Padmanabhan Vt

• Master of Community Health
• Research Director at Society of Science Environment and Ethics- SoSEE

Mining the River Pamba for Flood Prevention- Novel ideas for evading Regulations: Case Study of Thottappally in Alapuzha, Kerala, India VT Padmanabhan Executive Summary The Vemband Wetland System (KWS) in Kerala, India is a Ramsar Site, and also a Critically Vulnerable Coastal Area (CVCA). Thottappally is one of the three meeting points of the fr...

Beach sand minerals are dredged from the The River Pamba as part of a government project during the past three years. The mining area in Thottappally village in Alapuzha district is the major meeting point of rivers of the Vembanad Lake and the Lakshadweep Sea. The lake is a Ramsar site and a critically vulnerable coastal area. Mining is not permit...

Analyses the state wise infection rates of covid-19 in India during the pandemic's first and second waves. Surges of caseload among six developed states in the country and the island territory of the Lakshadweep were higher than the high covid countries in Europe. The new variant strain - Delta Plus has been seen in four states.

Lakshadweep, an island territory of India did not have any case of covid-19 during the first year of the pandemic, due to closure of the island and strict adherence of covid appropriate behaviour. In December 2020, the island was opened up. As of 23 Jan 2021, the infection rate in the island is 140 per 1000, the highest covid-19 rate in India. The...

The severity profile and the CFRs of covid-19 differs between countries and within regions. The range of CFRs is between 0.1% to 16%. It is not the same disease we saw in Wuhan Dec-Jan.

Compares the trajectory of the pandemic in Kerala and Washington, which were the States to report the first cases in India and the US.

Community transmission of covid-19 is happening in parts of Kerala. In this beginning phase, there were large number of street protests without masks and social distancing. It is likely that these actions during the 2nd and 3rd weeks of July has caused an exponential growth of contact cases.

During the period of extreme quarantine, the growth factor of epidemic in Wuhan was 9 times higher that in rest of China. Without any analysis, the reputed science journals are reporting that the quarantine brought the epidemic in China under control.

Descriptive epidemiology. Attack rates and crude fatality rates for different countries estimated. Looks like the impact on people in China was mild to moderate. Wuhan is different.

Covid-19 China database till 07 March 2020 has been analysed by space and time. During Phase-1 (upto 03 Feb 2020) the infection rate in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province was 3 times lower than the rest of Mainland Chine. In Phase-2 (4 Feb - 07 Mar) Wuhan's rate was five times higher than rest of China. All these days Wuhan has been under ex...

This is the first analysis of the covid-19 database from China. Attack rates, crude fatality rate and cure rate has been estimated. By using the population as the denominator one can see the enormous difference between the infection rate in Wuhan and other places. They have changed the case definition and included 17,000 patients without a laborato...

The Government of India published the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification in 1991, approved the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) in 1996, and appointed the Kerala State Coastal Zone Management Authority (KCZMA) for implementing it in 1998. After two decades of its coming into being, the government says there are 26,000 buildings construct...

The construction of two AES-92 version 1000 MWe VVER reactors started at Kudankulam, India in 2001. Voda means water in Russian. VVER is Water-Water-Energy-Reactor, which is the Russian Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). In 2006 , the European Utility Requirement (EUR) club certified AES-92 as Generation-III reactor. According to the original plan, b...

A 1,000 MWe pressurised water reactor failed four times in the fi nal commissioning test. Numerous emergency shutdowns and four maintenance outages have kept the reactor off-grid for days on end, and it has supplied far less electricity than it was supposed to. Yet, plans to import a dozen more reactors of the same vintage from the same vendor are...

The reports of the dismal performance and unusually high incidence of scrams and accidents at the first unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in India have created an impression that the reactor is a colossal failure. This is not true; there were also days when the operators celebrated its spectacular achievements of the first Generation-III react...

the Russian manufacturer of equipment-had transferred the reactor to the NPCIL for one-year warranty period operation. During this period, the reactor operated on full power for 100 days only. The warranty period was extended for another six months till 30 June 2016 and during these 182 days, the reactor was on full power for 72 days only. During 5...

Polar crane installed in the reactor building of a nuclear power plant is a safety grade component, because of its role in accidental situations. Like other safety grade equipment, the crane is always under the constant supervision of the atomic regulator. The nominal and maximum hoisting capacity of the polar crane installed in the newly commissio...

The first reactor of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP-1), a joint venture of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) and the Rosatom of Russia tripped again at 18:35 hr on 16 Feb 2016. It is an irony of history that this inauspicious event preceded the ground-breaking ceremony for construction of the third and fourth units of th...

It has been known since 1998 that the processing of titanium via chloride route generates persistent organic pollutants like dioxin, furan, poly chlorinated biphenyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons etc. The inventory of toixins also includes heavy metals and all these are carcinogenic and mutagenic. Costly remedial measures have been implemented...

