RETHINK ATOMIC POWER PROJECTS IN QUAKE PRONE ZONE

EXPORT URANIUM AS ORE:

RETHINK ATOMIC POWER PROJECTS IN QUAKE PRONE ZONES

The sudden quest to uranium mining though Government of India floated the Uranium Corporation of India on 4^th October 1967, need not surprise us. The single minded chase for nuclear power by Manmohan Singh Government has resulted in activating uranium projects within India. Jharkand , the state that houses the headquarters of Uranium Corporation of India has uranium deposits in East and West Singhbum districts. The length of the ore deposit is 160 kilometers in a width of 1 to 10 kilometers.

In Meghalaya the KPM Uranium Project [ Kyelleng-Pyndengsohiong-Mawatahbah] had gathered momentum.

In Andhra Pradesh the Tummalapalle Uranium Project , for which all clearances have been given by Government of India will be one of the top 20 of world’s uranium reserves, according to the Atomic Minerals Directorate. This is situated in the Southern belt of Kadappa District, where Y.S.Raja Reddy, Y.S.Rajasekara Reddy, former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and his son Y.S.R.Jaganmohan Reddy were and are mining magnates. Sixty thousand tons of uranium in a depth of 400 meters is found upto 160 kilometers length and P.B.Maithani Director of Atomic Minerals Directorate opines that this can fuel generation of 5000 M we of nuclear power  for 30 years.

Apart from this Kadappa District where all  global players in mining and atomic power plants will be competing to gain foothold, Gogi in Gulbarga District of Karnataka too has 4000 tons were companies will make a beeline. In Rajasthan too at Rohil in Sikar District 5000 to 10000 tons of uranium deposits have been found.  India has 19 operating Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors that use natural uranium as fuel. In a way these uranium deposits found may feed the raw material requirements of our 20 Atomic power plants, out of which Koodangulam Plant had triggered a nation wide debate on the need to go for atomic power plants.

In the aftermath of Japan’s Fukushima Atomic Power Plant disaster, world wide second thoughts on atomic power plants had made many countries to go for a rethink. Germany which should phase out nuclear power plants by 2035 had advanced the deadline to 2020. Lithunia, a tiny country which was dependent on Russia reactors to produce 70 percent of its power needs parted from Russian Federation and joined European Union two years ago. Immediately it took a bold and risky step to shut down its atomic power plants. It joined hands with Japanese power giant Hitachi and American power company General Electrical Company to develop alternative energy which will be available by 2020. India need not be adamant but should explore other options. At the moment India has 20 atomic power projects, some of which are in earth quake prone zones, as demarcated by Government of India.

By Government of India’s own classification of danger zones as depicted in the picture above atomic power plants are coming up. Let there a rethink before a disaster occurs.Just because we have uranium deposits, we need not go for Pressurized Heavy Water reactors. India can mine uranium and export uranium as raw material as it had been exporting iron ore for decades without processing the iron ore in India.

N.Nandhivarman, General Secretary Dravida Peravai

FUTURE MEDICINE INFLUENCED BY HUMAN GENOME PROJECT

Symposium on Human Genome Project

To hold a symposium on Human Genome project is not in the agendas of action pursued by political parties. On 15.12.2000 in its party auditorium Dravida Peravai invited Dr.Pandjassarame Kangueane of the National University of Singapore to deliver a lecture on this subject.

To know about the scientific achievement we are reproducing from THE TIMES OF INDIA report:

Human Genome mapping Complete: Experts

Bethesda( Maryland): The human genome is complete and the human genome project is over, leaders of public consortium of academic centers said on Monday. "We have before us the instruction set that carries each of us from one cell egg through adulthood to grave" Dr.Robert Waterson, a leading genome sequencer said at a news conference here at the National Institute of Health. Their announcement marked the end of a scientific venture that began in October 1990 and was expected to take 15 years. Monday's finishing date two years ahead of schedule, was timed to coincide with the 50 th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA by Dr.James D.Watson and Dr.Francis Crick. Their article appeared in the April 25, 1953 issue of "Nature".

Dr.Watson who became the first Director of the Human Genome project at the institute was at a conference here on Monday to celebrate the genome's completion. He had sought that goal, he said realizing that a family members illness would never be treatable "until we understand the human programme for health and disease. A working draft of the human genome sequence was announced with much fanfare 3 years ago in a White House ceremony. But at that stage the human genome project had completed only 85 percent of the genome and its commercial rival the Celera Corporation using the projects data as well as its own, had attained somewhat more. The project's draft was not a thing of beauty. It consisted thousands of short segments of DNA, whose order and orientation in the full genome was largely unknown. Three years later, the international consortium of genome sequencing centers has now put all the fragments in order and closed most of the gaps, producing an extensive and highly accurate sequence of the 3.1 billion u units of DNA of the human genome. The data perceived as the foundation of a new era of medicine, will be posted for free on genetic data banks. Celera whose data was available by subscription never intended to carry its draft genome to completion.

The working draft of three years ago contained most human genes and was useful for researchers seeking a specific gene. But up to a year ago biologists said they often had to do considerable extra sequencing work on the DNA regions they were interested in. The completed genome announced on Monday is far more accurate. It can be used out of the box, so to speak, without extra re-sequencing. The genes and other important elements of the genome are now almost in their correct position, a vital requirement for researchers seeking to locate a gene that contributes to disease. Scientists praised the  human genome project for its further 3 years of hard work and for producing a resource of enormous value to research. But several qualified their administration by noting that even if the project is complete, the human genome is not. The parts of the genome still missing are of minor importance, but many biologists would like to see them sequenced before declaring the genome finished. The human genome is packed in 23 pairs of chromosomes, each a giant molecule of DNA. Though DNA's best known role is to encode the information needed to build specific proteins, the working parts of the living cell, some of the DNA performs structured roles. This included the DNA at the tips of each chromosome/0 and at the center. The tip and center DNA consists of monotonously repeated sequences whose extract order of units is so hard to determine that the consortium's leaders said from the outset they would not try to do so. .... [news report by: Nicholas Wade in 2003]

On this issue even in 2000 itself Dravida Peravai, the only political party in India which showed interest in developing scientific temper, organized a symposium. The invitation of the symposium is as follows:

FUTURE MEDICINE INFLUENCED BY HUMAN GENOME PROJECT AND COMPUTATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS: SYMPOSIUM

Venue: Anna Arangam- Date:15.12.2000--Welcome Address: Ms.Hemavathy [Vice president Science Forum ] President: N.Nandhivarman [ General Secretary Dravida Peravai ] in the august presence of Dr.S.V.Narayanan  Dean of School of Management, Pondicherry University 

Keynote Address in Tamil

by young scientist of Singapore and son of Pondicherry's soil

Dr.Pandjassarame Kangueane B.Tech. Ph.D

" The future is full of promise as it is fraught with uncertainty. The industrial society is giving way to one based on knowledge and those without it. We must learn and be part of the knowledge based world. Knowledge is fundamental in Biology, a discipline of extreme complexity. The Human Genome Project and computational developments will change the practice of medicine in future. in his key note address, the young scientist of our soil will outline how HLA (gene) INFORMATICS can be utilized in vaccine design, diagnosis and treatment" All from all walks of life are cordially invited, said the invitation. Dr.Arima Magizhgo delivered the vote of thanks.

15 YEARS AGO DRAVIDA PERAVAI SYMPOSIUM ON HUMAN GENOME PROJECT