New Delhi, Dec 04: Processes, procedures and human performance aspects of all nuclear power plants are being reviewed following the radioactive contamination of drinking water at Kaiga Atomic Power Station, Minister of State, PMO, Prithviraj Chavan, said on Thursday.
In a statement, Chavan assured the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha that investigations were on to identify the culprit and interim reports suggested that the contamination of drinking water with heavy water was an insider job. Chavan added this was not a “breach of security” and there was no release of radioactivity to the public.
He said urine samples of over 800 personnel working in the area was analysed of which 92 were found to have tritium content “higher than normal”.
“Immediate medical attention was given to the affected people and the workers are now attending to their normal duties and no one is hospitalised.At this stage two persons are having tritium in their body that can cause their extrapolated annual radiation exposure to marginally exceed the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board’s specified limit of 30 millisievert per year.
However, even in the case of these two persons further medical management will bring down their potential radiation exposure to less than the AERB specified limit within a short time,” he said.
Chavan said investigations suggest one of the heavy water vials, which is usually taken to service labs for regular testing, was by some element emptied into a padlocked drinking water cooler leading to contamination passed on to unsuspecting personnel who consumed the water.
“There was no CCTV focusing on the water cooler. So far no one thought it could be used for malafide purpose. However, the issue will now be re-examined and there will be a higher degree of surveillance at all nuclear power plants and personnel will have to go through more verification and security checks,” Chavan said.
Seeking clarifications on the issue, BJP’s Najma Heptullah in the Rajya Sabha asked whether this was only an insider’s job or it could have some terrorist linkages as well. Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley also reiterated the point saying that the government should examine if there was possibility of any external sabotage. The MOS assured the investigations would examine all possibilities.
A FIR was lodged on December 1. The case had first come to light on November 24 when routine urine sample checks of personnel showed higher than normal traces of tritium in some cases.
–Agencies