Though the trans-boundary contamination and trans-generational health impacts of the nuclear fuel cycle are recognized, there is no international regulatory framework to enforce uniform safety codes and standards and resolve the conflicts between nations. As the reactors are ageing and the nuclear

The latest version of the Rosatom's pressurized water reactor (PWR)-AES-2006 is being advertized as a Generation-III+ reactor in the ongoing bids in India, Finland, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Bulgaria. In reality, AES-2006 version has not been certified as a Gen-III reactor. An earlier version VVER 1000 reactor-AES-92-has been certified as Gen-III by...

While the ongoing Gorkha earthquake which came in being in April 2015 is still shaking the Himalyas and the Indo­Gangetic belt, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the public sector undertaking – the Nuclear Powr Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) have been placed in an awkward situation as they have no credible explanation for selecting a high...

The first reactor at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP), 98 km North-East of Thiruvananthapuram and off Bay of Bengal in Tamil Nadu state of India (8°10′08″N 77°42′45″E) which started commercial operation on 31st December 2014 appears to be in serious trouble due to problems in its steam generator. The reactor, supplied by Atomstroyexport (...

India's department of atomic energy (DAE) is facing some minor roadblocks in its march towards the national goal of self reliance in energy. The problems at the front-end of the nuclear fuel chain,-the shortage of economically viable deposit and the resistance of the first people and the farmers against land acquisition-are well known. The efforts...

India's department of atomic energy (DAE) is facing some minor roadblocks in its march towards the national goal of self reliance in energy. The problems at the front-end of the nuclear fuel chain,-the shortage of economically viable deposit and the resistance of the first people and the farmers against land acquisition-are well known. The efforts...

India's department of atomic energy (DAE) is facing some minor roadblocks in its march towards the national goal of self reliance in energy. The problems at the front-end of the nuclear fuel chain,-the shortage of economically viable deposit and the resistance of the first people and the farmers against land acquisition-are well known. The efforts...

Synopsis Finland's parliament has recently approved a joint venture with Russia to build a VVER 1200 MWe, design AES-2006 pressurized water reactor which 'complies with the IAEA and EUR requirements' of a generation-III (Gen-III). AES-2006 design has not undergone the Gen-III assessment process. Its parent -design AES-92 which was certified as Gen-...

Synopsis Finland's parliament has recently approved a joint venture with Russia to build a VVER 1200 MWe, design AES-2006 pressurized water reactor which according to the vendor 'complies with the IAEA and EUR requirements' of a generation-III (Gen-III) reactor in northern Finland. However, design AES-92, which was certified as Gen-III in 2007, is...

The VVER-1000/412 design, a third generation (Gen-III) pressurized water reactor (PWR) at Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP), 98 km North-East of Thiruvananthapuram and off Bay of Bengal in Tamil Nadu state of India (8°10′08″N 77°42′45″E) attained criticality on 15 Jul 2013 and was grid connected on 22 Oct 2013. During the year, the reactor ‘tr...

Amaranth grown using the solid waste from a gelatine factory as manure in an experiment conducted by the Kerala Agricultural University had 1085 mg/kg of Pb, 200,000 times the benchmark dose level for developmental neurotoxicity. The sludge has since been approved and is being marketed as organic manure. This has serious implications for the food s...

An accident in which six workers received burn injuries, three of them severely, occurred on 14 May 2014 at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) which is under the last phase of commissioning in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, South India. The Press Information Bureau of the Government of India states that the reactor was on a maintenance...

In our communication dated 27th March 2014, we wrote about a radioactive waste repository likely to be set up deep underground in the mountain ranges of the Western Ghats bordering Kerala-Tamil Nadu. This was based on the information provided on the website of the Tamil Nadu State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (TN SEIAA). According to t...

The regional cancer centre (RCC) Thiruvananthapuram has a hospital based cancer registry. The registry data is periodically published by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR). We analyzed RCC data for all cancers and thyroid cancers diagnosed during 1984 to 2003. The data was divided into four periods – 1984-93, 1994-98, 1999-2000 and 2001...

The scientists and politicians who designed and created the atomic complexes in Fukushima, Japan and Tarapur, India and elsewhere were dreamers who sincerely wanted to raise the standard of living of their people by generating nuclear electricity which was then thought to be too cheap to meter. Fission technology was invented in the weapon factorie...

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) is planning to commission two 1000 MW(e) VVER Reactors at Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) in a military style operation. This process was delayed for four months due to concerns of safety of the reactor. Volcanism is the major safety concern at Kudankulam. According to the newly released saf...

A unique science laboratory is coming up deep inside the mountains in Idukki-Theni districts of Kerala and Tamilnadu in India for neutrino research. The lab has to be located in deep underground with 'walls' and roof of at least 1000 meter thickness for filtering the cosmic rays. There will be a big laboratory of 3432 sq meters in area and 32.5 met...

