Skip to main content

How could one call nuclear energy as a part of the solution to global warming?

Letter by Shankar Sharma, Power & Climate Policy Analyst based in Karnataka, to Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency, France, wondering how could one call nuclear energy as a part of the solution to global warming:
***
Whereas it is very disappointing to note that IAEA may have no satisfactory responses to the concerns I have raised in my earlier email of 19th Nov. 2021, as forwarded below, or that IAEA did not deem it necessary to respond to such genuine public concerns, I can only assume that the contents of that email have been noted by you and your team.
Now that most parts of the world are seriously concerned that "Ukraine conflict could jeopardize safety of nuclear facilities", a statement attributed to you, is there not an even more urgency for IAEA to diligently review its continuing advocacy on nuclear energy as a part of the solution to global warming? You were also reported to have stated: “the best action to ensure the safety and security of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities and its people would be for this armed conflict to end now.” We all know that such armed conflicts in the vicinity of nuclear facilities in any part of the world cannot be wished away entirely, which means there will always be such credible risks to the safety and security of nuclear facilities and the communities around them.
It will be a shock if IAEA is not aware of the increasing global level concerns over the potential of Russian shelling of Ukraine nuclear power plants leading to a major catastrophe similar to that of Chernobyl or Fukushima. A few of such concerns are as in the news links in the end. I hope IAEA will not dismiss such concerns from different parts of the world as frivolous. Whereas, the entire global community can be expected to be really concerned about the possible impacts of such a potential catastrophe on the affected communities, there is no realistic chance of the global community preventing such wars and/ or nuclear accidents, even though they are keen to do so, if global agencies such as IAEA continue with their ill-conceived advocacy on more of nuclear power reactors.
Since such armed conflicts near nuclear facilities, and/ or nuclear accidents cannot be entirely prevented, should there be more number of nuclear reactors, as IAEA seems to be advocating for? Can IAEA assure the global population that a vastly more number of nuclear reactors, as some countries such as India and China, are planning for will not be against the true interest of the global population, and that no nuclear mishap will occur?
The advocates of larger role for nuclear power as a part of green energy transition, assuming that they are all truly responsible in their societal level obligations, should guarantee that such a catastrophic nuclear fallout scenario will be prevented. What sort of governance mechanism and/or regulatory mechanism will IAEA implement to prevent such credible risk? Since IAEA continues to advocate a much higher role for nuclear power in the guise of green power, is there a mechanism wherein one agency/ few individuals can be held directly responsible for any unfortunate nuclear mishap?
This question becomes vastly more relevant in the case of India, which has some nuclear reactors close to densely populated areas, and which seems to have been influenced by the related advocacy by agencies such as IAEA to have many more such nuclear reactors in the coming years; not far from densely populated cities. It has become much more relevant to the people in India to question the acceptability of such credible threats of 'nuclear terror' from the growing number of nuclear power reactors spread across the length and breadth of the country, in the larger context that the aggregate nuclear power capacity in the country is only 6,780 MW, which is only about 1.7% of the total electric power generating capacity (as on 11.2.2022), and that this percentage of nuclear power to the total power capacity can only come down further.
Can we say that IAEA still believes that we can afford to ignore the cautionary approach strongly supported by many reports/ articles which have appeared in the media and by leading personalities such as Mikhail Gorbachev, UN Secretary General, Japanese Prime Minister at the time of Fukushima disaster, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Dr A Gopala Krishnan (of AERB, India)?
IAEA's diligent and responsible review of its stand on the relevance nuclear power for a safer world, in the context of all the issues discussed above, and in the perspective of overall welfare of global community, will not only help many densely populated countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh to possibly avoid/ minimise any major nuclear fallout scenario, but will also prevent the wastage of enormous resources in building such risky and complex installations.

News links:

Comments

TRENDING

Covishield controversy: How India ignored a warning voice during the pandemic

Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD *  It is a matter of pride for us that a person of Indian origin, presently Director of National Institute of Health, USA, is poised to take over one of the most powerful roles in public health. Professor Jay Bhattacharya, an Indian origin physician and a health economist, from Stanford University, USA, will be assuming the appointment of acting head of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA. Bhattacharya would be leading two apex institutions in the field of public health which not only shape American health policies but act as bellwether globally.

