Time for India to stop reprocessing spent nuclear fuel

Time for India to stop reprocessing spent nuclear fuel

Recent media reports suggest that all is not well within the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). Scientists have reportedly written to the Prime Minister seeking intervention in the management of the Centre. Their complaints mostly revolve around internal matters such as harassment and promotions, but an important revelation should be of public concern. One scientist has reportedly alleged that his supervisor had directed that effluents from the reprocessing plant be released into sea with radioactivity levels much higher than permissible limits. Absent transparent inquiry, we cannot ascertain the veracity of this allegation, but there is a historical basis for taking this seriously and be concerned.
Fukushima should end our nuclear safety delusion

Fukushima should end our nuclear safety delusion

On August 9, 2011—66 years after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki but only about five months after the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant—Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue observed that, until Fukushima, many people had believed in the myth of safety at nuclear power plants. "But what about the more than 20,000 nuclear weapons in the world?" asked Taue. "Do we still believe that the world is safer thanks to nuclear deterrence? Do we still take it for granted that no nuclear weapons will ever be used again?"
A history of the nuclear age

A history of the nuclear age

This beautifully animated film traces the history of the nuclear age, from the Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb to the present efforts to achieve a treaty banning all nuclear weapons. Poignant and uplifting, it is both an educational resource and a work of art.
70 years of Hiroshima: the unlearned lessons of 1945

70 years of Hiroshima: the unlearned lessons of 1945

Justifications for bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki are ultimately based on the idea that yardsticks applicable to most nations are inapplicable to the US government and its allies. The same presumption has often undermined international arms control efforts. The mainstream Western discourse on Iran holds that it would be undesirable for Tehran to acquire a nuclear bomb—but simply ignores the fact that US or Israeli possession of nuclear arsenals is equally problematic.