The politics of nuclear power THE STATE AND NUCLEAR POWER: CONFLICT AND CONTROL IN THE WESTERN WORLD

by Joseph A. Camilleri,

Wheatsheaf Books, Brighton, UK, 1984, 347 pp

INDIA'S NUCLEAR ESTATE

by Sharma Dhirendra

Lancers Publishers, New Delhi

Camilleri has provided us with a most comprehensive examination of what may loosely be termed the politics of nuclear power. His principal concerns are the role of the 'advanced capitalist state' in the establishment and de- velopment of the nuclear industry, and the state's response to the nation- al and international conflicts which enveloped nuclear power in the 1970s.

Range of subjects

A glance at the chapter headings - 'Origins of the peaceful atom', 'The emerging nuclear state', 'The state's authority under challenge', 'The state and the crisis of legitimacy', 'The impact of recession', 'The politics of the fuel-cycle', 'International nuclear politics', 'Nuclear power and the crisis of capitalism' - shows how widely he had ranged. It also betrays Camilleri's Marxist intellectual sympathies, although his analysis in fact draws little upon Marxist thought (does Marxism indeed have anything to offer the study of nuclear power?). It is a balanced and thoughtful account and a useful reference book, particu- larly where nuclear power's political evolution in the countries he singles out for attention (Brazil, France, FR Germany, Sweden, the UK and the USA) is concerned.

Indian nuclear policy In comparison, Sharma's book is nar- rower in scope, being confined tc India, and less polished in style, struc-

ture and command of detail. Yet it is the more memorable and in some respects the more sophisticated of the two books. It is a powerful and angry condemnation of India's nuclear poli- cies, which has caused such offence in high places that he has been dismissed from his post at the Science Policy Centre at the Nehru University in New Delhi. It is a story of economic waste, professional incompetence, and political corruption and misjudge- ment on a grand scale, in a country where, as Sharma constantly reminds us, the great majority of the popula- tion lives in abject poverty, and capital for economic development is extreme- ly scarce. The nuclear explosion in 1974, which led to the withdrawal of foreign technological assistance and has virtually crippled the nuclear pow- er programme, was only the most dramatic in a long history of question- able policy decisions. The Narora Atomic Power Project (NAPP) is being built, for instance, in a seismic- ally active region, with the massive populations of Bihar, West Bengal and Calcutta downstream on the Ganges whose waters will be used for cooling (the seasonal variations in flow are an additional problem). And why? According to Professor Sharma, Mrs Ghandhi sanctioned the project, against professional advice, in order to buy political allegiances in Uttar Pradesh where her party risked elec- toral defeat.

Blame Sharma may have gone over the top in the degree to which he apportions blame to leading politicians and scien- tists - Nehru and Mrs Gandhi, Babha, Ramanna and Sethna are subjected to the strongest attacks; and the reader may wish at times that he had gone to greater lengths to substantiate his claims. Nevertheless his story carries the ring of truth, and his focus on individuals and institutions provides a much greater sense of political reality than we find in Camilleri's book. Indeed the greatest weakness in Camilleri's account lies in his unsubtle

Book reviews

treatment of 'the state' which remains to the reader a black box without internal structure or dynamics. Shar- ma's depiction of a nuclear 'estate', managed by a 'sub-government' which exploits the machinery and economic resources of the state while circum- venting (or always attempting to cir- cumvent) democratic controls, pro- vides an altogether more powerful approach.

Feudal relationships There may be fewer checks and ba- lances in the Indian political system, but are the almost feudal relationships which Sharma describes as character- izing the Indian nuclear estate so unusual? In the UK, for instance, Parliament has played virtually no part in nuclear decision-making (nor has the Department of Energy), and it is only in the last decade that public enquiries have become important. In the main, public policy has rested on the haphazard outcome of baronial contests between the heads of the Atomic Energy Authority, the CEGB and the power plant firms, who have sought approval for thier preferred policies by appealing directly to prime ministers and other political leaders, thereby short-circuitinglnormal admin- istrative channels.

Crisis and threat

Where CamiUeri speaks of nuclear power bringing a crisis upon the late capitalist state, Sharma speaks of it being a threat to the democratic sys- tem. Both may be guilty of hyperbole, particularly at this time when there is so little economic interest in ordering nuclear power plant. Of the two au- thors, however, it is Sharma that is most convincing. Especially where military technology is concerned, bringing the great scientific and in- dustrial estates to heel remains, for countries of all political complexions, one of the supreme challenges of our age.

William Walker Science Policy Research Unit

University of Sussex Bnghton, UK

ENERGY POLICY September 1984 365