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Nuclear Scientist, 70, a Folk Hero, Is Elected India's President



Index:



Nuclear Scientist, 70, a Folk Hero, Is Elected India's President

FOCUS: Antinuke movement suffers setbacks after Sept. 11

FOCUS: No relief yet for A-bomb survivors abroad

Entergy sets deadline to restore plant buy's terms

TEPCO chief wants to meet Fukushima gov. over nuclear tax hike

=======================================



Nuclear Scientist, 70, a Folk Hero, Is Elected India's President



EW DELHI, July 18 (NY Times) — An exuberant and eccentric 70-year-old 

scientist who is considered the father of India's nuclear missile 

program was overwhelmingly elected president today by legislators. 



The vote for the largely ceremonial office reflected both the growing 

disdain of the country for professional politicians and its ambition 

to be taken seriously on the world stage. 

 

The scientist, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, a boatman's son who rose to 

become a nuclear folk hero in India, emerged as the surprise 

candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the ruling Hindu nationalist 

party, only a month ago. He won nearly 90 percent of the votes cast 

by legislators. 



A best-selling author, he functions as a kind of nationalist self-

help guru who vows to use science, technology and nuclear and space 

research to allow India to develop, assert itself and achieve 

greatness. 



He has emerged as a cult figure since he helped oversee India's 

successful nuclear tests in 1998. His latest book, "Ignited Minds: 

Unleashing the Power Within India," blares his can-do, nationalist 

message. 



"India has to be transformed into a developed nation," Dr. Kalam said 

after being elected today, "a prosperous nation and a healthy nation, 

with a value system." 



Dr. Kalam, an ethnic Tamil, will be the third Muslim to serve as 

president of Hindu-dominated India. Nominating him allowed the ruling 

party to bolster its secular credentials after being condemned for 

allowing Hindu extremists to kill hundreds of Muslims in Gujarat 

earlier this year. 



But critics question Dr. Kalam's scientific credentials, say he has 

never truly fought for Muslim causes and call him a political novice 

unprepared for Indian political combat. Leftists accuse him of 

nuclear jingoism and challenge his support for vast high-technology 

projects, like an unmanned Indian mission to the moon, which they 

contend will waste millions.



"His scientific ideology is more of society being at the disposal of 

science," said Sita Ram Yechury, a spokesman for the leftist parties 

opposing Dr. Kalam, "rather than science being at the disposal of 

society." 



But such criticism is faint in a country where Dr. Kalam has become a 

mythic figure. A bachelor, vegetarian and amateur musician and poet, 

Dr. Kalam brings an unorthodox style to the 340-room presidential 

palace. Until now, he has professed to live the life of an ascetic, 

reading poetry and strumming the vina, a traditional guitarlike 

instrument, in his spare time. His trademark is the long mop of gray 

hair that flops down each side of his face. 



Dr. Kalam's best-selling autobiography, "Wings of Fire," and a 

children's book, "Eternal Quest," recount his life and times. 



Born on Oct. 15, 1931, in Rameswaram, a spit of land that juts out 

between Madras and Sri Lanka, he excelled in school while selling 

newspapers to support his father. 



The idyllic account of his life that follows features inspirational 

verse from the Koran, the Bhagavad-Gita, T. S. Eliot, Lewis Carroll, 

Benjamin Franklin, Dr. Kalam himself and others.



It describes Muslims and Hindus growing up in harmony, and teachers 

and family members helping him get into boarding school and college. 

Dr. Kalam went on to study aeronautical engineering at the 

prestigious Madras Institute of Technology. He never received a 

Ph.D., but he is always referred to as "doctor" in India, having 

received 30 honorary doctorates and the country's three highest 

civilian honors.



His only visit to the United States came in 1963, when he spent about 

five months touring NASA rocket centers. 



Throughout his career, Dr. Kalam, who declined a request for an 

interview, worked tirelessly to ensure that Indian technology could 

succeed, according to Dr. K. Kasturirangan, now the head of India's 

space program and a colleague of Dr. Kalam's for 35 years.



"He is a humble, he lives a spartan life," Dr. Kasturirangan said, 

listing the qualities that attract an Indian public weary of 

political corruption. "He is deeply committed to any cause he 

undertakes in life."



