Hyderabad, March 22: The threat of a meltdown in the nuclear power reactors in Japan notwithstanding, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) doesn’t see any scope for slowing down its plans to explore nuclear energy to meet the ever-increasing demand.
The corporation admitted that apprehensions over the safety of nuclear reactors have heightened consequent on the incidents in Japan. “But we will share the information available to us and allay apprehensions,” NPCIL chairman and managing director S.K. Jain told a press conference here on Saturday.
Dr. Jain dismissed as “individual perception” the resistance to setting up of nuclear power plants in Jaitapur, Kovvada and other places. “People will have certain opinions ideology-wise. They will, however, not give any solution to the issues,” he said.
‘Not under compulsion’
He, however, said unlike private operators, the NPCIL was not under any compulsion to set up plants by hook or crook “as it is not going to benefit it in any way.” The corporation would revisit the plant sites with adequate information and was confident of convincing the people on the growing demand for energy. “We have limited resources of coal, oil and other fossil fuels. How are we going to survive if we leave the Thorium path?” he asked.
Dr. Jain, who made an elaborate presentation on the incidents that unfolded in Japan after the 9 magnitude quake and a Tsunami, said the situation in Japan was fast returning to normality as the decay heat in the reactors had been brought under control. He cited the heavy dependence on nuclear power in Japan which had 54 reactors in place in spite of the regions seismicity and proneness to tsunamis.
But for Himalayan region, India was no way near in Japan in terms of the seismicity and at no time did the plants trip due to earthquake. Nuclear reactors in the country were designed with the highest seismic parameters taking the worst case scenarios into consideration and had multi-barrier safety controls.
The reactors would trip within three seconds of sensing an earthquake and backup systems n were put in place to ensure that the decay heat was absorbed in the shortest possible time. “Our plants did not stop working during the Bhuj earthquake or the 2004 tsunami,” he said.
The NPCIL which could obtain fuel and reactors consequent on the civil nuclear deal, was under no pressure to buy reactors at the price determined by the other countries. “We will buy reactors on our conditions,” he said adding the corporation was looking for generation 3+ design reactors for Jaitapur, Kovvada and other plants that had capability to address all the security concerns.
–Agencies