Pathani Samanta Chandrasekhar - The Naked Eye Astronomer /Astrologer

Recently I had a privilege of attending day time astronomy brainstorming workshop in Indian Institute of Astro Physics, Bangalore   there I had the insight to the Shri. Pathani Samanta Chandrasekhar. 

I am dividing this post into two: one on brief history and other elaborately on his astronomical contributions. In India Astrology and Astronomy are two sides of a coin and Indian Astrology contains 80% Astronomy and 20% Statistics. 

Mahamahopadhyaya Chandra Sekhar Simha Samanta Harichandan Mohapatra, popularly in Orrisa as Pathani Samanta, an astronomer of the rank in line with Aryabhata, Varahamihira, Brahmagupta and Bhaskaracharya and only SCIENTIFIC ASTROLOGER OF MODERN INDIA. Away from the English education, he taught himself Sanskrit and attained scholarship in traditional Indian Astronomy & Astrology. He fabricated ingenious instruments out of wooden sticks and bamboo chips and attained great accuracy in measurement. His scientific investigations are recorded in his astronomical treatise.

Pathani Samanta Chandrasekhar was the Chief Court Astrologer to King of Puri and Jagannath Temple. He predicted his own death and died on the same date he predicted. He used manual mathematical calculations to find the Venus Transit of Sun in 1874. He used some homemade techniques like oil in water to see the transit! His only interview was to an American Magazine in 1874. The records are available with Orrisa Government. 

Samanta Chandrasekhar was born on the 13/ 12/ 1835,corresponding to  Pausha Krishna Astami of the Saka year 1957 in Khandapara  now  in Nayagarh district of Orrisa .The  principality called Gadajat ruled by a dynastic king, enjoying some degree of autonomy under the British rule. It was a small state with an area of 244 square miles, having its capital in the small township of Khandapara, situated about 20 KM from Nayagarh surrounded by hills and jungles.  This kingdom was founded in 1599 and was being ruled at the time of Samanta, his nephew, the eleventh king named Natabar Singh Mardaraj. Samanta's father Shyamabandhu, and mother Bishnumali, was a very pious couple. They had nine daughters and one son before birth of Chandra Sekhar.

Since one son  and two of their daughters had died in infancy, they had named Chandra Sekhar as Pathani Samanta. His full name was Mahamahopadhaya Chandrasekhar Singh Harichandan Mohapatra Samant, He wrote the ‘Sidhanta Darpana’, which was published in 1899, by Calcutta University. The original manuscripts of 2500 Sanskrit shlokas/hymns were translated into Oriya script, on palm leaves, by Samanta Chandrasekhar. 

He received primary education in Sanskrit from a Brahmin teacher. He studied Sanskrit Grammar, Smritis, Puranas, Darshan and the original texts of many Kavyas/epics. When he was ten year old, one of his uncles taught him a little of astrology and showed him some of the stars in the sky. Samanta Chandrasekhar did not have any formal University education and his interest and efforts in Astronomy were completely self taught.

“The Siddhanta Darpana” composed in Sanskrit Verse. This work was highly acclaimed even by the Western Press in 1899. Prof. Jogesh Chandra Ray played a key role in the publication of Siddhanta Darpana in Devanagiri script from a Calcutta press in 1899 with the financial support from the kings of Athmalik and Mayurbhanja. It must be noted that the scholarly introduction of fifty six pages in English therein by Prof. Ray, formed the window through which the outside world could get a glimpse of the valuable treasure contained in this monumental work in Sanskrit verses, which was hardly accessible.

The title of Mahamahoadhyaya was convered upon him by the British Govt. in 1893 in recognition of his contribution to astronomy. Samata Chandra Sekhar passed away in 1904. Even today most of the Oriya almanacs attribute their calculations to Samanta’s prescriptions.

"Chandrasekhar was a keen observer and made meticulous observations of celestial objects with instruments that he had made himself. He was deeply perturbed on finding that the ephemeral elements calculated from classical siddhantic principles did not agree with his observations. The same perplexity had also been faced by Swai Jaisingh, early in the 18^th century, and had given rise to the construction of his gigantic masonry observatories for the correction of ephemeral elements. One underlying factor that had been responsible for these perplexities was the freezing of classical Indian astronomical calculations away from observational verifications. 

The precession of equinoxes (Ayanamasa) had been noticed as far back as the Vedic times, by Indian Astronomers and had been entering the calculation of ephemeral elements as bija corrections – ad hoc corrections that needed to be applied with the passage of time, to incorporate the changes in ephemeral elements arising from precession. For about a thousand years before the time of Swai Jai Singh or Pathani Samanta – the emphasis had shifted away from observational verifications and ephemeral elements had remained uncorrected. "

Elements from these, and create predicted ephemeral elements in the classical Siddhantic format for future observations. The resulting ephemeral elements were amazingly accurate. Samanta’s work was in the classical mould – with the assumption of a geocentric Universe, although his own model included the planets other than Earth, as revolving around the Sun.

Equivalent mathematical formulations exist for calculation of ephemeral elements in the two different world systems – Geocentric or Heliocentric – and many observed phenomena require only the appropriate framework of calculations in order to accurately predict possible celestial events.  Thus, Samanta’s inability to envisage or accept the Copernican revolution, did not prevent him from making many accurate calculations of contemporary celestial events in his lifetime and observing them. The most interesting of the celestial phenomena in his life time was the December 9 1874 Transit of Venus.

This rare and inspiring event was visible from India and many other parts of the world. The Transit of Venus 8 years following that, in 1882, was not visible from India. Such an event was again visible on the 8^th of June 2004, from India and other parts of the world, and had created lot of excitement amongst the amateur astronomers and educators. The underlying excitement of this event, being the possibility of recreating historical  measurements of the Earth-Sun distance by students worldwide, through observations of the timings of this transit.

Going back to the year 1874 – there must have been considerable excitement at that time too, with efforts from Astronomers worldwide, making expeditions to India, as one of the locations from where, the event was visible. There were also efforts by Observatories under the then British Government in India, to study this event. And then, there were observatories built by private individuals and princely states where activities were intense, for the observations of this event. Some popularizations efforts also seem to have been in evidence. Chintaman Raghunathachary, of Madras observatory, for instance, had made a popular booklet on this event, that had been translated into many languages, including Urdu. In all probability, none of this excitement reached the remote Khandapara regions of Orissa, where Samanta could have heard of this event.

Arun Kumar Upadhyaya, in his translation of the Siddhanta Darpana – interprets his Shloka/hymn as – “Solar eclipse due to Sukra (Venus) – To find the eclipse of the Sun due to Sukra, their bimba (angular diameter) and size of other tara graha (stars and planets nearby) is stated. In Kali year 4975 (1874 AD) there was a Solar Eclipse due to Sukra (Venus) in Vrischika Rasi (Scorpio). Then Sukra bimba ( Venus shadow) was seen as 1/32 of solar bimba ( Solar shadow) which is equal to 650 yojana ( a scale of several miles). Thus it is well proved that bimba of Sukra and planets are much smaller than the Sun.”

Did Samanta hear that there was going to be a transit and set out to observe it – or did he find that there was to be such an occurrence from his lifetime work of creating accurate ephemeral elements? Most probably, the latter, as there seems no evidence that there was any European Astronomical activity in the regions of Orrisa, at that time. The Italian expedition from the Palermo Observatory was to Muddapur in Bengal a neighbouring state to Orrisa and could there have been some information that reached to Khandapara. It is not certain and there seems no evidence of it. Even if the information did reach, Samanta would not have accepted it without his own calculations agreeing with that.

All in all, it seems possible that not only did Samanta observe this Transit, but, he predicted it from his own calculations, unaware, of the excitement in the rest of the world arising from the Transits of Venus – in the 17^th, 18^th and 19^th centuries.
The mention of the ratio of the bimba/image or apparent angular diameters of Venus and Sun as 1/32 is very interesting.

On the date of these observations – the 9^th of December 1874, the apparent angular diameters of Sun and Venus, respectively, were – 32 minutes, 29 seconds of arc and 1 minute, 3 seconds of arc. The ratio then would have been discernible as 1: 30.93.

This ratio would have small variations from one transit to another due to the ellipticity of orbits involved. In the year 2004, for instance, the apparent diameters are – 31 minutes, 31 seconds for Sun and 58 seconds of arc, for Venus so that the ratio discernible would be 1:32.6 for the coming Transit of Venus. 

Pathani Samanta’s observations were completely non telescopic, and made with handmade instruments – and the accuracy achieved seems extra ordinary. In theoretical calculations and observations of the Transit of Venus, Samanta’s achievement would be considered comparable to that of Jeremiah Horrocks, though poignantly anachronistic.    