Growth without justice: The politics of wealth and the economics of hunger

By Vikas Meshram*  In modern history, few periods have displayed such a grotesque and contradictory picture of wealth as the present. On one side, a handful of individuals accumulate in a single year more wealth than the annual income of entire nations. On the other, nearly every fourth person in the world goes to bed hungry or half-fed.

When a lake becomes real estate: The mismanagement of Hyderabad’s waterbodies

By Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava*  Misunderstood, misinterpreted and misguided governance and management of urban lakes in India —illustrated here through Hyderabad —demands urgent attention from Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), the political establishment, the judiciary, the builder–developer lobby, and most importantly, the citizens of Hyderabad. Fundamental misconceptions about urban lakes have shaped policies and practices that systematically misuse, abuse and ultimately erase them—often in the name of urban development.

'Serious violation of international law': US pressure on Mexico to stop oil shipments to Cuba

By Vijay Prashad   In January 2026, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security—a designation that allows the United States government to use sweeping economic restrictions traditionally reserved for national security adversaries. The US blockade against Cuba began in the 1960s, right after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 but has tightened over the years. Without any mandate from the United Nations Security Council—which permits sanctions under strict conditions—the United States has operated an illegal, unilateral blockade that tries to force countries from around the world to stop doing basic commerce with Cuba. The new restrictions focus on oil. The United States government has threatened tariffs and sanctions on any country that sells or transports oil to Cuba.

When grief becomes grace: Kerala's quiet revolution in organ donation

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Kerala is an important model for understanding India's diversity precisely because the religious and cultural plurality it has witnessed over centuries brought together traditions and good practices from across the world. Kerala had India's first communist government, was the first state where a duly elected government was dismissed, and remains the first state to achieve near-total literacy. It is also a land where Christianity and Islam took root before they spread to Europe and other parts of the world. Kerala has deep historic rationalist and secular traditions.

Thali, COVID and academic credibility: All about the 2020 'pseudoscientific' Galgotias paper

By Jag Jivan   The first page image of the paper "Corona Virus Killed by Sound Vibrations Produced by Thali or Ghanti: A Potential Hypothesis" published in the Journal of Molecular Pharmaceuticals and Regulatory Affairs , Vol. 2, Issue 2 (2020), has gone viral on social media in the wake of the controversy surrounding a Chinese robot presented by the Galgotias University as its original product at the just-concluded AI summit in Delhi . The resurfacing of the 2020 publication, authored by  Dharmendra Kumar , Galgotias University, has reignited debate over academic standards and scientific credibility.

Bangladesh goes to polls as press freedom concerns surface

By Nava Thakuria*  As Bangladesh heads for its 13th Parliamentary election and a referendum on the July National Charter simultaneously on Thursday (12 February 2026), interim government chief Professor Muhammad Yunus has urged all participating candidates to rise above personal and party interests and prioritize the greater interests of the Muslim-majority nation, regardless of the poll outcomes. 

The Galgotia model: How India is losing the war on knowledge

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Galgotia is the face of 'quality education' as envisioned by those who never considered education a tool for social change or national uplift — and yet this is precisely the model Narendra Modi pursued in Gujarat as Chief Minister. In the mid-eighties, when many of us were growing up, 'Nirma' became one of the most popular advertisements on Doordarshan. Whether the product was any good hardly seemed to matter. 

Beyond the conflict: Experts outline roadmap for humane street dog solutions

By A Representative   In a direct response to the rising polarization surrounding India’s street dog population, a high-level coalition of parliamentarians, legal experts, and civil society leaders gathered in the capital to propose a unified national framework for humane animal management. The emergency deliberations were sparked by a recent Suo Moto judgment that has significantly deepened the divide between animal welfare advocates and those calling for the removal of community dogs, a tension that has recently escalated into reported violence against both animals and their caretakers in states like Telangana.