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India’s efforts to enhance safety of its nuclear power plants were hailed by member-states of the Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS) at a recent meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), officials said.
The Indian delegation was led by Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) Secretary R Bhattacharya. “India was among the few countries that took proactive actions and set up a high-level committee after the Fukushima accident (in Japan) in March 2011, to suggest enhanced safety requirements in both existing and future nuclear power plants,” Bhattacharya told Business Standard.
“AERB has started the work of reviewing the regulatory requirements for the nuclear power plants. The new codes issued by AERB incorporate the requirements arising out of the lessons learned from the Fukushima accident.”
India’s nuclear power generation capacity is 5,870 Mw and the country is targeting 63,000 Mw of installed capacity by 2032.
According to nuclear sector experts, the safety measures implemented by India include three layers of power backups, water supply from off-site locations, elevated water towers and implementing options to inject nitrogen to prevent explosions.
Bhattacharya said AERB’s regulatory practices with enhanced safety requirements would help enormously in addressing the objectives of the Vienna Declaration, passed at the meeting held on February 9. “The Indian delegation supported the Vienna Declaration on Nuclear Safety. The declaration seeks to achieve significant safety enhancements in the nuclear power plants all over the world, both new as well as existing ones,” he said.
According to Bhattacharya, the Vienna Declaration calls for enhancements in designing and constructing nuclear power plants, to prevent accidents as well as mitigate possible radioactivity releases, should an accident occur, and avoid early and large radioactivity releases. It also calls for systematic and periodic safety assessments of plants.
The Indian delegation was led by Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) Secretary R Bhattacharya. “India was among the few countries that took proactive actions and set up a high-level committee after the Fukushima accident (in Japan) in March 2011, to suggest enhanced safety requirements in both existing and future nuclear power plants,” Bhattacharya told Business Standard.
“AERB has started the work of reviewing the regulatory requirements for the nuclear power plants. The new codes issued by AERB incorporate the requirements arising out of the lessons learned from the Fukushima accident.”
India’s nuclear power generation capacity is 5,870 Mw and the country is targeting 63,000 Mw of installed capacity by 2032.
According to nuclear sector experts, the safety measures implemented by India include three layers of power backups, water supply from off-site locations, elevated water towers and implementing options to inject nitrogen to prevent explosions.
Bhattacharya said AERB’s regulatory practices with enhanced safety requirements would help enormously in addressing the objectives of the Vienna Declaration, passed at the meeting held on February 9. “The Indian delegation supported the Vienna Declaration on Nuclear Safety. The declaration seeks to achieve significant safety enhancements in the nuclear power plants all over the world, both new as well as existing ones,” he said.
According to Bhattacharya, the Vienna Declaration calls for enhancements in designing and constructing nuclear power plants, to prevent accidents as well as mitigate possible radioactivity releases, should an accident occur, and avoid early and large radioactivity releases. It also calls for systematic and periodic safety assessments of plants.
