NPCIL to revisit safeguards at nuclear plants

"We will sincerely revisit (all the nuclear power plants) and decide whether there was any need for augmentation," NPCIL Chairman and Managing Director S K Jain told reporters at the atomic power station in Kalpakkam, nearly 60 kms from Chennai.

Noting that Indian reactors have 'successfully' withstood the Bhuj earthquake and the tsunami in south India, he said they would not compromise on safety standards.

"We can't be complacent. We will definitely revisit, we will augment it and show it all to our country men", he said.

Jain said India has got 85 monitoring stations to examine the radiation levels in the atmosphere. "If there is any increase in the radiation levels, within seconds it is known to our crisis management group and emergency centres, which are located in 85 places across the country," he said.

He pointed out that after the tsunami in 2004, the diesel generator level at Kalpakkam Atomic Power Station was increased by two metres.

"Earlier the height of the diesel generator was 10.68 metres. But after the tsunami, it has been raised to 12.68 metres," he said.

Besides, he said they had also set up a wall across the Kalpakkam Atomic Power station at a cost of Rs 30 crore, which is designed scientifically to prevent the reactors from getting affected by such natural disasters. Jain said the nuclear reactors at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant were designed in such a way that the reactor would remain the same and shut down automatically even if all crew members were out.

"For the new reactors we are setting up at Kudankulam, the cost has increased three or four times. Even if the entire crew was out, the reactor will remain the same," he said.