[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 59 (Tuesday, May 12, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E836]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    INDIAN NUCLEAR TEST NO SURPRISE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 12, 1998

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, although our intelligence 
community was apparently surprised by India's recent nuclear test, it 
was no surprise to anyone who has been following the situation there.
  On February 13, 1994, CBS' ``60 Minutes'' produced an expose of 
India's nuclear program. Reporter Steve Kroft reported that to India, 
``nothing seems as important as its membership in the nuclear club.'' 
He interviewed a retired university professor named Direndra Sharma who 
said, the ``Nuclear power program is to feed our nuclear-weapons 
program. I have no doubt about it. Nuclear power and nuclear weapons--
two are Siamese twins. They cannot be separated.''
  This report makes it clear that even then, India's nuclear program 
was working to develop the weapons that India exploded Monday. It is a 
very distressing report.
  I would like to place the transcript of this disturbing report in the 
Record in the wake of this destabilizing test, and I strongly urge my 
colleagues to read it carefully.

                           ANOTHER CHERNOBYL?

       STEVE KROFT: Nothing frightens the world like a nuclear 
     bomb falling into the wrong hands or a nuclear accident like 
     the one that occurred at Chernobyl, which is why the 
     international community has paid a lot of attention to 
     countries like North Korea, Iran and Iraq, and to the aging, 
     decrepit nuclear reactors of the former Soviet Union. But one 
     country has largely escaped scrutiny--India--where nothing 
     seems as important as its membership in the nuclear club. 
     Over the years, it has steadfastly kept international safety 
     inspectors out of its facilities, while pursuing one of the 
     most ambitious, secret and potentially dangerous nuclear 
     programs in the world.
       (Footage of Indian rain forest; of Indian people in common 
     settings)
       KROFT: (Voiceover) Deep in the heart of the Indian rain 
     forest, the Indian government is building two brand-new 
     nuclear power plants of outmoded design, surrounded by the 
     kind of secrecy and security that you'd expect to find at a 
     military installation. The Indian government says the 
     reactors are needed to help lift more than 800 million people 
     out of poverty and into the 20th century--that nuclear power 
     is vital to India's future prosperity.
       (Footage of meeting)
       Unidentified Man #1: Mr. Sharma from India.
       Dr. DHIRENDRA SHARMA (Indian Activist): Thank you.
       KROFT: (Voiceover) But Dr. Dhirendra Sharma, a retired 
     university professor and one of the few people in India 
     willing to take on the government-controlled nuclear 
     establishment, says there's a reason why the country's 
     nuclear power plants are treated like military installations.
       Dr. SHARMA: Nuclear power program is to feed our nuclear-
     weapons program. I have no doubt about it. Nuclear energy and 
     nuclear weapons--the two are Siamese twins. They cannot be 
     separated.
       (Footage of weapons plant; of Indira Gandhi; of Indian 
     nuclear power plants)
       KROFT: (Voiceover) They can't be separated, Dr. Sharma 
     says, because the spent fuel from those nuclear power plants 
     is needed to make nuclear bombs for the Indian military.
       When the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi 
     exploded a nuclear device 20 years ago, the United States and 
     Canada stopped helping India build reactors. And to this day, 
     the sale to India of nuclear fuel, vital spare parts and 
     critical safety systems for its nuclear plants is forbidden 
     by most Western governments. But that hasn't stopped India 
     from making more nuclear bombs and building more nuclear 
     plants, even though Sharma says India probably can't maintain 
     the safety standards that the high-risk technology demands.
       Today, the Indian nuclear program is a dangerous failure. 
     Its power plants are all operating at less than 50 percent of 
     capacity, and some are even suspected of using more 
     electricity than they generate. There's little oversight, no 
     independent regulation, and for the most part, Indian 
     reactors are off-limits to international inspectors.
       (Footage of nuclear plant control room)
       KROFT: (Voiceover) The most recent trouble was in March at 
     Narora, a nuclear power plant built in an earthquake zone, 
     barely 155 miles from the capital of New Delhi. A major fire 
     broke out at the plant, knocking out all of the power in the 
     control room.
       How serious was it?
       Dr. SHARMA: I would say that it was touch and go.
       (Footage of regulatory report)
       KROFT: (Voiceover) And he isn't the only one who says so. A 
     US Nuclear Regulatory Commission report called the incident a 
     ``close call.'' Just how close may never be known, Sharma 
     says, because Indian law gives the government the power to 
     operate in almost total secrecy when it comes to nuclear 
     matters.
       Dr. SHARMA: It is forbidden to talk, plan, write, 
     investigate about past, present or future nuclear power 
     programs. All this is under the law as forbidden.
       KROFT: Aside from the emergency at Narora, the Indian 
     government has admitted to 146 other nuclear mishaps--and 
     that's just last year. Five of them ended up killing people. 
     There was an explosion at the country's main fuel fabrication 
     plant; a jet fire at a heavy water facility that sent flames 
     shooting 130 feet into the air; and an underground leak of 
     radioactive water at a research facility.
       (Footage of government building)
       KROFT: (Voiceover) That information, but very few details, 
     was provided by India's Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, the 
     government-controlled watchdog group that's responsible for 
     nuclear safety. It's chairman, Dr. A. Gopalakrishnann, makes 
     no apologies for the fact that India is one of the only 
     nuclear power-producing countries in the world to resist 
     safety reviews by the International Atomic Energy Agency in 
     Vienna.
       Why don't you allow safety inspectors from the . . .
       Dr. A. GOPALAKRISHNANN: (Chairman, Indian Atomic Energy 
     Regulatory Board): Why should we--why--why . . . .
       KROFT: . . . international agency to come in and in--and 
     inspect?
       Dr. A. GOPALAKRISHNANN: Why should we do it? What is the 
     need for it?
       KROFT: Almost every other country in the world does.
       Dr. A. GOPALAKRISHNANN: I don't know. What--for--they're 
     coming to look whether the reactors are safe? Or coming to 
     see what--what they are doing there?
       (Footage of Rawatbhala facility)
       KROFT: (Voiceover) Whatever they're doing here at the 
     Rawatbhala nuclear facility in the state of Rajasthan, 
     they're not doing it very well. The plant has one of the 
     worst operating records in the country. Unit number one was 
     shut down for three years because of a crack in the reactor's 
     endshield.
       Dr. A. GOPALAKRISHNANN: Yes, there was a crack in the 
     reactor endshield. That doesn't mean . . .
       KROFT: And you shut the plant down for three years.

       

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