THX_1138 Posted July 27, 2008 Posted July 27, 2008 Suffice to say, i am fairly familiar with the basic details of nuclear power generation ( particularly CANDUU reactors and most of India's current reactors are CANDUU). I think its implicit that if this deal goes through, India will be building more nuclear power plants- we arnt just buying this fuel to simply safeguard our supply for the current operational plants, so this supply has to go to new plants that are in the picture. And we are still in the dark to the exact layout of those plants and if they will be more rewarding towards bomb-making byproducts. In either case, as you said yourself, it is not impossible to derive enriched uranium from the byproducts. ( Regardless of which type of reactor is used, the depleted rods WILL have certain trace of U-235. Given that India is a master of gas centrifuge technology( this is, believe it or not, almost identical apparatus to commercial butter production!), it then becomes a question of supply: with enough supply of depleted matter, we can seive out enough fissile material for bomb making. yes, i am aware of the stringency of IAEA, but i am also aware of India's legendary capabilities in corruption. Frankly, i am not as confident as you that given this deal materializes, IAEA will be actually able to prevent India using the leftovers as it sees fit or atleast, some part of it. we aren't a country run by a megalomaniac despot or an exceedingly corrupt single party regime with dreams of global hegemony. both sides of the parliament have realized one thing: in order to maintain power, what matters most is not communal politics or foreign policy, but the local economy. and economic growth must be universal and inclusive of everyone who is willing. for that measure, you need energy. when you can produce one sliver of evidence that the nuclear fuel imported from the united states is being diverted for production of a nuclear arsenal that is both superfluous and inconsequential, then maybe we can talk about this matter. as for corruption in india, this is nuclear fuel that we are talking about. not mangoes grown in your backyard. this stuff is closely monitored by us and by others with a unique interest in where and what the fuel is used for. and consider the ramifications of abuse of this treaty? if we do shift from a fossil fuel to a nuclear powered nation (still long ways out though), any endevor that might jeopardize this treaty would eventually lead to its nullification and an interruption in the fuel supply that would adversely set back our economy. heck, even a media disclosure of such a possible abuse of the imported fuel would be enough to soil all the hard work. so, as always, come back when you have evidence. you have what i call an unhealthy skepticism: both irrational and unsubstantiated. while being skeptic keeps us safe, being unreasonably skeptical is usually indicative of an inherent bias.
CC1981 Posted July 28, 2008 Posted July 28, 2008 :hysterical: Umm.. whats so funny about that ? i said BASIC details...like the BASIC outline of the step by step process of nuclear power gen. that any self respecting science grad from university would know or atleast, understand when explained to them.......seriously..we arnt talking about CERN here..
CC1981 Posted July 28, 2008 Posted July 28, 2008 this stuff is closely monitored by us and by others with a unique interest in where and what the fuel is used for. Actually, right now, it is not closely monitored by anyone except India's own nuclear agency. What i mean to say is, sure, the SECURITY of the material is not questionable and our nuclear material certainly wont end up in the hands of local goondas or rogue nations like across the border. But as of now, India does whatever the fook it wants with the byproducts and it answers to nobody. If the Army wants xyz amount of bomb-grade material, it gets it, how much is that, etc. is purely a matter of 'national security' today. I realize that IAEA verification/membership would require stringent checks and control of the materials (which i admit, i don't know how much rigour is at what stage). But my point is, if Indian Army is right now diverting byproducts for bombs (which we have no idea if they are doing right now or not), they can keep doing so, given the legendary levels of corruption in our society. ofcourse, if you think that the whole IAEA monitoring process is uncorruptable, that'd settle the issue more or less but as i said earlier, i am not anti-this scenario simply because as you said, nuclear brinkmanship is superfluous and if anything, more bombs produce will give us nuclear parity with the Panda. Whether one uses the nukes or not, the level of nuclear ability of your nation ( you got 50 bombs ? 5000 ? small ? big ? can take out all your cities or can hit only your army targets) does factor in nuclear brinkmanship during the odd moments of crisis. you have what i call an unhealthy skepticism: both irrational and unsubstantiated Perhaps. I do realize that my view of politics is very cynical. Just havnt found a reason yet to change that view.
Guest dada_rocks Posted July 28, 2008 Posted July 28, 2008 Don't question him otherwise he might point you to some uncle of his who has doctorate in nuclear physics and don't ask how it makes him authotrity on nuclear power generation.. AHe knows that uncle and that should be good enough:haha:
Guest dada_rocks Posted July 28, 2008 Posted July 28, 2008 we aren't a country run by a megalomaniac despot or an exceedingly corrupt single party regime with dreams of global hegemony. both sides of the parliament have realized one thing: in order to maintain power, what matters most is not communal politics or foreign policy, but the local economy. and economic growth must be universal and inclusive of everyone who is willing. for that measure, you need energy. when you can produce one sliver of evidence that the nuclear fuel imported from the united states is being diverted for production of a nuclear arsenal that is both superfluous and inconsequential, then maybe we can talk about this matter. as for corruption in india, this is nuclear fuel that we are talking about. not mangoes grown in your backyard. this stuff is closely monitored by us and by others with a unique interest in where and what the fuel is used for. and consider the ramifications of abuse of this treaty? if we do shift from a fossil fuel to a nuclear powered nation (still long ways out though), any endevor that might jeopardize this treaty would eventually lead to its nullification and an interruption in the fuel supply that would adversely set back our economy. heck, even a media disclosure of such a possible abuse of the imported fuel would be enough to soil all the hard work. so, as always, come back when you have evidence. you have what i call an unhealthy skepticism: both irrational and unsubstantiated. while being skeptic keeps us safe, being unreasonably skeptical is usually indicative of an inherent bias. He got brief from Karat and nothing else matters.. but this time comrade Karat is for safegaurd of nuclear arsenal.. I guess some message got lost in translation
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