India’s nuclear regulator Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has confirmed that there was no increase in the radiation gama dose rate in India following the Japanese nuclear disaster. Indian average dose rate was 88nGy per hour on March 28, against the World average dose rate of 97 nGy per hour.
AERB secretary R Bhattacharya said in a release that the regulator was closely following the events at Fukushima Daiichi units and keeping a close watch on the radiation levels in India. The information of radiation levels prevailing at various locations is updated on AERB’s website on a daily basis. AERB has also identified three institutions in India for analysis of radioactive contamination in food samples, if any. At present, AERB has not insisted on screening persons for contamination coming from Japan.
| Dose rate in nGy/hr | ||
| Average | Maximum | |
| Bangalore | 88 | 89 |
| Hyderabad | 147 | 148 |
| Kolkata | 103 | 104 |
| Manavalakurichi | 450 | 457 |
| Mumbai | 62 | 79 |
| Nagpur | 84 | 84 |
| New Delhi | 73 | 74 |
| Shillong | 120 | 121 |
| Vizag | 87 | 89 |
| Source : Atomic Energy Regulatory Board | ||
“AERB considers it important that the safety of our plants be thoroughly reviewed in the light of this event. In the past steps were also taken to draw lessons from the Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Tokaimura incidents.”
“A high-level committee has been constituted to assess the preparedness of the existing nuclear power plants to deal with such a situation arising out of a natural disaster. The committee will review the safety provision of existing nuclear plants including storage of spent fuel at all sites,” said Bhattacharya. Business Standard had first reported about the formation of a committee by AERB.
Further, AERB has set up a four-member monitoring cell to continuously follow and monitor the events at Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan and coordinate with technical support organisations to collect information on radiation levels, contamination levels in air, water and soil at regular intervals. Based on the reports, AERB will evolve necessary guidelines as required.