After working on the team that developed India's first satellite 

vehicle in the 1970's, Dr. Kalam ran a program that developed five 

missiles to counter Chinese and Pakistani systems in the 1980's. When 

the Bharatiya Janata Party took office in 1998, he served as 

scientific adviser to the Ministry of Defense and lobbied for nuclear 

tests.



Indian tests that year set off an international outcry and an arms 

race with Pakistan. But Dr. Kalam argues that nuclear weapons are a 

deterrent that helped prevent another war between India and Pakistan 

this spring.



Dr. Kalam, who takes office July 25, will have limited power under 

India's parliamentary system. Expected to serve as an evenhanded 

arbiter, the president breaks ties in Parliament, can call elections 

and can decide which party can form a government.



Dr. Kalam will also have the bully pulpit to argue for development 

projects that he says will eliminate poverty in India by 2020. Groups 

he helped establish have developed prosthetic limbs from lightweight 

materials from the missile programs. Another distributes information 

on weather, crops and genetically altered farm animals to farmers.



Opponents may continue to attack him as a yes man for Hindu 

nationalists, a proponent of militarism and creator of an Indian 

military-industrial complex. But his upbeat message is likely to 

continue to drown them out.



"Nations consist of people," his new book begins. "And with their 

effort, a nation can accomplish all it could ever want."

---------------



FOCUS: Antinuke movement suffers setbacks after Sept. 11



HIROSHIMA, July 19 (Kyodo) - The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the 

United States and following events at home and abroad have cast a 

cold wind on the antinuclear and peace movement in Japan.



The movement, spearheaded by survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of 

Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has also been losing momentum as many 

survivors get older and the incident fades further into the past.



After Sept. 11, Japan sent the Self-Defense Forces to the Indian 

Ocean to provide U.S.-led forces with noncombat support and the Diet 

started debating long-shelved war contingency laws.



Outside Japan, the U.S. conducted several subcritical nuclear tests, 

including one with Britain, and tensions between nuclear-armed rivals 

India and Pakistan over the Kashimir region have flared up -- posing 

the threat that the world's first nuclear war could be unleashed in 

South Asia.



''We have an imminent sense of crisis for war at home and abroad,'' 

said Sunao Tsuboi, secretary general of the Hiroshima branch of the 

Japan Confederation of A-Bomb and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations 

(Hidankyo).



''To make the matter worse, nuclear weapons could be used (in the 

India and Pakistan conflict). Because we are A-bomb survivors, we 

cannot help being sensitive to the issues of nuclear weapons.''



Tsuboi was 20 years old and was walking to Hiroshima University when 

the world's first atomic bomb exploded on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945.



He was tossed about 10 meters by the blast and suffered heavy burns. 

He did not remember anything for about 40 days while he was treated 

at a hospital.



Controversial remarks made by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda 

hinting at a review of Japan's nonnuclear policies on May 31 fueled 

Tsuboi's anger and that of other A-bomb survivors.



The Japanese government adopted the three principles of not 

possessing, manufacturing nor allowing nuclear arms on Japanese soil 

in 1967. ''But Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is so cunning that he 

shrewdly fended off the issue,'' Tsuboi said.



Hidankyo planned to hold an A-bomb exhibition at the U.N. 

headquarters in New York from Sept. 18 to Oct. 27, which would mark 

the first such display at the venue.



However, the event has been foiled, or at least postponed, at the 

request of the United Nations on the grounds some pictures are too 

horrible to be seen by children viewers.



Despite the U.N.'s decision, Tsuboi, 77, has not yet given up his 

commitment to eradicate nuclear weapons around the globe.



''I regret we could not abolish all nuclear weapons in the 20th 

century,'' he said. ''But I must persevere for a while because I may 

be very feeble within several years.''



He still is looking for the possibility of holding the exhibition 

even by compromising to remove some of the photos, saying holding the 

event at the U.N. headquarters had a different meaning.



As a part of his mission to pass on A-bomb experiences to future 

generations, Tsuboi is collecting written testimonies from all the 

around 18,000 A-bomb survivors who are members of Hidankyo's 

Hiroshima branch.



Only 10% of A-bomb survivors have written about their experiences in 

the atomic bombings, he said.



''Even only a few words will be fine,'' he said. ''The important 

thing is for many A-bomb survivors to write some messages to pass 

them on to next generations.''



Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum Director Minoru Hataguchi is another 

person who feels that the antinuclear and peace movement is under 

threat.



Regarding subcritical nuclear tests conducted by the U.S. and 

Britain, Hataguchi said, ''Frankly, I also want to stage a sit-in 

protest (like other peace activists) but I cannot considering my 

position.''



Hataguchi also lamented that the staff members at the museum do not 

seem to be bothered by these setbacks for the movement.



''The memory of the A-bombings is indeed fading after 57 years, as 

even parents of contemporary children were born after World War II.''



About 350 visitors wrote down comments on the Sept. 11 terror attacks 

and the U.S.-led military campaign against Afghanistan in a notebook 

at the museum. Only two of them supported the military campaign, 

while all the rest were opposed.



This encouraged Hataguchi and has given him hope for the future.

------------------



FOCUS: No relief yet for A-bomb survivors abroad



OSAKA, July 19 (Kyodo) - Two rulings of district courts last year in 

Osaka and Nagasaki on two Korean survivors of the U.S. atomic 

bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 offered some hope for 

overseas A-bomb survivors who seek equal treatment with survivors in 

Japan.



However, the estimated 5,000 atomic bomb survivors living abroad will 

not receive any relief yet, as the government is contesting the 

rulings.



Despite protest from plaintiffs and their supporters, the government 

appealed to high courts on both cases, bringing the prospect of more 

years of waiting for the aging survivors.



Junko Ichiba, a representative of the Association of Citizens for 

Supporting South Korean Atomic Bomb Victims, said the Japanese 

government has kept excluding Korean A-bomb survivors from 

compensation and medical treatment under a Japanese law.



This policy apparently stems from a notion that the compensation 

issue over Japan's colonization of Korea from 1910 to 1945 was 

settled in 1965 when Japan and South Korea signed a basic treaty to 

normalize the ties, Ichiba said.



On June 1, 2001, the Osaka District Court ordered the Osaka 

prefectural government to pay Kwak Kwi Hoon, 78, a Korean survivor of 

the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, medical allowances.



Kwak was serving in Hiroshima in the Imperial Japanese Army when the 

United States dropped the atomic bomb on the western Japan city on 

Aug. 6, 1945.



The court said the government's refusal of payment to overseas A-bomb 

survivors could infringe Japan's Constitution, which stipulates that 

all people are equal under the law.



It was the first ruling in Japan saying overseas A-bomb bomb 

survivors are qualified to receive such allowances.



In the second ruling, on Dec. 26, the Nagasaki District Court ordered 

the state to pay a South Korean A-bomb survivor health care 

allowances.



Lee Kang Young, 74, was exposed to radiation when he was working at a 

munitions factory in Nagasaki in southwestern Japan when the U.S. 

dropped the atomic bomb on the city on Aug. 9, 1945.



The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare argues the current law does 

not apply to overseas A-bomb survivors. Chikafusa Aoyagi, an official 

in the ministry's Health Service Bureau, said, ''What is being 

disputed in the courts is interpretation of the law. The law 

technically cannot apply to people overseas.''



Ichiba said the ministry will not take any action until the Osaka 

High Court hands down a ruling on Kwak's case.



The high court finished hearing the government's appeal in February 

but has not yet set a date for a ruling. Even if the high court 

upholds the district court ruling, the state may appeal to the 

Supreme Court.



''If the case goes to the top court, it will take several years 

before a ruling is handed down, and meanwhile a 4 billion yen relief 

fund for South Korean A-bomb victims will be running out,'' Ichiba 

said.



Ichiba's group is demanding the government make additional 

contributions to the relief fund, which was set up in 1991 under an 

agreement between Japan and South Korea as a humanitarian gesture, 

although the government says it has no legal obligation.



Ichiba hopes the government may opt for settlement if public opinion 

can be brought to bear. However, lack of interest in the matter 

on the part of young people is a problem for her movement.



''It seems that young people consider the atomic bombings some 50 

years ago as ancient events in history,'' Ichiba said.



''In fact, very few people in Japan know there are Koreans among the 

A-bomb victims and survivors.''



There are an estimated 2,200 atomic bomb survivors in South Korea, 

900 in North Korea, 1,000 in the United States and 180 in 

South America, according to the health ministry.