ORIGINAL AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS DULY ACKNOWLEDGED 

This link will help to give more insights on the Astronomer!  http://prints.iiap.res.in/bitstream/2248/3048/1/Naik_pC.pdf





















 
 

நாட்டின் வளர்ச்சிக்கு தேவை கூடங்குளம் அணுமின் நிலையம்

நன்றி: தினமலர்

கட்டுரை  ஆசிரியர்: பாரத ரத்னா முனைவர் . அப்துல் கலாம் ( முன்னால் இந்திய ஜனாதிபதி மற்றும் இந்திய ஏவுகணைத் தொழில்நுட்பப் தந்தை)

உலக நாடுகளுடன் ஒப்பிடுகையில், நம் நாடு எல்லாத் துறைகளிலும் ஒரு படிக்கு மேல் இருக்க வேண்டும் என்பது தான் நம் ஒவ்வொருவரின் தீராத ஆவல், விருப்பம், எதிர்பார்ப்பு எல்லாம். எல்லோரது ஒத்துழைப்பும் இருந்தால் தான் இது போன்ற சாதனைகளைப் படைக்க முடியும்.

தகவல் தொழில் நுட்பத்தில் அமெரிக்காவையே அசைத்துப் பார்க்கும் நாம், அத்தொழில் நுட்பம் மேலும், தங்கு தடையின்றி தொடர, மின்சாரத் தேவையும் அவசியம் என்பதை உணர வேண்டும். மின் உற்பத்திக்கு தேவைப்படும் பொருட்கள் பற்றாக் குறையாக உள்ள இக்காலகட்டத்தில், அணுசக்தி மூலம் இதனை சரிக்கட்ட முடியும் என்பது விஞ்ஞானிகளின் கூற்று. நல்ல வேளையாக, தமிழகத்தில், கூடங்குளத்தில் அமையவுள்ள அணுமின் நிலையம் மூலம், நமது மின் தேவையை எளிதாக பூர்த்தி செய்து கொள்ளும் ஒரு சந்தர்ப்பம் தற்போது ஏற்பட்டிருக்கிறது. இதனை, நாம் நல்ல முறையில் பயன்படுத்திக் கொள்ள வேண்டும். அணுசக்தி என்றாலே ஏதோ ஒருவித பயம் பலரிடம் குடிகொண்டுள்ளது. ஆனால், எதிர் நீச்சல் போட்டால்தான் வாழ்க்கையில் முன்னேறமுடியும் என்பதை நம்பும் நாம், அதே துணிச்சலுடன் புதிய முயற்சிகளையும் வரவேற்க வேண்டும். பாதுகாப்பான அணு மின் நிலையங்களால் எந்தவிதமான பாதிப்பும் ஏற்படாது என்று பலரும் கூறியுள்ள நிலையில், உண்மை, நேர்மை, தூய்மை ஆகியவற்றின் வடிவமான நம் இந்திய முன்னாள் ஜனாதிபதி அப்துல் கலாமும் இதனையே வலியுறுத்தியுள்ளார். அணுமின் நிலையம் மற்றும் அதுதொடர்பாக அவரது கருத்துக்கள் இதோ....

தமிழகத்திலே உள்ள கூடங்குளத்தில் அமைந்துள்ள 2,000 மெகாவாட் மின்சாரம் உற்பத்தி செய்ய வேண்டி, அணுஉலை செயல்பட தயாராகிக்கொண்டு இருக்கும் நிலையில் அணுசக்தியைப்பற்றியும், அதன் விளைவுகளைப்பற்றியும் நாட்டில் சில விவாதம் நடந்து வரும் இவ்வேளையில், சில உண்மைகளையும், அணுசக்தியின்
நன்மைகளைப் பற்றியும், இயற்கைச்சீற்றங்களினால் அதற்கு ஏற்படும் விளைவுகளைப்பற்றியும், அணுஉலைகளின் நம்பகத்தன்மை மற்றும் பாதுகாப்பு போன்ற விஷயங்களை அறிவார்ந்த முறையில் அணுகி, அதைப் பற்றி ஒரு தெளிவான கருத்தை என் அனுபவத்தோடு, உலக அனுபவத்துடன் ஆராய்ந்து அதை நம் மக்களுடன் பகிர்ந்து கொள்ள விரும்புகிறேன். திருநெல்வேலி மாவட்டத்து மக்கள் அறிவார்ந்த மக்கள், அங்கேயே பிறந்து, அங்கேயே வளர்ந்து, அங்கேயே படித்து, அங்கிருந்து மட்டுமல்லாமல் உலகின் அனைத்து பகுதிகளுக்கும் சென்று தங்களது அறிவாற்றலால் அனைத்து மக்களையும், நாட்டையும் வளப்படுத்தும் மக்கள் தான் திருநெல்வேலியை சேர்ந்த மக்கள். அதைப்போலவே தமிழகம் இன்றைக்கு ஒரு அறிவார்ந்த நிலையில் வளர்ந்து, மாநிலத்தை வளப்படுத்தி, நாட்டை வளப்படுத்தி, மற்ற மாநிலங்களுக்கு எடுத்துக்காட்டாக பல்வேறு திறமைகளில் சிறப்பான மாநிலமாக தமிழகம் திகழ வேண்டிய வளர்ச்சிப்பாதையில் உள்ளது. அப்படிப்பட்ட தமிழகத்தில் திருநெல்வேலி மாவட்டம், இன்னும் ஒரு சில ஆண்டுகளில் இந்தியாவிலேயே வளர்ச்சி அடைந்த மாவட்டமாக மாற ஏதுவான சூழ்நிலை நிலவுகிறது.

அதற்கு முக்கிய அவசியமான கட்டமைப்பு என்ன? அதுதான் மின்சாரம், மின்சாரம், மின்சாரம். எப்படிப்பட்ட மின்சாரம், மக்களை பாதிக்காத, ஆபத்தில்லாத அணுமின்சார உற்பத்திதான் அதன் முக்கிய லட்சியம். இந்தியாவிலேயே ஒரே இடத்திலே 2000 மெகாவாட் மின்உற்பத்தி, இன்னும் சில ஆண்டுகளில் 4000 மெகாவாட் மின் உற்பத்தி அணுமின்சாரம் மூலம் நடைபெற இருக்கிறது என்பது தமிழகத்திற்கு மிகப்பெரிய செய்தி, திருநெல்வேலி மாவட்டத்திற்கு ஒரு அரும் பெரும் செய்தி, இந்தியாவில் இது முதன் முறையாக நடைபெற இருக்கிறது.கிட்டத்தட்ட 20,000 கோடி ரூபாய் முதலீடு திருநெல்வேலி மாவட்டத்திற்கு வர வாய்ப்பு உள்ளது. அது உற்பத்தி செய்யும் மின்சார உற்பத்தியில் கிட்டத்தட்ட 50 சதவீத மின்சாரம் தமிழகத்திற்கு கிடைக்க இருக்கிறது. எனவே வளமான திருநெல்வேலி மாவட்டம், வளமான கூடங்குளம் பகுதி, வலிமையான தமிழகத்தை நாம் அடையவேண்டும். அப்படிப்பட்ட லட்சியத்தை நோக்கி நாம் செல்லும் போது, ஜனநாயக நாட்டில் அணுசக்தி மின்சார உற்பத்தி பற்றி இயற்கையாக பலகருத்துக்கள் ஏற்பட வாய்ப்பு உள்ளது.

அதாவது அணுசக்தி மூலம் மின்சாரம் உற்பத்தி செய்வதற்கு உருவாகியுள்ள எதிர்ப்பை மூன்று விதமாக பார்க்கலாம். ஒன்று கூடங்குளம் பகுதியில் வாழும் மக்களுக்கே ஏற்பட்டுள்ள உண்மையான கேள்விகள், இரண்டாவது பூகோள - அரசியல் சக்திகளின் வர்த்தகப் போட்டிகளின் காரணமாக விளைந்த விளைவு (Dynamics of Geo&political and Market forces),, நாமல்ல நாடுதான் நம்மை விட முக்கியம் என்ற ஒரு அரிய கருத்தை அறிய முடியாதவர்களின் தாக்கம். முதலாவதாக மக்களின் உண்மையான உணர்வுகளுக்கு மதிப்பளித்து அவர்களது நியாயமான சந்தேகங்களை வகைப்படுத்தி, அந்த சந்தேகங்களை நிவர்த்தி செய்வது மிகவும் முக்கியம்.

மக்களின் மற்றும் மக்களின் கருத்தால் எதிரொலிக்கும் கேள்விகளை தெளிவாக்கி அவர்களுக்கு நம்பிக்கையை ஏற்படுத்துவது இரண்டாவது முக்கியம். இந்தியாவின் முன்னேற்றத்தை விரும்பாத, வளர்ச்சியை பிடிக்காதவர்களின் முயற்சியை பற்றியும், அவர்களின் அவதூறு பிரசாரங்களைப்பற்றியும் மத்திய, மாநில அரசுகள் பார்த்துக்கொள்ள வேண்டும்.

