Indian reactors are quite safe, says Atomic Energy Commission chief

New Delhi: India today has 20 nuclear power reactors and there has been a concern that these are not safe enough. On a day when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took stock of India's capacity to handle nuclear emergencies, NDTV's Science Editor Pallava Bagla spoke exclusively to Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chief Dr. Srikumar Banerjee who was present at the PM's special meeting on nuclear safety.

NDTV: The key question people have is, are Indian nuclear reactors safe and do people need to fear them?

Srikumar Banerjee: In fact, this is the question which was asked by the honourable Prime Minister to me, so I responded with no hesitation that Indian reactors are quite safe.

NDTV: Can we face any accident like the kind that happened at Fukushima in Japan?

Srikumar Banerjee: First of all, we don't expect the same level of accident at Japan, an intense earthquake and a tsunami, [thanks to] the geology of our country. Second point is that we are very clear that the problem that Fukushima faced is mainly because of the inadequacy of the removal of the decay heat. We are well-equipped for the removal of the decay heat from our nuclear reactors by passive means, which means using the thermal siphoning mechanism which does not require outside electricity. And this will help us in avoiding any such incident.

NDTV: But can the public staying around such reactors feel safe? Did the Prime Minister and the NDMA seek enhanced safety capabilities?

Srikumar Banerjee: Yes, of course. In spite of all this, we must be prepared, that in case there is a release of radioactivity from any of our sites, we must be prepared for that. What are the preparations? The first is detection. How quickly we can detect any radioactive release from our nuclear installations at the shortest possible time, for which every installation of our country we have suitable equipment and all manpower [should be] ready for doing this at the shortest possible time. Immediately we have to have our agencies like the emergency response teams to start working on the assessing as to what extent this is happening. Second is the question with the environment, with particularly environmental data, where we [predict] what is the wind direction where will the plume move after an accident. We also can determine that almost instantly. And then see what should be the plan of action in terms of evacuation, in terms of medical treatment, in terms of their temporary accommodations, and these issues.

NDTV: So are we equipped to handle disasters and nuclear emergencies in our nuclear reactors?

Srikumar Banerjee: In fact, we do this exercise every year where we [assess] are we really ready for these kinds of processes. The district administration is very much responsible for that. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is another party. And our emergency management team, crisis management team, they're responsible for that. It needs to be a coordinated effort from several bodies and the standard operating practice of these teams is already in place and we are ready for handling any such nuclear emergencies.

NDTV: You have 20 power reactors. How many Fukushima types of accidents have you faced or has India had?

Srikumar Banerjee: No, no, we never had an accident of this nature at all, so we can say that we have actually zero accidents in that kind of a level anytime in the country. But we have faced two major events, the event of Bhuj earthquake and our Kakrapar nuclear reactor was very close by, but the Kakrapar reactor operated without any disturbance, it could withstand that earthquake shock. And second time we faced is the tsunami at Kalpakkam where, it was a very unfortunate event and many of my own colleagues, over 25 of them, they lost their lives, but the plant had a safe shutdown, and we could restart the plant just after 3 days of that event.