My conversation with Nuclear Intelligence Weekly

This was in line with what nearly every other nuclear country
in the world had done, but it remained defensive. Indian
nuclear regulator the Atomic Energy Review Board (AERB)
noted that “all the reactors in India are designed to withstand
the effects of earthquake and tsunamis of specific magnitudes
which are decided based on conservative criteria.”

This was probably not enough. “The number of people
who have lost faith in nuclear power has also increased,”
retired Ambassador T.P. Sreenivasan, who is intimately
familiar with the Indian nuclear scene, told NIW. “Many are
now debating whether India should go on the path of what
the Germans have done. There are demands of that kind.”
Indeed, even Sreenivasan, despite his years of nuclear
advocacy and four years serving as India’s ambassador to the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is having
doubts. “Even I’ve been saying that maybe in the long term
that it’s better to look at alternatives, and to have an action
plan that could move away from nuclear power,”
Sreenivasan said.

“What you see on television every day is very frightening,”
he continued, and “the Japanese are the most disciplined
and scientifically advanced people on the planet.”
India would be unable to respond as effectively as the
Japanese have, he said.