From Russia with Love
MG Devasahayam
The Russian roulette is a ‘lethal game of chance’ in which a player places a
single round in a revolver, spins the cylinder, places the muzzle against
someone’s head, and pulls the trigger. This was the game that ‘dacoit’ Gabbar
Singh played in the blockbuster Sholay. Once the trigger is pulled, life or
death of the person is entirely a matter of chance.
The Russians have been playing out this game in India for
over four decades. First was the introduction of the unsafe Russian MiG-21
fighter aircraft into the Indian Air Force. These aircraft numbering around 900
are indeed lethal because half of them have been involved in fatal crashes. The
IAF is still sticking to these ‘wings of death’ due to deliberate delays in the
induction of the indigenous light combat aircraft.
Things have come to such a pass that a senior IAF officer,
Wing Commander Sanjeet Singh Kaila, has filed a petition in Delhi High Court,
contending that flying a MiG-21 amounted to “violation of his fundamental right
to life” under Article 21 of the Constitution. He has done this because a
flight exercise in 2005 went awry; he has been rendered unfit for flying and
even day-to-day tasks due to debilitating neck and back pain. For all airmen
flying MiG-21 and the soldiers they support, it would continuously be a ‘lethal
game of chance’.
Admiral Gorshkov, an unsafe Russian second-hand aircraft
carrier was renamed INS
Vikramaditya in 2004 and contracted for around Rs. 4600
crore for refurbishing and retrofitting, to be delivered in 2008. It was still
invisible in 2012, by which time the price had gone up to Rs 12,000 crore. By
the middle of that year, when the aircraft carrier was put on sea trial, ‘it
spectacularly failed’ with eight of the nine boilers breaking down, with their
firebrick insulations evaporating due to the high temperature generated. The
ship had to be cut open to replace the boilers and other major repairs. This
meant additional cost and the final delivery price (if at all delivered) could
be a staggering Rs 16,000 crore! On 4 July, an announcement was made that final
trials of the carrier were set to begin in Russia on 10 July. Media reports
quoting sources say that if all goes according to plan it could be delivered in
another five months. Even then it would be no more than a floating junk
masquerading as modern-day aircraft carrier. For the sailors who would man this
carrier it could be a continuous ‘lethal game of chance’.
Almost to the day, a game far more lethal was played out on
the southern tip of India when India’s nuclear establishment did the sriganesham
for the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) – making it go critical – on 12/13
July. This is the first of the two 1000 MWe VVER nuclear reactors supplied by
the Russian atomic energy corporation, Rosatom, through its subsidiary,
Atomstroyexport. Crucial materials and reactor parts including safety
subsystems, equipment and components have been sourced from the ZiO-Podolsk,
another Rosatom subsidiary.
The reactor and other core equipment had arrived at the site
by mid-2005 and KKNPP was originally scheduled to start commercial operation in
2007. Active protest against the plant was shortlived and there has been no
restraint order from the courts. Yet, despite announcing several deadlines by
the Prime Minister, Minister of State in PMO and nuclear bigwigs, there was no
sign of commissioning the plant for six long years. Repeated tests had failed
and everything was kept under wraps.
Despite thick layers of secrecy, the truth started surfacing
when there were specific complaints on the quality of the components, systems
and parts installed in KKNPP. In June 2012, there were reports of welding in
the core region of the pressure vessel which was against the original design
specifications. At the beginning of this year, there were reports of Russian
Federal prosecutors charging and arresting the procurement officers of
Zio-Podolsk for corruption in connection with the supply of substandard systems
and components to nuclear power plants, including KKNPP. This included use of
low quality steel in the fabrication of the reactor.
What is worse, the control and instrumentation system of the
plant is suffering from serious flaws and has been tripped during tests after
emanating spurious signal/noise. This has led to panic in neighbouring
villages. According to World Nuclear Association, an international body that
promotes nuclear business around the world, the control system documentation
for KKNPP was delivered late, and when reviewed by the Nuclear Power
Corporation of India (NPCIL) it showed up the need for significant refining and
even reworking some aspects.
Therefore, containment structures of the reactor pressure
vessel were cut open and instrumentation /control cables laid in the same tray
making the system unreliable. Experts are of the view that “if the reactor is
under operation and if the control and instrumentation systems are not
reliable, then it would lead to a catastrophic release of energy in a
short-time interval. Or the fission process can become uncontrollable and the
nuclear reactor will turn into a nuclear bomb.”
Yet, the Russians and India’s nuclear establishment have
brazenly played the ‘lethal game of chance’ to get this substandard and risky
nuclear power plant commissioned at any cost. They have commenced the First
Approach to Criticality (FAC), which is the beginning of a fission chain
reaction that could make the process irreversible. This is in serious violation
of the Supreme Court’s May 6 order wherein it had directed the NPCIL and Atomic
Energy Regulatory Board to ‘oversee and ensure quality of various components
and systems in the plant and submit a report to the Court before commissioning
of the plant.’ Implicit in the order, was not just the formal filing of such a
report, but its perusal and approval by the Supreme Court.
However, the agencies concerned merely submitted the report
secretly in a sealed envelope to the court registry and completed the FAC even
before the envelope was opened by the judges.
Simultaneously, the contract has been negotiated to supply two more Russian
reactors (1000 MW each) at the mind-boggling price of Rs 40,000 crore which is
2.5 to 3 times of that of coal fired and wind/solar energy plants. The
quantum of kickbacks can only be imagined.
These worthies have also willingly defied the International
Atomic Energy Agency guidelines which are candid and clear: “Despite all the precautions
that are taken in the handling and use of fissile material there remains a
possibility, while very small, that a failure (i.e. instrumentation and
controls, electrical, mechanical or operational errors) or an incident may give
rise to a criticality accident. In some cases, this may give rise to exposure
or the release of radioactive materials within the facility and/or into the
environment, which may necessitate emergency response actions. Adequate
preparations should be established and maintained at local and national levels
and, where agreed between States, at the international level to respond to
nuclear or radiological emergencies”.
THE WRITER IS A RETIRED IAS OFFICER
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