by Pervez Hoodbhoy
Physics Professor and
columnist gives a through study of the dangers of nuclear tragedy like
Fukushima specially in Pakistan and makes them aware of the dangers by writing
as follows:
The world is still
worried about Fukushima. But does Pakistan worry? Even as explosions tore
through the nuclear complex, the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Commission flatly
declared that a Fukushima could never happen here. It issued the following
vanilla guarantee: “Due to geographical differences between Pakistan and Japan,
the likelihood that similar extreme natural events may occur in the vicinity of
the country’s nuclear plants is quite small”.
Since two extreme natural events are unlikely
to be similar, this is technically correct. But how would Pakistan deal with
massive radioactive release after deliberate sabotage, a terrorist attack,
equipment failure, or operator error? Floods and earthquakes have shown that
the country can make piteous calls for international aid but lacks the capacity
to deal with disasters, natural and human-caused.
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