Last month the Government of India allotted Rs 100 crores to the Department of Atomic Energy to start the construction work of the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) in Idukki-Theni districts of Kerala-Tamil Nadu states. INO will be the biggest underground particle physics laboratory in the world and will be used to detect the high-energy colli...

The proposed India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO), the largest underground science laboratory in the world, with a finished volume of 235,000 m3, will be blasted out in Idukki- Theni mountains of the Western Ghats. The proposed site is in the highly deformed portion of the the Suruli ductile Shear Zone. There are 12 reservoirs within 50 km radius...

The India-based Neutrino Observatory Collaboration is about to construct an underground laboratory in the Western Ghats within the Idukki–Theni charnockyte aquifer. There are several dams quite close to the structure and the area is prone to hydroseismicity. No geotechnical study has been conducted for this pro-ject. A similar observatory in Gran S...

Counterfeit equipment is becoming a major threat to nuclear safety globally. The Kudanku- lam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) in India housing two VVER-1000 reactors, imported from Russia is being delayed because of counter�et, substandard and obsolete equitpment. The po- lar crane, the limb of the reactor, is defective as its hoisting capacity is less...

No to Mithi Virdi nuclear power park – Over 5,000 women and men from 24 villages walked out from an illegal act staged in the name of environemntal public hearing by the district administration of Bhavnagar, Gujarat seeking peoples approval for construction of the Gujarat Nuclear Power Park (GNPP) in villages of Mithi Virdi and Jaspara, on 5th Marc...

There is not enough reserve water inside the Koodankulam nuclear power plants complex for cooling the reactor cores and the spent fuel pools.

In August 1945 two fission devices exploded in the morning skies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the 'brightness of a thousand Suns' and explosive energy equivalent to 36,000 tons of TNT. 1. These generated heat blast and ionizing radiations (IR). The sources of IR were gamma rays (photons), neutrons, neutron activation products (NAP), fission produ...

According to genetic theory, females exposed to ionizing radiation before conception will have lower proportion of boys in their offspring. Likewise, males' exposure will result in fewer girls. In 1953, Neel and Schull reported changes in sex ratio (SR- males per 1000 females) in the children born during 1948-53 (Phase I) to parents exposed to radi...

The explosion and fire in a smelter recycling the military scrap imported by a recycling unit in Delhi in Sept 2004 had received wide media coverage. As per the reports the cargo originated from Iran. Iran and Iraq were locked in a 10 yearlong war during the eighties. In comparison to the wars fought by the US and allies in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arab...

In a genetic epidemiological and fertility survey among 70,000 inhabitants in a high-background radiation region (HBRR) and normal radiation region (NRR) in Kerala, India, 985 persons were found to have heritable anomalies. Suggested etiologies for the anomalies were chromosomal and Mendelian, 15 percent; multifactorial, 60 percent; and congenital,...

The US department of energy is about to release genetically engineered microbes into the nuclear waste storages across the country. Well known and safer decontamination options are being shelved, as they are expensive and the microbes are cheap. This experiment might turn out to be a disaster of an unprecedented scale.

The US department of energy is about to release genetically engineered microbes into the nuclear waste storages across the country. Well known and safer decontamination options are being shelved, as they are expensive and the microbes are cheap. This experiment might turn out to be a disaster of an unprecedented scale.

The proposals of three state governments to lease the mining rights for monazite-ilmenite to private parties need a thorough debate on all aspects with regard to the release of radioactive elements, storage and safety of wastes, and impact on the environment and food chain, before the plans are pushed through.

The proposals of three state governments to lease the mining rights for monazite-ilmenite to private parties need a thorough debate on all aspects with regard to the release of radioactive elements, storage and safety of wastes, and impact on the environment and food chain, before the plans are pushed through.

The recent Indian decision to acquire Soviet nuclear technology has to be viewed in the light of reports that USSR's nuclear construction programme has been beset with a variety of problems which may well affect the safety status of the reactors being built.

The Indian Rare Earths (IRE) Plant at Alwaye in Kerala processes thorium bearing mineral sands releasing highly radioactive waste. Environmental contamination can occur either because of the improper disposal of these wastes or because of accidental release of such material. This article which appears in two parts reports on the status of radioacti...

IN 1959 an expert committee of the World Health Organisation recorded the need for studies on possible health effects of natural radiation in the high-background radiation regions of Kerala and Tamil Nadu states. In Chavara-Neendakara, Kerala, the high background radiation is attributable to thorium-bearing monazite. Whilst a comprehensive study of...

The Department of Atomic Energy is currently pushing forward its ambitious plan involving a ten-fold expansion of nuclear power generation by the year 2000. This would involve the setting up of a number of nuclear establishments and would expose a number of people, workers and neighbouring communities to varying degrees of excess radiation. The Ind...