எனவே முதலில் மக்களின் கேள்விகள் என்ன? அவர்களின் நியாயமான பயம் என்ன? என்பதை பார்ப் போம்.
1.ஜப்பான் புகுஸிமா அணுஉலை எரிபொருள் சேமிப்பு கிடங்கில் சுனாமியால் கடல் நீர் சென்றதால், ஏற்பட்ட மின்சார தடையால் நிகழ்ந்த விபத்தை தொலைக்காட்சியில் பார்த்த மக்களுக்கு நியாய மாக ஏற்பட்ட பயம் தான் முதல் காரணம்.
2.இயற்கை சீற்றங்களினால் அணு உலை விபத்து ஏற்பட்டால், அதனால் கதிரியக்க வீச்சு ஏற்பட்டால் அப்பகுதி மக்களுக்கு பாதிப்பை ஏற்படுத்தும், அதனால் தைராய்டு கோளாறுகள், நுரையீரல் புற்று நோய், மலட்டுத்தன்மை போன்றவை வரும் என்று மக்கள் மத்தியில் பீதி ஏற்பட்டுள்ளது என்று கூறப்படுகிறது.
3.அணுசக்தி கழிவுகளை சேமித்து வைப்பது ஆபத்து, அணுசக்தி கழிவுகளை கடலில் கலக்கப்போகிறார்கள், அணுசக்தியால் உருவாகும் வெப்பத்தினால் உருவாகும் நீராவியினாலும், அணுசக்தி கழிவை குளிர்விக்க பயன் படும் நீரை மீண்டும் கடலில் கலந்தால் அதனால் மீன் வளத்திற்கு பாதிப்பு ஏற்படும். 500 மீட்டருக்கு மீன் பிடித்தலுக்கு தடை விதிக்கப்படும், அதனால் மீனவர்களின் வாழ்வாதாரம் பாதிக்கப்படும், என்ற பயம் நிலவுகிறது.
4.அணு உலையில் எரிபொருள் மாதிரியை இரவில் நிரப்பும் பொழுது வழக்கமாக ஏற்படும் சத்தத்தால் மக்கள் மத்தியில் பீதி ஏற்பட்டு விட்டது.
5.அணு உலையில் இயற்கைச் சீற்றத்தாலோ, கசிவாலோ விபத்து ஏற்பட்டால், உடனடியாக அப்பகுதி மக்கள், 90 கிலோ மீட்டர் தூரம் 2 மணி நேரத்திற்குள் வெளியேற்றப்
படவேண்டும் என்று சொல்கிறார்கள், சோதனை ஓட்டம் செய்து பார்க்கும் போது மக்களை உடனடியாக வெளியேற சொன்னதனால் மக்களுக்கு பயம் ஏற்பட்டு விட்டது. ஒருவேளை விபத்து நேர்ந்தால், சரியான சாலை வசதி, போக்குவரத்து வசதி இல்லாத நிலையில் , மக்கள் கதிர்வீச்சு ஆபத்து ஏற்பட்டால் தப்புவதற்கு போதுமான பாதுகாப்பு வசதிகள் செய்து தரப்படவில்லை, மக்கள் எப்படி தப்ப முடியும்.
6.10,000 பேருக்கு வேலை வாய்ப்பு செய்து தரப்படும் என்று கூறினார்கள், ஆனால் அந்த பகுதியை சேர்ந்த 35 பேருக்குத்தான் வேலைவாய்ப்பு தரப்பட்டுள்ளது, ஏன் வேலை வாய்ப்பை அளிக்கவில்லை
7.பேச்சிப்பாறை அணையில் இருந்து தண்ணீர் வரும் என்று சொன்னார்கள், கடல் நீரை சுத்திகரித்து நல்ல தண்ணீர் கிடைக்கும் என்று சொன்னார்கள், இரண்டும் கிடைக்கவில்லை.

இது போன்று பல்வேறு கேள்விகள் மக்கள் மனதில் ஏற்பட்டுள்ளன, சரியான கேள்விகளும் உண்டு, மிகைப்படுத்தப்பட்ட கேள்விகளும் உண்டு ஆனால் இந்த கேள்விகளுக்கு சரியான பதிலை தரவேண்டிய பொறுப்பு மத்திய அரசுக்கு உண்டு. மக்களின் மனதில் பய உணர்வை ஏற்படுத்திவிட்டு எவ்வித விஞ்ஞான முன்னேற்றத்தையும் மக்களுக்கான முன்னேற்றத்திற்கான வழியாக ஏறெடுத்துச்செல்ல முடியாது என்பதை முதலில் நாம் புரிந்து கொள்ளவேண்டும்.அணுசக்தி துறையோடு எனக்கு இருந்த 20 வருட அனுபவத்தின் காரணமாகவும், அணுசக்தி விஞ்ஞானிகளோடு எனக்கு இருந்த நெருக்கமான தொடர்பாலும், சமீப காலங்களில் இந்தியாவிலும், அமெ ரிக்கா, ரஷ்யா போன்ற நாடுகளிலும் அணுசக்தி, துறையை சேர்ந்த ஆராய்ச்சி நிலையங்களுக்கு சென்று அங்கு பணிபுரியும் விஞ்ஞானிகளுடனும், தொழில் நுட்ப வல்லுனர்களுடனும் கலந்துரையாடிய அனுபவத்தாலும், கடந்த 4 வருடங்களாக இந்திய கடற்கரை ஓரம் அமைந்துள்ள எல்லா அணுதி உற்பத்தி நிலையங்களுக்கும் சென்று, அந்த அணுசக்தி நிலையங்களின் உற்பத்தி செயல் திறனை பற்றியும் அதன் பாதுகாப்பு அம்சங்களை பற்றியும் மிகவும் விரிவாக ஆராய்ந்துள்ளேன்.

அதுமட்டுமல்ல கூடங்குளம் அணுமின் நிலையத்தையும் பார்வையிட்டு அதன் பாதுகாப்பு அம்சங்கள் பற்றியும் பல்வேறு காரணிகளைப்பற்றியும் அதாவது கடலோரத்தில் உள்ள இந்திய அணுமின் சக்தி நிலையங்களுக்கும் மற்ற நாடுகளில் உள்ள அணுமின் நிலையங்களுக்கும் என்ன வித்தியாசம், அதன் ஸ்திர தன்மை, பாதுகாப்பு தன்மை பற்றியும், இயற்கை பேரிடர் மற்றும் மனித தவறின் மூலம் ஏதேனும் விபத்து ஏற்பட்டால், அதை எப்படி சரி செய்ய முடியும் அதன் தாக்கத்தை சமன் செய்ய செய்யப்பட்டுள்ள மாற்று ஏற்பாடுகள் பற்றியும், செய்ய வேண்டிய பாதுகாப்பு நடவடிக்கைகள் பற்றியும் விரிவாக ஆலோசனை நடத்தியுள்ளேன். அத்துடன் என்னுடைய இருபதுக்கும் மேற்பட்ட வெளிநாட்டு பயணத்தின் போதும், ஆராய்ச்சி நிலையங்களிலும், கல்வி போதிக்கும் என்னுடைய பணி மூலமாகவும் செய்த ஆராய்ச்சிகளின் விளைவாக வும், அணுசக்தியைப்பற்றியும், எரிசக்தி சுதந்திரத்தைப்பற்றிய அறிவியல் சார்ந்த விளக்கங்களையும் ஆராய்ச்சி விளக்கங்களை விரிவாக விவாதித்தோம். அதன் விளைவாக நான் எனது நண்பர் தி. பொன்ராஜ் அவர்களுடன் சேர்ந்து இந்தியா

2030க்குள் எரிசக்தி சுதந்திரம் பெற எந்த அளவிற்கு அணுசக்தி முக்கியம் என்பதை பல மாதங்கள், தொடர்ச்சியாக ஆராய்ச்சி செய்ததன் பயனாக இந்த ஆராய்ச்சி கட்டுரையை ஆய்வின் முடிவுகளின் விளக்கத்தை மக்களுக்கு தெரிவிக்க நாங்கள் கடமைப்பட்டிருக்கிறோம். இந்த ஆய்வின் முடிவுகளையும், என்னுடைய கருத்தையும் பார்ப்பதற்கு முன்பாக உங்களுடன் ஒரு விஷயத்தை பகிர்ந்து கொள்ள விரும்புகிறேன்.

அதாவது, கரிகாலன் முடியாது என்று நினைத்திருந்தால் தமிழ்நாட்டில் கல்லணை கிடையாது. காட்டாற்று வெள்ளமென வரும் அகண்ட காவிரியை தடுத்து நிறுத்த அந்தக்காலத்து தொழில் நுட்பத்தை பயன் படுத்தி முதல் நூற்றாண்டில் (1Century AD) கல்லணை கட்டினானே கரிகாலன். எப்படி முடிந்தது அவனால், வெள்ளமென வரும் காவிரியால் கல்லணையை உடைந்து மக்களின் பேரழிவுக்கு காரணமாகிவிடும் என்று நினைத்திருந்தாலோ, பூகம்பத்தால் அணை உடைந்து விடும் என்று கரிகாலன் நினைத்திருந்தாலோ கல்லணை கட்டியிருக்க முடியாது. ஆயிரம் ஆண்டுகளாகியும் நம் கண்முன்னே சாட்சியாக இருக்கிறதே ராஜ ராஜ சோழன் கட்டிய தஞ்சை பெரிய கோவில். சுனாமியினால் கடல் கொண்டு அழிந்த பூம்புகார் போன்று, பூகம்பத்தின் காரணமாக, பெரிய கோவில் அழிந்து விடும் என்று நினைத்திருந்தால், தமிழர்களின் மாபெரும் கட்டிட கலையை உலகிற்கே பறைசாற்றும் விதமாக, எடுத்துக்காட்டாக இருக்கும் பெரிய கோவில் நமக்கு கிடைத்திருக்குமா.ஹோமி பாபா முடியாது என்று நினைத்திருந்தால், கதிரியக்கம் மக்களைப் பாதித்திருக்கும் என்று நினைத்திருந்தால், இன்றைக்கு 40 ஆண்டுகளாக பாதுகாப்பான அணுமின்சாரத்தை 4700 மெகாவாட் மின்சாரத்தை உற்பத்தி செய்திருக்க முடியாது, மருத்துவத்துறையிலே கேன்சர் நோயால் அவதிப்படும் மக்களுக்கு ஹீமோதெரெபி அளித்திருக்க முடியாது, விவசாயத்தின் விளைபொருளின் உற்பத்தியை பெருக்கி இருக்க முடியாது. உலக நாடுகளே இந்தியாவை மதிக்கும் வண்ணம் அணுசக்தி கொண்ட ஒரு வலிமையான நாடாக மாற்றியிருக்க முடியாது. எனவே முடியாது என்று நினைத்திருந்தால், ஆபத்து என்று பயந்திருந்தால் எதுவும் சாத்தியப்பட்டிருக்காது.

