived freedom of choice and control over their lives
(but which is probably measuring independence, as argued
above), but not between suicide and social and economic factors
including per capita income, poverty, youth unemployment,
inequality, and divorce.44 A study of the association between
suicide and deprivation and social fragmentation in British
parliamentary constituencies found suicide was more strongly
associated with fragmentation than with poverty (other causes
of death were also related to fragmentation, but more strongly
to deprivation). 45 Fragmentation was measured with indicators
of renting, single-person households, unmarried people, and
mobility, so suggesting at least some influence of individualism.
These findings are consistent with the conclusions of a major
international review in 1995 of the evidence on trends
in psychosocial problems such as depression, drug abuse,
suicidal behaviour, and crime among young people in Western
nations.25 It concluded that social disadvantage and inequality
were unlikely explanations for the increases in psychosocial
disorders. Amongst its recommendations, the review called
for further investigation of the theory that shifts in moral
concepts and values were among the causes—in particular, 'the
shift towards individualistic values, the increasing emphasis on
self-realization and fulfilment, and the consequent rise in
expectations'. The review noted that far more effective use
could be made of cross-national differences in testing possible
explanations.
Cultural fraud
The apparent harm caused by materialism and individualism
raises the question of why these qualities persist and even
5 of 7
intensify. Both have conferred benefits to health and well-being
in the past, but appear now to have passed a threshold where
rising costs exceed diminishing benefits.13 Various forms of
institutional practice encourage this cultural 'overshoot'.
Government policy gives priority to sustained economic growth
but leaves the content of growth largely to individuals, whose
personal consumption makes the largest contribution to
economic growth.
This ever-increasing consumption is not natural or inevitable,
but culturally 'manufactured' by a massive and growing media
marketing complex. For example, big business in the United
States spends over US$1000 billion a year on marketing—about
twice what Americans spend annually on education, private and
public, from kindergarten through graduate school.46 This
spending includes 'macromarketing', the management of the
social environment, particularly public policy, to suit the
interests of business.
Psychologists who have studied cults and mind control warn
that even the brightest and best of us can be recruited or seduced
by social situations and conditions to behave in ways that
are contrary to our values and dispositions, to engage in
actions that are immoral, illegal, irrational, and self-destruc
tive.47 As Zimbardo has said, many agents of mind control 'ply
their trade daily on all of us behind many faces and fronts'; we
need to leant how to resist them and to weaken their
dominance.
There is evidence that resistance is growing, that increasing
numbers of people in Western nations are rejecting this
dominant ethic of individual and material self-interest, and
are making a comprehensive shift in their worldview, values and
way of life as they seek to closed the gap between what
they believe and how they live.13 Sociologists are writing of
the emergence of a new moral autonomy and the opportunity to
be truly moral beings, perhaps for the first time in history,49 and
the creation of new forms of social affiliation through a
'cooperative or altruistic individualism'.50 We may, then, be
witnessing parallel processes of cultural decay and renewal, a
titanic contest as old ways of thinking about ourselves fail,
and new ways of being human struggle for definition and
acceptance.
Cultures bring order and meaning to our lives. Of all
species, we alone require a culture to make life worth living,
to give us a sense of purpose, identity, and belonging—
personally, socially, and spiritually—and a framework of
values to guide our actions. There may be many cultural
paths we can follow in meeting human needs. This is the source
of our extraordinary diversity and versatility, but it is also
a source of danger: we can lose the path altogether, run off
the rails.
One of the most important and growing costs of our
modern way of life is 'cultural fraud': the promotion of images
and ideals of 'the good life' that serve the economy but do
not meet psychological needs or reflect social realities. To the
extent that these images and ideals hold sway over us, they
encourage goals and aspirations that are in themselves
unhealthy. To the extent that we resist them because they are
contrary to our own ethical and social ideals, they are a
powerful source of dissonance that is also harmful to health and
well-being.
6 Of 7
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
KEY MESSAGES
•
Cultural factors such as materialism and individualism are underestimated determinants of population health and
well-being in Western societies.
•
Evidence links cultural factors, via psychosocial pathways, to psychological well-being, and well-being, through
behavioural and physiological pathways, to physical health.
•
An important and growing cost of our modem way of life is 'cultural fraud': the promotion of images and ideals of
'the good life' that serve the economy but do not meet psychological needs or reflect social realities.
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