Nuclear Safety Regulatory Bill to be passed soon : AEC chief

Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Chairman R K Sinha on Tuesday hoped Parliament would soon pass the Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority (NSRA) Bill, 2011. He added India's present nuclear regulator, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), was highly professional and independent. The Bill would replace the current AERB. AERB on several occasions had stopped the construction works or even operations of the power plants, directing for upgrading safety applications, he said. In a recent case, AERB had deferred fuel loading into the Kudankulam unit 1. After incorporating AERB's suggestions, Nuclear Power Corp has now started it. G R Srinivasan, principal associate- nuclear power business, GMR Energy, also hailed the independence of AERB. Srinivasan said

AERB's instructions have been strictly followed by Nuclear Power Corp.