ஏன் கதிரியக்கத்தை முதன் முதலாக பிட்ச் பிளன்ட் (two uranium minerals, pitchblende and torbernite (also known as chalcolite).) என்ற உலோகத்தை தன் தலையில் சுமந்து அதை பற்றி ஆராய்ச்சி செய்து கண்டுபிடித்தாரே மேடம் மேரி க்யூரி. தனக்கே ஆபத்து அதனால் வரும் என்று தெரிந்தும் ஆராய்ச்சியின் நல்ல பயன் உலகத்திற்கு செல்ல வேண்டும் என்று, தொடர்ந்து ஆராய்ச்சி செய்து முதன் முதலாக கதிர்வீச்சிற்கு வேதியலிலும், கதிர்இயக்கத்திற்கு இயற்பியலிலும் 2 நோபல் பரிசைப்பெற்று, அந்த கதிரியக்கத்தாலேயே தன் இன்னுயிரை இழந்தாரே. அதுவல்லவா தியாகம்.

தன்னுயிரை இழந்து மண்ணுயிரை காத்த அன்னையல்லவா மேடம் க்யூரி. இன்றைக்கு அந்த கதிரியக்கத்தால் எத்தனை கேன்சர் நோயாளிகள் ஹீமோதெரபி மூலம் குணப்படுத்தப்படுகிறார்கள், விவசாயத்திற்கு தேவையான விதைகளை கதிரியக்கத்தினை பயன்படுத்தி அதன் விளைச்சலை அதிகரிக்க முடிகிறதே. இன்றைக்கு அணுசக்தியினால் உலகம் முழுதும் 4 லட்சம் மெகாவாட் மின்சாரம் உற்பத்தி செய்யப்படுகிறதே. அதே போல் அணுசக்தியில் யாருக்கும் நாம் சளைத்தவர்கள் இல்லை என்று சாதித்து காட்டினோமே, அந்த வழியில் நண்பர்களே முடியாது என்று எதுவும் இல்லை.

முடியாது, ஆபத்து, பயம் என்ற நோய் நம்மிடம் பல பேரிடம் அதிகமாக உள்ளது. அப்படிப்பட்ட இயலாதவர்களின் கூட்டத்தால், உபதேசத்தால் வரலாறு படைக்கப்பட வில்லை. வெறும் கூட்டத்தால் மாற்றத்தை கொண்டுவர முடியாது. முடியும் என்று நம்பும் மனிதனால் தான் வரலாறு படைக்கப்பட்டு இருக்கிறது, மாற்றம் இந்த உலகிலே வந்திருக்கிறது. இந்தியா வல்லரசாகும் என்று தவறான கருத்து பரப்பப்படுகிறது, வல்லரசு என்ற சித்தாந்தம் என்றோ போய்விட்டது. 2020க்குள் இந்தியா வளர்ந்த நாடாக மாற வேண்டும் என்பது தான் நம் மக்களின் லட்சியம்.

Nuclear power is our gateway to a prosperous future - A.P.J Abdul Kalam & Srijan Pal Singh

Courtesy: The Hindu.

Online link: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article2601471.ece

Published in print edition of The Hindu Open page as a special Essay on 06/11/2011

'Economic growth will need massive energy. Will we allow an accident in Japan, in a 40-year-old reactor at Fukushima, arising out of extreme natural stresses, to derail our dreams to be an economically developed nation?'

Every single atom in the universe carries an unimaginably powerful battery within its heart, called the nucleus. This form of energy, often called Type-1 fuel, is hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of times more powerful than the conventional Type-0 fuels, which are basically dead plants and animals existing in the form of coal, petroleum, natural gas and other forms of fossil fuel. To put things in perspective, imagine a kilometre-long train, with about 50 freight bogies, all fully laden with the most typical fossil fuel — about 10,000 tonnes of coal. The same amount of energy can be generated by 500 kgⁱ of Type-1 fuel, naturally occurring Uranium, enough to barely fill the boot of a small car. When the technology is fully realised, one can do even better with naturally occurring Thorium, in which case the material required would be much less, about 62.5 kg, or even less according to some estimatesⁱⁱ, and thus enough to fit in a small bagⁱⁱⁱ. (Note: 500 kg of naturally occurring Uranium would contain about 3.5 kg of Uranium-235 fuel.)

Energy and economy

Energy is the most fundamental requirement of every society or nation as it progresses through the ladder of development. Of course, once it reaches a relative degree of development, the energy demand becomes more stable. There is a distinct and categorical correlation between the energy consumption and income of a nation — each reinforcing the other. Look around you: every step into progress comes with an addition of demand for energy — cars, ships and aircraft to move, hospitals to give quality healthcare, education, as it follows the model of e-connectivity, production of more and better goods, irrigation for better farming. In fact, every element of our lives is increasingly going to become energy-intensive — that is a necessary prerequisite for development. This is clearly reflected in the average energy consumption per person across nations — for instance, an average American consumes more than 15 times the energy consumed by an average Indian (see Figure 1)^iv

Today, India finds itself going through a phase of rapid ascent in economic empowerment. Industries are evolving at a significantly higher rate since liberalisation. Our focus for this decade will be on the development of key infrastructure and the uplifting of the 600,000 villages where 750 million people live, as vibrant engines of the economy. In 2008, we crossed the trillion-dollar mark, and it took more than six decades for us to reach that milestone. However, it is predicted that the Indian economy will double again, to reach the $2-trillion mark by 2016, and then again redouble, to reach the $4 trillion milestone by 2025^v. All this economic growth will need massive energy. It is predicted that the total electricity demand will grow from the current 150,000 MW to at least over 950,000 MW by the year 2030^vi — which will still be less than one-fourth of the current U.S. per capita energy need. In fact, by 2050, in all likelihood the demand could go even higher, and the per capita energy demand would be equal to the current French or Russian figure of about 6000 W per capita.

Analysing the international scenario on nuclear energy

So, will we allow an accident in Japan, in a 40-year-old reactor at Fukushima, arising out of extreme natural stresses, to derail our dreams to be an economically developed nation? When a few European countries, particularly Germany, decide to phase out nuclear power, that should not become a blanket argument to take a view against our nuclear programme.

A few things need to be put in context here. The decision of Germany suits its current scenario which goes beyond mere concerns of risk posed by nuclear power. Germany is a developed nation, a power-surplus nation — so it can afford to lose a few plants. More important, Germany has completely exhausted its nuclear resources. Against a total demand of 3,332 tonnes (2006-08)^vii it was able to produce only 68 tonnes (Note: This was the production in 2006) of Uranium, and for the deficit it was relying on imports^viii. Thus, nuclear energy never fits into its goal of energy independence. India, on the other hand, is the leader of the new resource of nuclear fuel called Thorium, which is considered to be the nuclear fuel of the future.

The Indian population is misled when it is said that some Western nations have ended their nuclear programme, or that Japan is reconsidering nuclear power plant expansion. Study the accompanying Table, 

which shows what share of energy these advanced nations are generating by means of nuclear power. 

 

The study indicates that most of the prosperous nations are extracting about 30-40 per cent of power from nuclear power and it constitutes a significant part of their clean energy portfolio, reducing the burden of combating climate change and the health hazards associated with pollution. Meanwhile in India, we are not generating even 5000 MW of nuclear power from the total of about 150 GW of electricity generation, most of it coming from coal.

We should be careful not to be carried away by the barrage of anti-nuclear news often being generated by many of the same nations that are enjoying the maximum benefits from it. The economically developed world has a well-trained habit of presenting their success in a distorted context to misguide emerging nations like India, which are a potential challenge to their neo-age proxy-imperial economic subjugation. What is needed for our India, we Indians have to decide.

Hence, we and we alone will decide what is the best needed action for our economic prosperity, based on our context and resource profile. India is blessed with the rare, and very important, nuclear fuel of the future – Thorium. We cannot afford to lose the opportunity to emerge as the energy capital of the world, which coupled with the largest youth power, will be our answer to emerge as the leading economy of the world. India has the potential to be the first nation to realise the dream of a fossil fuel-free nation, which will also relieve the nation of about $100 billion annually which we spend in importing petroleum and coal. Besides the billions spent on importing coal or oil, we are also importing millions of tonnes of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases, which are a hazard to the environment and human health. It is noteworthy that in 2010-11, India imported about 82 billion tonnes of coal^xii, a large fraction of which was for the thermal power plants. Experts believe that this number will continue to rise exponentially in the times ahead, as shown in Figure 3^xiii.

