nuclear-news

Doubts about the safety of India’s nuclear energy programme

How safe is India’s nuclear energy programme?A. Gopalakrishnan in his recent article said, “DAE management classified the audit reports as ‘top secret’ and shelved them. No action was taken on the committee’s findings. LiveMint.com,23 Aug 11,”M. P. Ram Mohan
“……the regulatory environment the report states: “Japan has a well organized emergency preparedness and response system as demonstrated by the handling of the Fukushima accident. Nevertheless, complicated structures and organizations can result in delays in urgent decision making.” The inability to foresee such extreme scenarios is a forewarning to countries that are expanding nuclear capacity at a frenzied pace.

For India, this is a lesson and an exceptional opportunity to relook at the protected structures of the department of atomic energy (DAE), and establish more transparent processes and procedures.

In the past, the Three Mile Island incident (1979) and Chernobyl accident (1986) had provided similar opportunities to evaluate nuclear safety and regulatory systems. India, in response to these incidents, constituted safety audits to assess the safety of nuclear power plants. However, A. Gopalakrishnan, (a former chairman of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board) in his recent article said, “DAE management classified these audit reports as ‘top secret’ and shelved them. No action was taken on the committee’s findings.”

If this is so, these reports, or at least action-taken reports, ought to have been published and made available…….

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his speech two days ago in West Bengal was emphatic about the future of India’s nuclear energy programme. He said that “there would be no looking back on nuclear energy. We are in the process of expanding our civil nuclear energy programme. Even as we do so, we have to ensure that the use of nuclear energy meets the highest safety standards. This is a matter on which there can be no compromise”.

However, with the memory of Bhopal accident, these assurances have done little to assuage us. The legal, administrative and political failure in Bhopal to effectively respond is a constant reminder that due diligence of major developmental projects is a necessary prerequisite……

Execution of these targets is to be achieved by importing high-capacity reactors and through DAE’s own programme. As we see greater activity in the nuclear energy sector—which was traditionally not transparent in engaging with the public—the trust deficit could only widen as we expand the programme.

Land acquisition is already a major concern for infrastructure projects and has become an issue at the proposed Jaitapur nuclear power plant as well. However, the biggest challenge in this expansion would be to convince the public of the safety and security of nuclear power plants…….
How safe is India’s nuclear energy programme? – Economy and Politics – livemint.com

August 23, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, safety