Jairam assures more safety measures for Jaitapur nuclear unit

The nuclear crisis in Japan is a wake-up call for India and everyone else, readily admitted Union environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday.

He said additional safety measures would be specified for the 10,000-Mw Jaitapur nuclear power project in Maharashtra’s coastal Ratnagiri district.

Addressing a conclave on ‘Business and Climate Change’ here, Ramesh said the government would closely look at the safety systems and design details of the project. Jaitapur is to be built in collaboration with French firm Areva.

The project has also run into strong local opposition, with area residents saying it would harm the environment and put people at risk.

“The Prime Minister made a detailed statement in Parliament. I know the Nuclear Power Corporation is re-looking on safety systems, re-looking at design,” said Ramesh said at the conference. “This has to be dealt with by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and based on the technical reviews that the NPCIL (Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd) does, we will certainly be in touch with them, and if additional safeguards have to be built in as part of the environmental clearance, we will certainly look at it.”

Adding to reporters separately: “What has happened is horrendous. For Japan, which is best prepared to deal with earthquakes, to lose so much life and property and particularly the nuclear catastrophe is a matter of great concern for all of us.”

This comes after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s assurance in Parliament yesterday that India’s atomic power generators were safe but this would be comprehensively reviewed. “The Department of Atomic Energy and its agencies, including the NPCIL,” had said the PM, “have been instructed to undertake an immediate technical review of all safety systems of our nuclear power plants, particularly with a view to ensuring they would be able to withstand the impact of large natural disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes.” He had noted the nuclear power plants had met safety standards during major natural calamities such as the Gujarat earthquake on January 26, 2001, and the December 2004 tsunami.