The greenest sources of power are definitely solar and wind. With abundant sunshine and places of high wind velocity, the nation definitely has potential for these forms of energy. But solar and wind power, despite all their advantages, are not stable and are dependent excessively on weather and sunshine conditions. Nuclear power, on the other hand, provides a relatively clean, high-density source of reliable energy with an international presence. Today, there are 29 countries operating 441 nuclear power plants, with a total capacity of about 375 GW(e). The industry now has more than 14,000 reactor-years of experience. Sixty more units, with a total target capacity of 58.6 GW, were under construction. (Note: This is according to data from 2010.)

Much of the destructive power of nuclear accidents is compared against the benchmarks of the atomic bombing of Japan by the U.S. forces during the Second World War. Pictures of mushroom clouds looming over cities, charred buildings, and massive death scenes are awakened to form our opinion of nuclear dangers and disasters. But that is far from the reality. It is poor judgment and a deliberate act of spreading fear to compare a nuclear bomb with a nuclear plant. The bomb is designed to deliver a large amount of energy over a very short period of time, leading to explosions, firestorms and massive heat energy generated to obliterate every object in its path. That is what a bomb is supposed to do!

Civilian nuclear applications in the form of a power plant, on the other hand, are designed to deliver small amounts of energy in a sustainable manner over a far larger time frame. It is designed with systems to control and cool the nuclear reaction. There are safety procedures and back-ups, and even in the event of failures, as in the 2011 disaster, the destructive might will never be even a fraction of what happens in the case of a nuclear bomb.

Nuclear risks

We need to put the Fukushima-Daiichi events in the historic frame of nuclear accidents and analyse them. While there was huge loss to property and disruption of normal life, there was no direct loss of life due to the accident or during the operation in its aftermath to contain it. As a silver lining, the way the accident was handled — compared to the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 — showed how much progress we have achieved in nuclear emergency management over a period of two and half decades. The Fukushima-Daiichi plant was almost five times as big in terms of power generation and, more significantly, contained about nine times the nuclear fuel at the time of the accident. Yet, with better emergency management learnt over the years, the maximum radiation was less than 0.4 per cent of that released during the Chernobyl disaster. So, while the Fukushima-Daiichi accident was unfortunate and needs review, one must also acknowledge the advancement of national and international capabilities to manage nuclear emergencies now.

Another argument which surrounds the nuclear debate is that nuclear accidents and the radiation fallout as the aftermath would not only harm the exposed generation but also continue to impact generations to come. If available facts and scientific inquiry was given more weightage than mere conjectures and comic-bookish imagination, this argument will in all probability be proved a myth. The strongest case of human exposure and destruction due to radiation is, without argument, the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings of 1945. These are the only two occasions when nuclear force was intentionally developed and deployed to kill human life. Post the bombing, the U.S. government established the Atomic Bombing Casualty Commission (ABCC) in 1946 to assess the late-effects of radiation among the atomic bomb survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It operated for 30 years until, in 1974, it was reconstituted as a joint venture between the U.S. and Japan under the name of Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF). It is operational even today. The ABCC and the RERF have extensively studied the long-term impact of radiation and nuclear disaster across generations for over six decades now, and the findings throw light on the possible effects of radiation. Its report says that chronic (sustained) exposure of about 100 millisieverts (mSv, which is the international unit to measure radiation), increases cancer risk by 0.5 per cent to 0.7 per cent. Notably, the areas in close proximity of Fukushima had a peak exposure of 800 mSv^xiv. 

The Kudankulam atomic power project during construction

Of course, there is some correlation between radiation exposure and cancer risk, which must be acknowledged. But the notable aspect is that, contrary to popular belief, the findings clearly state that the effect of such exposure is limited only to the exposed generation. To quote the report, “Our studies have not found thus far any inherited genetic effects from parental radiation exposure among the children of A-bomb survivors.”^xv (Note: A-bomb stands for the atom bomb. Two atomic bombs were dropped by the U.S. on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, as part of the Second World War.) Thus, while radiation due to a nuclear disaster is dangerous, it would amount to wrong propaganda to state that nuclear disasters will affect generations to come. Of course, the technology has been advancing over the decades and the human capability to contain nuclear disasters has definitely advanced.

There is no doubt that nuclear power is superior along three dimensions, namely, energy density, effect on improved quality of living, and the economic benefits. Now let us look at the key challenges which pertain to the sector, especially in the wake of the recent natural disaster impacting the Daiichi plant in Fukushima. Two concerns are prominent here. The first is that of safety against the plant's disaster, and the second relates to the environmental impact and the nuclear waste which the plant generates.

Let us consider the second issue first.

Opportunity cost of nuclear energy

a) Abstinence from nuclear power is an incomplete response without the logical alternative. If we look at the complete picture of alternative measures, we will have to endorse the fact that our current and future energy demands have to be met. In economics, there is a concept called “opportunity cost,” which refers to the cost incurred when one chooses the next alternative. So what happens if we pronounce a total ban on nuclear energy generation? Some part of the future need, although only a small fraction, would come from solar and wind sources, with great unpredictability as pointed out earlier. A part would be offset by hydro-power too. But in all probability we will continue to increase our reliance on fossil-based fuel power generation methods, at least in the near and mid-term future. And that is where the problem lies.

Every year, human activities are adding about 30 billion tonnes of CO₂ ^xvi into the atmosphere. The IPCC estimates that 26 per cent of this emission (about 7.6 billion tonnes) is a direct consequence of electricity generation requirements. This is not really air pollution but it adds to the risk of climate change, which is exhibited in changing rainfall patterns, sea levels and temperatures, leading to food shortages, malnutrition, and disease alterations. The WHO estimates that about 1.3 million people^xvii lose their lives as a result of urban outdoor air pollution alone, and about 140,000 are causalities to adaptation challenges of climate change^xviii. (Note: Additionally, about two million lives are lost due to indoor pollution, the primary victims being women, and children under the age of five.) Thus, the pollution caused by power generation activities, and the climate change associated with them, are directly or indirectly responsible for about 481,000 deaths every year. Comparatively, in the case of the worst civilian nuclear disaster ever at Chernobyl, the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic radiation (UNSCEAR) predicted up to 4,000 cancer^xix cases (often curable) due to the accident, besides 57 direct causalities. Unclean fossil energy is definitely not sustainable in the future. Moreover, fossil-based fuels are fast depleting, and their scarcity is inspiring geopolitical instabilities around the world.

Furthermore, it is believed that the changing climate patterns will carry a costly adaptation price tag in the future — an enormous $300 billion every year, which will be a huge drain on the global GDP^xx. All these issues can be addressed only when we graduate from Type-0 fuels to the next-generation fuels — the most prominent amongst them being nuclear fuels, which will also power our deep space missions of the future. A standard approximate comparison between a 1000-MW coal plant and a similar nuclear plant is given in Table 6.

Safety issues of nuclear power

b) Now, let us delve more into the other issue — that of plant safety. Throughout the history of nuclear power generation there have been four major incidents of plant failure — the Kyshtym accident in fuel reprocessing in 1957, the relatively smaller Three Mile Island meltdown (United States), the much bigger Chernobyl accident (USSR, 1986) and the recent Japanese incident at Fukushima. The first accident was purely due to underdeveloped technology, and much of the blame for the next two disasters is attributed to human error. Even in the case of the Fukushima disaster of 2011, there were extraordinary natural forces in action — the rare occurrence of the tremendous stress load of an earthquake coupled with the unprecedented shear load of a tsunami. Of course, there is a need for better technology and more stable plant design across the world, but the occurrence of four failures in six decades cannot be made out as a case for completely disbanding the technology — which is one of our foremost keys to graduating beyond the fossil fuel-based low-end energy. The best of technological progress, while being the biggest ally of mankind, does come at an incremental risk. The key is to learn and evolve to mitigate the risk, rather than use the first incident as an excuse to disband science.

Let us take a few examples. In 1903, the Wright brothers translated into reality the remarkable dream of controlled human flight. Not more than half a decade later, in 1908, the first flight disaster occurred, which severely injured Orville Wright and killed his co-passenger. Many accidents followed, and even today air accidents kill more than 1,500 people every year. Imagine whether we would be flying between distant cities, across oceans and continents, if the incident of 1908, or the ones later, were used as a reason to disband human flight? When the mighty ship Titanic set sail in 1912, it was heralded as the pioneering mission in the field of large and comfortable ocean liners. But on its first voyage it struck an iceberg and sank, killing more than 1,500 people, more than two-thirds of those on board. But that never stopped our quest for bigger and faster means of ocean travel. The very first attempt to send man to the moon, Apollo-1, met with an accident and killed three prominent astronauts. It took another 10 missions, with mixed results, before Apollo-11 finally made it to the moon in 1969, with Neil Armstrong setting foot on the lunar surface and declaring to the world those never-to-be-forgotten words: “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Indeed, that small step was preceded by many a stumble.

