BJP doesn't endorse privilege notices to team Anna members
"We have submitted our report to the AERB this weekend and most of the safety features with the Indian nuclear plants are satisfactory but still we have suggested for back-up safety features as a matter of abundant caution," Nuclear Safety Review Committee (NSRC) chairman S K Sharma told PTI."We have suggested back-up provisions to feed water for reactor steam generator and coolants and for Tarapur Atomic Power Plants units 1 and 2, which are boiling water reactors almost similar to Fukushima reactors. We have suggested back upwater to the emergency condenser for ensuring uninterrupted cooling of the reactor in case of a station blackout," Sharma said.The NSRC has proposed setting up an emergency facility at each of the nuclear reactor sites as one of the measures. The facility would comprise of a separate building with provisions for continuous communication, feeding, rest room for engineers and others who are on emergency duty, he said.Another suggestion of the Committee includes a provision for setting up additional air-cooling generators and portable generators to overcome station blackout in case of an accident like that of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants in Japan, which were hit severely by a major earthquakefollowed by an unprecedented tsunami on March 11 this year.On the assessment experience, Sharma said Indian nuclear industry and AERB always carry out safety review following any incident/accident reported in the world. Post Fukushima is one such exercise and the Committee suggested few steps to the Board, he said. The high-level committee which constituted nine working groups focused mainly on the three factors -- the effect of earthquake, possible tsunami and nuclear power station complete blackout situations, Sharma said."We found that Indian reactors are very safe as they are far away from Makrant faults on the west coast (800 km) and Andaman-Nicobar island faults on the east (1,300 km), because of which any earthquake and tsunami occurring together is very remote unlike in the case of Fukushima," he said.As far as powerlines are concerned, Indian nuclear power plants are much better off, the NSRC chairman said. "The cooling equipment at Fukushima required power supply whereas the design of Indian Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) design help them tackle a complete loss of power for a few days due to its passive cooling by natural convection which circulates the reactor coolant without the necessity of a mechanical pump," Sharma said.The Committee, which drew its members from AERB, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Nuclear Power Corporation, Central Water and Power Research station, IIT-Chennai and Indian Institute of Tropical Studies, said it is mandatory in India that the operation of nuclear reactors has to be carried out by only graduate engineers having AERB license."This is a great advantage with respect to safety of the reactor compared to some other countries," Sharma said, adding that the AERB conducts a detailed safety review of reactors every 10years and a brief and comprehensive review every five years to enhance safety of reactors.In the case of any natural events, the Board is already sufficiently conservative in AERB regulations, he added.Talking about another problem faced at Fukushima -- tackling of the spent fuel storage during the station blackout -- Sharma said, "in the older Indian reactors like Tarapur units 1 and 2, Rajasthan units 1 and 2, Madras Atomic Power Station Units 1 and 2, the spent fuel can remain inside water (pool) for one week without any cooling or make up for the pool water".Whereas in the newer reactors this period extends to almost one month, he said. "The situation is satisfactory but we have suggested for backup," Sharma said.The NSRC chairman also pointed out that NPCIL which had its own internal review has already made interim arrangements towards fulfilling some of the recommendations and further work is being carried out. [More]Tags:largeheartednesscivil societyteam anna members