Spent fuel of Kudankulam Nuclear plant to be stored far from reactor: Jitendra Singh

The government informed Lok Sabha on Wednesday that there was need of 'Away From Reactor' facility for spent fuel of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant as the in-house capacity will be full by 2022 and it will not be a dumping site.

Responding to concern of members during question hour, Minister of State for Atomic Energy and Space, Jitendra Singh also said that the 'Away From Reactor' facility was at a reasonable distance from the nuclear power plant and the spent fuel will be stored 15 metres inside the earth according to norms and will also be used for recycling.

He said the "facility is not going to be dumping site" and will be used only for spent fuel of only Kudankulam plant.

The minister said that the facility will meet the safety norms and there is a need to create awareness that there are radiation risks from nuclear plants.

He said in France such facilities were also close to residential areas.

The minister said that the government follows stringent norms in construction of nuclear plants and there are regular reviews.

He also noted that Kudankulam plant was 1300 km from the seismic zone in Indonesia.

The minister said that the agreement for Kudankulam plant was first inked in 1988 with the then Soviet Union. He said an agreement was later inked with Russia in 1998 under which the spent fuel was to be deposited in India.