The Indian space programme, which is now ranked among the best in the world, started with a failure in 1979 when our first rocket, instead of putting the satellite into a near-earth orbit, went into the Bay of Bengal. I was the Mission Director of the launch, and we were accused of putting a few crores of rupees into the sea. We did not wind up our dreams with that one accident and the criticism. The mission continued and the next year we were successful. Today, that programme, which started with a failure, is the first and only one to discover the presence of water on the moon with its Chandrayan mission, and is now a pride of the nation. The argument is, of course, that all failures and accidents propel us to think and develop better and safer technologies towards better service. And in the case of nuclear power, we do acknowledge that the effects of radiation can reach a wider impact zone. But then, improvement, and not escapism, should be our step forward.

Nuclear fuel of the future: Thorium

Let us introduce a lesser-known member among radioactive materials — Thorium. It is perhaps the best solution possible in the future and would be technologically and commercially the best option in another two decades. Thorium, the 90th element in the Periodic Table, is slightly lighter than Uranium. Thorium is far more abundant, by about four times^xxvi, than the traditional nuclear fuel, Uranium, and occurs in a far purer form, too. It is believed that the amount of energy contained in the Thorium reserves on earth is more than the combined total energy that is left in petroleum, coal, other fossil fuels and Uranium, all put together. And information revealed in an IAEA Report (2005) on Thorium fuels indicates that India might have the largest reserves of Thorium in the world, with over 650,000 tonnes. (Note: The IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, is the world's centre of cooperation in the nuclear field. It was set up in 1957 as the world's ‘Atoms for Peace' organisation within the U.N. family.) This is more than one-fourth of the total deposits of Thorium; in comparison, we have barely 1 per cent of the world's Uranium deposits, which is currently being put to effective use, our having opted for the closed fuel cycle technology. Thorium has many other advantages. It is estimated that Thorium may be able to generate (through Uranium-233 that could be produced from it) eight times the amount of energy per unit mass compared to (natural) Uranium^xxvii. In the much debated issue of waste generation also, Thorium has a relative advantage. It produces waste that is relatively less toxic due to the absence of minor actinides (that are associated with Uranium).

At the same time, it is acknowledged that the long-lived high-level waste from Uranium, especially in light of the Indian strategy of adopting the closed fuel cycle involving reprocessing for the recovery of Plutonium and Uranium, can be effectively managed using technologies available today. Indian nuclear experts tell us that the relatively small volumes of such waste (long-term storage space of less than a quarter of the size of a football field is adequate for the estimated waste from a 1000 MWe plant) can be safely stored after vitrification for hundreds of years without causing any risk to the environment or the people.

One question that crops up is, why then has Uranium rather than Thorium become the popular choice for nuclear energy programmes across the world? There are two reasons: one is technological and the other is historical.

The technological reason stems from the simple fact that at first one needs to produce Uranium-233 from Thorium, and for this, reactors based on the naturally available nuclear fuel material, Uranium-235, are required. In addition, the recovery of Uranium-233 by large-scale reprocessing of irradiated thorium, as well as the likely presence of hard gamma emitting Uranium-232, pose certain practical hurdles. But according to experts, all these can be overcome technologically.

The second and the historical reason why Thorium has lagged behind in the ladder of development, comes from its advantage of being able to provide Thorium-based fuel, as seen from the context of the relatively unstable geopolitical conditions — which is that Thorium cannot be weaponised. Unlike Uranium, which is always on a tight-rope walk between being a power source and finding destructive applications, Thorium bombs just cannot be made. Here history steps in. It must be remembered that much of the current civil nuclear applications are direct offshoots of the military nuclear technologies of the Cold War period. So, the first significant outcome of nuclear technology was the Manhattan Project during the Second World War, which ultimately culminated in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing of 1945 by the U.S.

A nuclear weapon is different from a nuclear plant, as in the former there is no need to control or slow down the reactions that lead to a catastrophic energy release in a short time interval — which is the essence of a bomb. However, a nuclear plant needs moderation of the reaction to sustain a steady but controlled release of energy. It was only by the end of 1951 that some noteworthy work was done in controlled nuclear power generation at the EBR-1 experiment in Idaho to produce 100 KW of nuclear power. This “weapon first” approach to nuclear technology led to the fact that there was little focus on developing methods to energise from Thorium, which is non-weaponisable, and a larger focus on Uranium, which can be weaponised.

But now, being the largest owner of Thorium, and also being amongst the nations which will see the highest surge in power demand with its growth, the opportunity is for India to pursue its existing nuclear programme with a special focus on research and development on the Thorium route as the long term sustainable option, which we are already undertaking. For this purpose, it is imperative to continue to implement the current Indian plan of making use of the uranium and plutonium-based fuel cycle technologies as well as irradiate larger amounts of Thorium in fast reactors to breed Uranium-233 fuel as it graduates to the Thorium-based plants. It is noteworthy that the Indian plan for an advanced heavy water reactor (AHWR) is an important step to launch early commencement of Thorium utilisation in India, while considerable further efforts to use Thorium in both thermal and fast reactors would be essential to harness sustainable energy from Thorium-generated Uranium-233.

Various technologies for Thorium-based plants are already being developed and deployed on a test basis across the world including in India, which have a promising future. These include first breeding it to fissile Uranium-233 isotope in the conventional reactors or through the revived interest in technologies like the Molten Salt Reactors (MSR) which use salts to trap the fissile material and do not react with air or burn in air or water. In this technology, the operational pressure is near the ordinary atmospheric pressure, and hence the cost of construction is low and there is no risk of a pressure explosion^xxviii.

A significantly large quantity of highly active nuclear material exists, and will continue to exist in the form of nuclear armaments — which was the mother programme of the nuclear energy programme. In 2010, there were about 22,000 nuclear warheads spanning at least nine countries of the world, and 8,000^xxix of them are in active state, carrying a risk far greater than controlled nuclear power reactors. If the argument of risk is to be used to eliminate the peaceful energy generation programme, then the nuclear opposition factions must first direct their efforts at Washington and Moscow, the owners of 90 per cent of the world's nuclear warheads, to disband their nuclear arsenal — which is, by design, intended to be hostile. Would that happen? Unlikely, at least in the foreseeable future. Our aim should be to minimise the risks associated with nuclear power.

The power of the nucleus is mighty and the future of humanity lies in harnessing it in a safe and efficient manner. In the years to come, it will fuel not only our earth-based needs but also our space missions and perhaps even our civilisation's reach to other planets for habitation. Our current nuclear projects will expand into better and safer materials, like Thorium, and later on, into better reactions like fusion, which once completely developed, will be able to generate hundreds of times more of power than current fission methods. Affordable, clean and abundant energy provided by nuclear sources is our gateway to a future that is healthy, learned and connected — a future that will span deep into space and crosses the boundaries of current human imagination. 

Plant insulated from danger of ‘hydrogen explosion' that occurred at Fukushima

Coalfields and burning earth

The Jharia coalfields in Jharkhand constitute the richest coal-bearing area in the country: they contain large quantities of high-grade coking coal. But the presence of this natural resource has been a curse for the local tribal villagers. The Jharia area also has a large number of ongoing mine fires, which have a history of more than a century and have been causing great loss to life and property.

I am reminded of an incident that happened when I was President of India. I was travelling from Sindri to Dhanbad. Hundreds of villagers rushed to my car. We immediately stopped and listened to them. They narrated the heating and spot-fire which regularly take place near their houses. A major challenge to the mining community is that of tackling fires, which have engulfed large and densely populated coal-bearing areas. I and my team visited their houses, where we discovered intense, unbearable heat, emanating not from the skies but the ground below. Occasionally, jets of flames would spurt out from the ground, scorching the earth.

The entire area has been destroyed by the mining activity and rendered uninhabitable for humans or any other life form. Sadly, it can never be restored, at least not for the next million years. Much of the coal mined today is used for electricity generation across the world, and there are many more Jharias being created across the rural and forest lands of earth. These will continue to swell in numbers and size — unless we find sustainable alternative fuel sources to replace fossil fuels.

Pollution, outdoor and indoor

Urban Outdoor Pollution (UOP): It refers to the air pollution experienced by people living in and around urban areas, generally in open space, for example, roads.

Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) refers to pollutants found indoors, generally due to inefficient fuel consumption, chemical pollution to building material, and so on. UOP contributes to IAP. Nearly two million lives are lost due to Indoor Air Pollution, the most common victims being women, and children under the age 5.

