In the wake of the Japan nuclear disaster, the Maharashtra government held a marathon meeting with the Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) today to take stock of the operational and emergency safety measures at the Tarapur atomic power station and the proposed nuclear plant in Jaitapur.
A state government team led by chief secretary Ratnakar Gaikwad met NPC chairman and managing director SK Jain, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board chairman SS Bajaj, Department of Atomic Energy additional secretary AP Joshi to address the concerns.
An NPC official, who attended the meeting, told Business Standard: “The government was apprised of the safety measures deployed at Indian nuclear plants especially at the Tarapur plant which is the only plant operational in Maharashtra. Tarapur I & II have boiling water reactors similar to the one in Fukushima I unit. Tarapur station, which comprises Tarapur unit I (160 MW), II (160 MW), III (540 MW) and IV (440 MW), has well defined emergency plans for fire, earth quake, flood & tsunami.”
The official said as far as the proposed Jaitapur project is concerned it was in the seismic zone III. The project site actually has much greater safety margins and it is quite safe and engineerable from seismic criteria. “The Station is also conducting Radiation Emergency (Plant, Site & Off-Site) Exercise routinely to check response of various agencies.”
The official said the nuclear power reactors to be set up at Jaitapur – the evolutionary pressurized reactors (EPRs) or Generation III+ nuclear power reactors – are state-of-the-art in terms of safety.
The EPRs are commercial reactors and not experimental reactors and they have several advanced safety features. These reactors essentially are an upgraded version of the French N4 and German Konvoy reactors which have demonstrated safe and reliable operations over several years.
French EPRs are currently under construction in Finland, France and China.
A senior state government official, on conditions of anonymity, said today’s meeting discussed the present state of safety measures at Indian nuclear plants in the wake of Fukushima incident.
“Both the central and state governments have made it amply clear that the Jaitapur project will be developed and there was no reversal on any decision in this regard. However, in the wake of the Japan nuclear disaster, safety measures will be revisited. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan discussed the issue with the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh on Saturday in New Delhi. The issue of NPC’s preparedness to apprise locals on safety and security measures was also discussed at the meeting.”
On claims of the Jaitapur project severely affecting marine life, NPC officials said the ministry of environment and forests has, in its clearance, restricted the temperature to 5°C. Detailed scientific studies have also been conducted on the thermo-ecological aspects of discharge dispersion, with a view to restricting the temperature rise within 5°C. “There will be no adverse effect on the marine life around the site.”
