N-plants safety report in July

The panel,that met for the first time,will conduct an independent safety check across Indias 20 nuclear power plants.

An Atomic Energy Regulatory Board AERB panel appointed recently to review safety of Indian nuclear plants in the wake of the Japan crisis is expected to come out with an interim safety audit report by July.

The panel,that met on Thursday for the first time,will conduct an independent safety check across Indias 20 nuclear power plants.

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India NPCIL has already set up four expert committees that are conducting safety checks at all plants.

The AERB committee will take an independent look at all our nuclear plants and the adequacy of the provisions available to ensure safety in case of such events,both within and beyond the design basis. Both exercises that of AERB and NPCIL will run in parallel, said S K Sharma,chairman of the review committee and former AERB head.

We will see what is required to be done in the short term,based on the preliminary data available from Japan. We will be ready with the initial review and recommendations in the next two to three months, Sharma said.

He said the changes,if required,could include improvements in procedures followed or modification of the hardware. After we get a detailed report from Japan,a detailed review and analysis will be done by the committee and that will take a few more months. We may again come out with specific recommendations,if necessary, he said.

The safety check will also include the proposed plant in Jaitapur and additional safety features in the design,if required,will be suggested.

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Sharma said Indian plants had been designed for maximum seismic activity of that particular area,the flooding potential and with sufficient safety margin.

However,its necessary to take a fresh look at our plants in light of Fukushima and recheck the safety measures, said Sharma.