Human Rights Forum against n-power in Srikakulam

The Human Rights Forum is taking up a two-day campaign against nuclear power in Srikakulam district from Saturday in the wake of the Fukushima accident in Japan. The Nuclear Power Corporation is setting up a nuclear power project at Kovvada village in the district.

According to Mr. V.S Krishna, the general secretary of the HRF, the campaign is aimed at educating the public on the perils of nuclear power and mobilise public opinion against the Kovvada plant and five other nuclear power plants being set up in different parts of the country. The campaign will begin at Ranasthalam at 9 a.m on Saturday and cover 15 villages. On Sunday, several more villages would be covered and it would culminate in the district headquarters town of Srikakulam.

He said the Union Government had not learnt the lesson even after the deadly and tragic accident in Japan, bringing into sharp focus the perils of nuclear power, and it was going ahead with the programme to set up n-power plants along the coast in the country.

He said the HRF was of the opinion that “nuclear power is inherently dangerous and it will leave a deadly legacy for the posterity. Even though power is necessary, the health hazards of nuclear power are too grave to be ignored. It is a recipe for disaster.”

He said contrary to public perception nuclear power was not inexpensive. In fact, it was more expensive than power generated through conventional sources. It was also not a solution to the problem of climate change. The advocates of nuclear power were carrying out a misleading campaign, he added.

India needed an energy system based on renewable energy sources and not nuclear power, he said.

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