“I don’t want to die like this”:NAAM coordinator Dr. S.P. Udaykumar

Dr.S.P.Udaykumar is an anti-nuclear activist from Tamil Nadu. He is the coordinator of National Alliance For Anti-Nuclear Movements(NAAM) which enjoys the support of organizations like Human Rights Forum (HRF), National Alliance For People’s Movement (NAPM) and Khasi Student’s Union (KSU).

Question (Vinayak): What is NAAM? What are the objectives of your organization?

Answer (Dr. S.P.Udaykumar): NAAM is a platform where all the organizations fighting for a nuclear free India come together. We try to eradicate the nuclear threats that could haunt our children and grandchildren and successive generations. We struggle not to sell India and Indians to foreigners in the name of deals, development, globalization and energy security.,

Question: What inspired you to join this movement? How did you become a part of it?

Answer: Three of my grandparents died of cancer, I have seen the ill-effects of uranium mining from my very own eyes, I do not want my children to die like this. For a matter of fact I myself do not want to die like this. That is the fire which drives me to fight tirelessly. This is inhumane and I don’t want anybody to witness such a death or even worse live in such an environment which paves way for a slow and painful end to human life.

Question: What has been the government’s response to your protests?

Answer: The government has been evasive. It has never paid much heed to our demands. The shameful thing is that the government is exploiting its own people’s illiteracy to serve its monetary interests all in the name of energy security, paying no attention to the health security of itss citizens. It is sad and it hurts.

Question: Everyone is brooding about how great a solution nuke actually is, why do you differ?

Answer: Do you know the waste produced emits radioactive waves which fail to die even after 24,000 years of their onset. They continue to harm us and can have far reaching consequences resulting in cancer and diseases which can become congenital thereby not just harming you as an individual but also generations which you are going to bring in this world. What is the use of such a solution which is not safe?

Question: What do you suggest then if not nuke, what are the options available to us to meet our growing energy needs?

Answer: Renewable and Green technology is capable enough to satisfy human needs and as Gandhi ji said” Nothing can satisfy a man’ greed” be it nuke, thermal, anything. Solar energy has great potential in India. It can cater the needs of the entire country including the northern sates like Punjab, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and states of north east India. Wind mills can be installed in states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and other places where wind flows at a speed greater than 15km/hr. Tidal and hydro power have got great potential too, options are infinite to be harnessed but only when the government is willing to do the same.

Question: George Bush recently stated that USA is working on the ways to reprocess nuke waste and in the near future nuke waste would be able to get reprocessed. If so will you support it?

Answer: Chicanery has been employed by the USA in the past as well in order to lure third world countries into buying their abysmal, obsolete technology. This is another such attempt. I don’t think any such thing is believable and we must not let ourselves fall prey to such tactics.

Question: French Navy and American Navy have been using nuclear submarines for decades. Even this year’s USA’s president in running John McCain said it’s safe as he has spent almost his entire life on nuclear submarines. What do you have to say to that?

Answer: The correct mechanism to measure the safety of anything nuke is to check it’s effect on the surroundings where it is operated. As a matter of fact the repercussions of nuke are inevitable. You should go and measure the fish population which has shown a sharp decline due to nuclear waste being dumped in oceans.

Question: One hundred and ten nuclear reactors are there in the USA providing 22% electricity and France generates 70% of its electricity through nuke. Why?

Answer: USA built its last nuclear reactor in 1976.It has not built a nuclear reactor since 32 years. Slowly the government there is trying to reduce its dependency on nuke and the figure of 22% is likely to come down sharply in the years to follow and so is the story with France and other first world nations. Look at Germany for example which has dropped its share of power produced by nuke and countries like Netherlands which despite having the technology have not pitched for nuke as a solution or Brazil for that instance which has found alternative sources to meet it’s energy needs.