Endnotes

i http://www.world-nuclear.org/education/whyu.htm

ii Thorium as a Secure Nuclear Fuel Alternative, A Canon Bryan, 23-April-2009, Journal of Energy Security (available at http://www.ensec.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id= 187:thorium-as-a-secure-nuclear-fuel-alternative&catid= 94:0409content&Itemid=342)

iii Steve Kirsch, The Most Important Investment that We Aren’t Making to Mitigate the Climate Crisis, 26.12.2009 Huff Post Green, (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-kirsch/the-most-important-invest_b_402685.html)

iv Data from World Resources Institute (for 2003)

v India and China, Raghav Behal

vi India envisages about 950,000 MW power requirement by 2030, http://bit.ly/vTv5Qx

vii “World Nuclear Power Reactors 2006-08 and Uranium Requirements.” World Nuclear Association. 2008-01-14.

viii “World Uranium Production U3O8/ million lbs.” Ux Consulting Company, LLC

ix World Nuclear Power Reactors & Uranium Requirements, World Nuclear Association (21 October 2011) (available at http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/reactors.html) Data is for 2010

x Nuclear Power Plant Information, IAEA PRIS (2010), available at http://www.iaea.org/cgi-bin/db.page.pl/pris.nucshare.htm

xi International Monetary Fund, 2010

xii India 2011/12 coal import needs may jump to 114 mln T, Reuters, September 27, 2011

xiii Rise of the Coal Bill, RN Bhaskar, Forbes India Magazine (April 2010)

xiv Matters elucidated thus far by RERF studies, http://www.rerf.or.jp/rerfrad_e.pdf

xv Matters elucidated thus far by RERF studies, http://www.rerf.or.jp/rerfrad_e.pdf

xvi IPCC Reports on climate change

xvii Air quality and health, Fact Sheet, WHO (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs313/en /index.html)

xviii Climate Change and Health, WHO 2010, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs266/en/

xix “UNSCEAR assessment of the Chernobyl accident.” Unscear.org.

xx Climate change fight to cost $300 billion a year, Alister Doyle (12-August-2009), OneWorld (available at http://southasia.oneworld.net/globalheadlines/climate-change-fight-to-cost-300-billion-a-year)

xxi How Coal Works, Union of Concerned Scientists (available at http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/coalvswind/brief_coal.html)

xxii Each kg of coal generates about 2.93 kg of CO2

xxiii Considering the following calculations. About 30,000 million tons of CO2 is responsible for the casualties of about 1.3 million lives per year. (1 billion ton = 1000 million ton). Thus, 1 MT corresponds to about 43.33 causalities per year. And 8.37 million tons would be responsible (by interpolation) for about 362 lives being lost.

xxiv Similar to the above derivation

xxv Based on the eight fold mass to energy advantage we have earlier cited from the article: Thorium as a Secure Nuclear Fuel Alternative, A Canon Bryan, 23-April-2009, Journal of Energy Security

xxvi IAEA, 2005

xxvii Extracted from http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf62.html

xxviii Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/2010/4/liquid-fluoride-thorium-reactors Thorium Fuel for Nuclear Energy, http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/thorium-fuel-for-nuclear-energy/3

xxix “Federation of American Scientists: Status of World Nuclear Forces.” Fas.org.

For pdf of Part 1 of the essay, click here

For pdf of Part 2 of the essay, click here

 

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was the 11th President of India, from 2002 to 2007, and pioneered the Vision for an Economically Developed India by 2020. He is at apj@abdulkalam.com| http://twitter.com/#!/official_kalam

Srijan Pal Singh is an expert in the area of sustainable development and is an Electrical Engineer with an MBA from the IIMA. He is at 7srijanpal@iimahd.ernet.in | http://twitter.com/#!/srijanpalsingh

© Copyright: Authors

AMAZING FACTS OF SHRI KRISHNA's DWARAKA

When I talked about this in Orkut Iyers community in 2007/8, some “brainbox" there thought I was just blabbering but it is an archaeological fact Krishna's city existed and Mahabharatha happened! There are several factors to justify that and there are archaeological and astronomical evidences. Many artefacts excavated from submerged dwaraka dates back to the period as said in Mahabharata in carbon dating! I quit that crap community shortly after that as I can't go with people who think they knew everything. 

Well this below post is an verbatim reproduction from various sources. Some years ago maybe a decade or two ago saw a UGC programme on this.  Well UGC or University Grants Commission is a Government of India department for aids to Universities in India.  I acknowledge the original authors. 

Shri Krishna's Dwarka submerged in 1443 BC:

 

THE QUEST: An underwater archaeologist of the ASI examines an ancient structure off the shore of Dwaraka; a circular structure on the shore at Dwaraka; fragment of an ancient structure found underwater; remains of an ancient structure in the forecourt of the Dwarakadhish temple.

For thousands of years, we Indians have believed in the divinity of Shri Krishna. For us he was a Karmayogi par excellence who gave us action oriented philosophy of life in the form of Bhagavad Gita. But questions have constantly haunted us as to whether Shri Krishna was a historical character or is a mythical character and whether war of Mahabharata was actually fought or was it great poet Vyasa’s imagination.

Till recent past we did not have the wherewithal to search for and establish the truth. But modern scientific tools and techniques like computers with planetarium softwares, advancements in archaeological and marine archaeological techniques, earth-sensing satellite photography and thermo luminescence dating methods, all have made it possible to establish the authenticity and dating of many events narrated in ancient texts like Mahabharata. Recent archaeo-astronomical studies, results of marine-archaeological explorations and overwhelming archaeological evidence have established the historicity and dating of many events narrated in the epic Mahabharata. These have led to the conclusion that Mahabharata War was actually fought in 1478 BC and Shri Krishna’s Dwarka City got submerged under the sea in 1443 BC.

Astronomical Evidence - In the Mahabharata references to sequential solar and lunar eclipses as also references to some celestial observations have been made. Dr. R.N.Iyengar, the great scientist of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore examined relevant references and searched for the compatible dates by making use of planetarium software (PVIS and EZC). He concluded that most of these references were internally consistent and that the eclipses and celestial observations of Mahabharata belong to the period 1493 BC - 1443 BC of Indian History. (refer Indian Journal of History of Science/38.2/2003/77-115).

In the Mahabharata there are references to three sequential solar eclipses and to some other planetary positions. Reference to the first solar eclipse comes in the Sabha Parva (79.29), graphically described by Vidur when Pandavas start their journey to the forest on being banished for 12 years of life in exile and one year of life incognito after they had lost everything in the game of dice. After 13 years of exile and incognito life, Pandavas came back to Hastinapur and they demanded their kingdom back but Duryodhana refused. Several efforts to prevent war failed and war became imminent. There is a reference to the second solar eclipse in the Bhisma Parva (3.29), following a lunar eclipse occurring within the same fortnight a few days before the actual war of Mahabharata. These eclipses occurred after 14-15 years of the first solar eclipse the epic also refers to some unfavourable planetary positions between the second solar eclipse and the beginning of the war on Kartika Purnima (Bhisma Parva 3.14 to 3.19). On Kartika Krishna Ashtami, Saturn was near Rohini and Mars was between Jayestha and Anuradha. Twenty two days later, on Kartika Purnima, Saturn was near Rohini, Mars was near Jayestha, a rough planet (probably uranus) was between Citra and Swati. Another white planet (possibly Jupiter) had moved from Purva-bhadra to Uttar-bhadra. Reference to the third solar eclipse comes in the Mausala Parva (2.19 to 2.20) occurring in the 36th year of the Mahabharata War. This was visible from the city of Dwarka which is stated to have been subsequently submerged under the sea. For these observations to be internally consistent there should have been three solar eclipses within a period of 50 years. The first one and the second one after a gap of 14-15 years should have been visible from Kurukshetra whereas the third solar eclipse should have been visible from Dwarka after 35 years of the second one.

From references to these eclipses and celestial observations Dr. Iyengar prepared the list of compatible dates and concluded that these eclipses alongwith the stated planetary positions were observable during the period 1493 BC - 1443 BC because the planetarium software shows that:

(i) On 19.3.1493 BC there was solar eclipse visible from Kurukshetra.

(ii) After about 15 years, on 1st June, 1478 BC, there was a solar eclipse visible from Kurukshetra which was preceded by a lunar eclipse during the same fortnight on 16th May 1478 BC.

(iii) About 3 months later, there was Kartika Krishna Ashtami on 20.9.1478 BC when Saturn was near Rohini (in Bhar-Kritika) and Mars was between Jayestha and Anuradha.

(iv) Three weeks later, on 12.10.1478 BC, there was Kartika Purnima when the war actually started. On that day, Saturn was still near Rohini (as it actually moved from Bhar Kritt to Rohini between 1.6.1478 BC to 10.11.1478 BC). Mars was near Jayestha. Uranus, which probably is referred to as rough planet, was between Citra and Swati. Jupiter had moved from Purva-bhadra to Uttar-bhadra on 12.10.1478 BC.

(v) In the 36th year after Mahabharata war in October 1478 BC, a solar eclipse could be seen from Dwarka on 7.1.1443 BC.

Thus as per archaeo-astronomical calculations, Mahabharata War was fought in 1478 BC and Dwarka City got submerged in 1443 BC. These conclusions arrived at are corroborated by marine archeologists, archeologists as well as by the historians who have analysed the genealogy charts of rulers given in Puranas.

Marine Archaeological explorations around Dwarka - The on-shore and off-shore explorations carried out in and around Dwarka during last 50 years have revealed that Dwarka was a prosperous city in ancient times which was destroyed and reconstructed several times. The work of great excavators like Shri Z.D.Ansari and Shri M.S.Mate and chance discovery of temples of 9th century AD and 1st century AD buried near the present Dwarkadhish Temple prompted setting of a Marine Archaeology Centre jointly by National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). A project for marine archaeological explorations in Dwarka was initiated under the dynamic leadership of great marine archaeologist Dr. S.R.Rao who has the distinction of being awarded “The World Ship Trust Award” for outstanding research done in this field.

