PM briefed on safety aspects of India’s nuclear installations
16 Mar 2011
New Delhi: India's top atomic scientists today briefed prime minister Manmohan Singh on safety aspects of nuclear installations in the country.
The PM was briefed by the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Srikumar Banerjee, and the chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, SS Bajaj on the review they had undertaken on aspects pertaining to safety of nuclear installations in the country.
The meeting comes two days after the PM announced in Parliament that an immediate technical review of India's atomic plants had been ordered in the aftermath of a nuclear crisis in Japan.
"The Department of Atomic Energy and its agencies, including the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) have been instructed to undertake an immediate technical review of all safety systems of our nuclear power plants, particularly with a view to ensuring that they would be able to withstand the impact of large natural disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes," he informed the Parliament.
India has 20 nuclear power reactors, of which only two at Tarapur are boiling water reactors of the same generic type as those located at Japan's Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant.
Indian officials appeared to be somewhat sanguine about their situation.