Shuichi Adachi, a Hiroshima-based lawyer, is supporting A-bomb 

survivors living in Brazil. One of his clients is Takashi Morita, a 

78-

year-old Japanese living in Brazil.



Morita filed a suit against the government with the Hiroshima 

District Court on March 1. Several others are expected to take 

similar 

steps in the near future.



Meanwhile, the ministry launched a new relief program for overseas A-

bomb survivors from June 1 by shouldering their travel 

expenses for visits to Japan for medical treatment.



Aoyagi said the ministry started the 500 million yen project from a 

humanitarian perspective regardless of the outcomes of the court 

cases.



However, the project came under fire as it requires aging A-bomb 

survivors to travel to Japan. ''It is tough for aging people to board 

planes for hours to travel from South or North America,'' Adachi 

said.



Last year, health minister Chikara Sakaguchi took a ''political 

decision'' in settling a case with leprosy patients over compensation 

for 

the state's segregation policy. However, Adachi said he does not 

expect similar leadership from Sakaguchi or Prime Minister 

Junichiro Koizumi on the issue of overseas A-bomb survivors.



''Since supporting overseas A-bomb survivors cannot affect the 

popularity or vote-gathering ability of politicians, it does not 

appeal to 

lawmakers,'' Adachi said. ''That's why we must rely on court 

decisions.''

-----------------



Entergy sets deadline to restore plant buy's terms



NEW ORLEANS, July 18 (Reuters) - Entergy Corp. <ETR.N>, said Thursday 

it will not complete its $180 million purchase of a 

Vermont nuclear power station unless the electricity and natural gas 

company can share in any excess funds set aside to dismantle 

the plant.



Entergy, the second-largest U.S. operator of nuclear plants behind 

Exelon <EXC.N>, said it would let the deal expire on July 31 

unless the terms it had negotiated can be restored before then.



The company had said last week it might scrap the acquisition of 

Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station after state regulators said 

it could not keep any of the so-called decommissioning funds.



Entergy said its agreement with the sellers -- eight New England-

based utilities -- and the Department of Public Service had called 

for it to retain any excess funds if the plant closed before 2022.



Entergy and the sellers would share the funds equally if the plant 

was decommissioned after that date.



The company said it had made it clear that sharing in the potential 

excess funds was an integral part of the deal.



"Entergy believes that it is fundamentally inequitable for it to bear 

all of the downside decommissioning fund risk without the potential 

to share in the upside if funding levels for actual decommissioning 

costs turn out better than expected," the company said in a 

statement.



The Vermont Public Service Board said on June 13 that Entergy would 

have to give the decommissioning funds to the sellers for the 

benefit of their ratepayers.



Entergy said the board has denied its request for an amendment of the 

order, which approved the acquisition.



The company said it has told the sellers that it wants to meet with 

them as soon as possible to discuss the deal.



The largest of the sellers are Central Vermont Public Service Corp. 

<CV.N>, New England Power Co., Green Mountain Power Corp. 

<GMP.N> and Connecticut Light and Power Co.

------------------



TEPCO chief wants to meet Fukushima gov. over nuclear tax hike



TOKYO, July 19 (Kyodo) - Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) President 

Nobuya Minami said Friday he wants to hold talks soon 

with Fukushima Gov. Eisaku Sato over the prefectural assembly's 

recent decision to raise the local tax on nuclear fuel.



''It (The tax hike) is unacceptable by any measure. We will keep 

trying to seek understanding from the governor and other people 

concerned,'' Minami said at a press conference as he was speaking in 

the capacity of chairman of the Federation of Electric Power 

Companies.



On July 5, the Fukushima assembly unanimously voted to raise the 

local tax on nuclear fuel, paving the way for increasing the 

effective tax rate to 13.5% from the current 7%.



TEPCO strongly opposes the tax hike as it is the sole payer of the 

local tax. TEPCO runs 10 nuclear reactors at its two power plants in 

the prefecture.



The prefecture will need the approval of Public Management, Home 

Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Minister Toranosuke Katayama 

before it can put the tax hike into effect.

-------------------------------------------------

Sandy Perle

Director, Technical

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service

ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue

Costa Mesa, CA 92626



Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100  Extension 2306

Fax:(714) 668-3149



E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net

E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com



Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/



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