All 20 N-plants to upgrade safety to handle disasters

All 20 nuclear power units in the country would have to augment safety and improve defences to handle extreme external natural events such as earthquakes and tsunami/floods, beside complete loss of off-site and on-site power, as had happened at Fukushima in Japan.

Four different task forces appointed by Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) in the wake of the March 11 disaster at Fukushima have recommended provision of automatic reactor tripping on a seismic event, additional battery-operated devices to monitor important plant parameters, provision of underground raw water tanks in addition to the on site reservoir, provision of hook-up points for adding water, end shields, etc.

These are to be implemented over six to 14 months.

S K Jain, NPC’s chairman and managing director, told Business Standard: “We find our recommendations are totally in line with the approach adopted elsewhere in the world. We are going to submit the detailed designs to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) for their review and clearance for implementing at sites.”

Staff trainign and procedures would also have to be extended as part of the heightened safety measures.

An NPC official said the analyses indicate each plant can be brought to a safe shutdown state without any radiological consequences to the public or environment, and maintained in a safe condition for a prolonged length of time with incorporation of the recommendations.