Dr. S.R.Rao’s team consisted of expert under-water explorers, trained diver-photographers and experienced archaeologists. The technique of geophysical survey was combined with the use of echo-sounders, mud-penetrators, sub-bottom profilers and under-water metal detectors. This team carried out twelve marine archaeological expeditions between the year 1983 to 1992 AD and articles/antiquities recovered were sent to Physical Research Laboratory for dating. By using thermoluminescence, carbon dating and other modern scientific techniques, artifacts were found to be belonging to the period 15th century BC to 18th century BC. In his great work “The Lost City of Dwarka”, Dr. S.R.Rao has given graphic and scientific details of these discoveries and artifacts. He has concluded that:

(i) The land for building the city of Dwarka had been reclaimed from the sea between 16th to 15th century BC and a fortified city was built on boulder packing with outer gateway to the sea and inner gateway to Gomti river. This corroborates the references in the Epic Mahabharata as per which Dwarka city was built by Shri Krishna after reclaiming the land from the sea and it was built only a few years before the Game of Dice in 1493 BC.



(ii) The thermoluminescence dating of lustrous Redware Pottery items found during explorations revealed that these were 3520 years old i.e. around 16th-15th century BC.

(iii) the most famous rectangular seal with engraved motifs of bull, unicorn and goat found in trench UW6 in the sea bed was dated as belonging to 16th century BC. The seal corroborates the references made in the ancient manuscripts that every citizen of Dwarka was required to carry a mudra (seal) as a mark of identification.


3 animal headed mudra, votive jar and copper bell
(IV) a copper bell and a copper lota, brass-items including U-shaped objects with holes at both ends and a bronze bell, all were dated as belonging to 15th century BC. Stone anchors with double holes and triangular prismatic stone anchors recovered from under the sea were similar to the ones found in Lothal excavations belonging to 23rd century BC.

(v) A votive jar with seven characters inscribed was found. Reading based on Semitic-Indus-Phonetic value revealed that script is old Indo-Aryan and similar to the other Indus seal inscriptions. The date assigned to this votive jar and inscriptions are 15th-14th century BC.

(vi) Three iron nails and a stake, four potsherds and one small bottle of iron were dated 16th-15th century BC indicating limited use of iron.

Thus, conclusions arrived at after carrying out these under-water archaeological explorations support and validate the dates arrived at through astronomical calculations. These also prove that the reconstructed city of Dwarka was a prosperous port town and that it was in existence for about 60-70 years in the 15th century BC before being submerged under the sea in the year 1443 BC.



artist's view based on marine archaeological reports and sumerged wall

Other Archaeological excavations - Most of the cities referred to in Mahabharata e.g.Mathura, Hastinapur, Indraprastha, Kurukshetra and Dwarka were situated in the territories which are at present known as Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, UP, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Extensive excavations carried out in these areas have shown that Indus Civilisation flourished in these areas between 3400-1500 BC. The excavations carried out in Lothal in Gujarat have proved the existence of very advanced civilisation between 2300 BC to 1600 BC. The town was divided into the dock, the arcopolis and the industrial, commercial, residential sectors. Artifacts recovered include gold jewellery and copper utensils. Archaeological surveys at Kalibhangan in Rajasthan have identified the existence of a planned fortified city between 2500-1700 BC. Artifacts excavated include baked bricks, semi precious stones, copper and bronze articles. Photographs taken by American earth-sensing satellite known as Landsat have confirmed that the river Saraswati described in the Rigveda as flowing from the “mountain to the sea” was indeed a great river before 2000 BC. Archaeological explorations on the ancient beds of the Saraswati e.g. at Kunal near Kurukshetra and at Banawali in Punjab have confirmed the existence of highly advanced civilisation during 3400-1500 BC. Artifacts excavated include silver jewellery and articles made of copper and bronze. Taken as a whole archaeological excavations establish the continuous evolution of Sindhu-Saraswati civilisation between 3400-1500 BC culminating in the Mahabharata period. The inhabitants of all the excavated places had similar ethnic features, spoke similar languages, followed similar religious rites which were vedic in nature, knew about horse and rice, had advanced knowledge of mathematics, made extensive use of copper and had discovered the use of iron. These discoveries match with the details in the Epic as also with the belief of the historians that the use of iron was discovered in India in 16th century BC. The War of Mahabharata acted as a watershed, putting an end to the ‘copper age’ and ushering in the ‘iron age’ in 15th century BC. Archaeological excavations thus support the conclusion that Mahabharata War was fought in 1478 BC.

Attempts have also been made to determine the year of Mahabharata War from the details available in scriptures and ancient texts which include Puranas. When events are unrecorded for quite some time and they are passed on to the succeeding generations through Shruti and Smriti traditions, the inaccuracies and myths get mixed with reality on account of differences in the perceptions of different individuals. However, it is for the objective rational individual mind to find out and differentiate facts from fictions. Important informations, including the genealogy charts of rulers after Yudhishtira, are available in Srimad Bhagvatam, Matsya Puran and Vayu Purana. On the basis of such evidence, famous historian Lord Cunningham assigned the year 1424 BC to the War of Mahabharata. Another historian Shri S.B.Roy in his work ‘Date of Mahabharata Battle’ also arrived at the same conclusion by combining the literary and the astronomical route.

All these are very important pieces of evidence which prove that epic Mahabharata is not merely a myth but is history and its central character Shri Krishna was a man with extra-ordinary abilities, around whom legends were built over the years. The common man started having faith in the divinity of this Supreme Hero, who for them is God incarnate.

After knowing all this, there can be no doubt in the mind of any rational person that what has been taught to us in our school history books is not all correct. As per our history books, Aryans came to India from Central Asia in their war Chariots in 15th century BC. They defeated and destroyed the natives who were “aboriginal savages”. According to this theory both the Vedas and the Sanskrit language were brought into India by these Aryan invaders. The most influential proponents of this theory were Max Muller and William Jones who were linguists and they arrived at this conclusion on being struck by the affinities between Sanskrit and European languages. This theory is not supported by any archaeological, physical or scientific evidence. When subsequently archaeological excavations at more than 1100 sites scattered all over major parts of India proved beyond doubt the existence of flourishing Indus civilisation during 3400 BC to 1500 BC then the proponents of Aryan invasion theory reacted by suggesting that the invading Aryans had defeated the ‘Dravidian inhabitants’ of the Indus valley, least realising that such theoretical assumption would change the character of invading Aryans from bringers of civilisation to destroyers of great civilisation and culture developed by the native Indians.

The four sets of evidences referred to earlier point more to the probability that nobody had come to India from Central Asia or from any other place. In fact, Indo-Aryan, kings and warriors had come to Kurukshetra in their war Chariots from all over India to participate in the Mahabharata War and that a whole lot of people got killed in that war. The killers as well as the killed, the victors as well as the vanquished, the charioteers as well as the foot soldiers, all were Indians who had already experienced thousands of years of prosperous and advanced civilisation. Archaeology also records a continuous indigenous evolution of vedic civilisation going back to 5000 BC at sites like Mehrgarh and Koldi. It is sad that, so far we have not known even a fraction about our ancient civilisation and cultural achievements. Detailed factual data in our ancient texts and sanskrit manuscripts is beckoning us to carry out further researches. By making use of most modern scientific instruments and techniques we must discover the true facts about our most ancient past. If we do that, we may be able to gather supportive evidences to reassert that ours was the oldest civilisation in the world that flourished in India and that our ancestors i.e. vedic Aryans had travelled from India to various parts of Asia and Europe to spread our knowledge, civilisation and culture. When this is recorded we would be able to hold our heads higher and will be able to take on the future with greater confidence.






 A video of the find and its related submerge can be seen here: 

Bibliography
1) “The lost city of Dawarka’ by Shri S.R. Rao (Emeritus scientist and adviser, Marine Archeology), head of Team for Exploration in Dwarka by Marine Archeology Centre. Aditya Prakashan , New Delhi.

2) R.N. Iyengar’s “Internal consistency of eclipses and planetary positions in Mahabharata” (Indian Journal of History of science, 38.2(2003) 77-115

3) ‘Mahabharata’ Translated into English from original Sanskrit Text by M.M. Dutt (Parimal Publications, Delhi) – 7 Parvas (volumes)

4) “Lothal – A Harappan Port Town” By S.R. Rao – Vol. I & II, Archaeological Survey of India.
5) “The Saraswati flows on” by B.B. Lal, Aryan Book International, New Delhi.
6) “Date of Mahabharata War” by Shri S.B. Roy, The Academic Press Gurgoan.
7) “The Astronomical Code of the Rig Veda” by Subhash Kar, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd, Delhi.
8) “Reference Encyclopedia (India – 2001)” By Hanna Myer, joint imprint created by Mermaid center, Bangalore & Indmark Publishing New Delhi.
9) “Vedic Aryans and the Origins of Civilisation” by Navaratna S. Rajaram and David Frawlley – Voice of India, New Delhi
10) Ansari, Z.D. And Mate M.S. ( 1966) Excavations of Dwarka, Deccan College, Puna.
11) Rao, S.R. (1988) ‘ Marine Archaeology in India’ in “ 40 years of Research – A CSIR Overview”, Delhi.
12) Rao, S.R. (1991) “Dawn and Devolution of the Indus Civilisation” Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi. 
13) http://hindu.com/2007/02/23/stories/2007022301242200.htm 
14) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarka