A US-based organisation has placed India at as low as 28th among 32 countries in the world with respect to security of nuclear materials. How accurate is the ranking and how justifi ed is the defensive Indian anger at this low ranking?

The Government of India is bent on maligning the struggle against the Koodankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu because it cannot comprehend that ordinary citizens can understand issues and wage a spirited struggle to protect their lives and livelihoods. One of the leaders of the movement writes about their struggle and addresses the allegation that the protests are being funded by foreign organisations.

From the safety of a computer screen in the control room, I can see a robot scoop up a chunk of asbestos from the reactor floor. I am at Sellafield, the nuclear complex on the coast of Cumbria in north-west England, watching remotely controlled machinery crawl through the defunct Windscale Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor, gradually stripping out the last of its guts. The mammoth task of dismantling the reactor started in the early 1990s but is only now finally nearing completion.

The decommissioning of nuclear power plants will become a huge global business in the 21st century.

The terrifying meltdowns and hydrogen explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in the days following 11 March 2011 made the importance of backup electricity generators painfully clear.

The crisis that unfolded at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after Japan's megaquake and tsunami is rewriting the nuclear safety guide. There are some positives. Despite being shaken by an earthquake that exceeded the worst case assumed in their design, the reactors along Japan's Pacific coast suffered no serious damage from the ground movement.