Nuclear plants in India are safe, assures Nuclear Power Corporation

March 14th, 2011 - 2:45 pm ICT by ANI  

Mumbai, Mar 14 (ANI): The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has said that nuclear plants in India are safe but a safety review would be carried following the massive earthquake in Japan.

“Indian nuclear plants maintain the highest levels of safety as per international norms and have withstood major natural disasters in the past,” the NPCIL said in a statement.

“The event of Japan will be reviewed in detail in due course as the detailed information becomes available. Resulting out of such a review, any reinforcement as needed in Indian reactors will be implemented,” the statement added.

In India, NPCIL currently operates 20 nuclear power reactors - as compared to 54 in Japan - with an installed capacity of 4,780 MW, including two Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) and the rest Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWRs).

“The Indian nuclear plants have proven their safety during the severe temblor in Gujarat in 2001 when the Kakrapar Atomic Power continued to operate safely and supplied much-need energy to the affected regions, the statement said.

Similarly, during the 2004 tsunami, which hit Tamil Nadu, the Madras Atomic Power Station was safely shutdown without any radiological consequences, it added.

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the NPCIL are closely monitoring the situation. They are in touch with the World Association of Nuclear Operators, Tokyo Centre, the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, World Nuclear Association and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

On Monday, an explosion blew the roof off the second reactor at Japan’s Fukushima city. Officials say that although it did not damage the core, it apparently leaked more radiation. Japanese officials have been saying so far that the melting of the nuclear cores in the two plants is assumed to be “partial,” and the amount of radioactivity measured outside the plants, though twice the level Japan considers safe, has been relatively modest. (ANI)

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