Japan leak may hamper India's power plans, says Nuclear Corp

India’s plans for a 13-fold increase in nuclear power generation may be delayed as Japan’s worst accident in at least 33 years forces a safety review of existing and proposed plants, Nuclear Power Corp of India has said.

“This event may be a big dampener for our programme,” Shreyans Kumar Jain, chairman of India’s state-run monopoly producer, said in a telephone interview from Mumbai today. “We and the Department of Atomic Energy will definitely revisit the entire thing, including our new reactor plans, after we get more information from Japan.”

The accident at the Fukushima plant, triggered by Japan’s strongest earthquake, may fuel public concern about the safety of nuclear power. China today said it would become more cautious about its plans to triple the number of atomic reactors providing energy for the world’s second-biggest economy.

“We can’t close our eyes to peoples’ concerns, which may be heightened after the Japan accident,” Jain said.

India, which plans to spend $175 billion by 2030 on nuclear generation to meet the rising demand for electricity, is facing protests in western India, where landowners have expressed concern about nuclear waste from six Areva SA reactors to be built in the region.

Nuclear Power had sought more information on the accident in Japan from the World Association of Nuclear Operators, the International Atomic Energy Agency and its own official in Tokyo, Jain said.

Possible meltdown
The earthquake on March 11 knocked out power at the Fukushima plant needed to keep the reactors cool, raising the prospect of a meltdown at the facility. Authorities evacuated tens of thousands of people living within a 20-kilometre radius of the plant after an explosion destroyed walls surrounding one of the reactors and radioactive material leaked into the atmosphere.

While operator Tokyo Electric Power Co has reported no damage to the protective shield housing the reactor, the utility began flooding the reactor with sea water and boric acid to eliminate the potential for a catastrophic release of radiation.

Indian reactors at Kakrapar in western Gujarat and Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu survived an earthquake in 2001 and a tsunami in 2004, respectively, without any safety scares, Jain said.

“But that doesn’t mean we can be happy,” Jain said. “Our new launches will have to keep in mind public sentiment and naturally, this process won’t happen overnight.”