Nuclear Energy

the AEC has not instituted an award for 'Sycophant of the Year', otherwise Srinivasan surely
deserved it.
Safety Issues at India's Atomic Reactors
Nuclear reactors have the possibility of suffering catastrophic accidents. In order to study
the safety situation at India's reactors, we first take a look at the performance of India's reactors so
far, based on the little information that has come out through unofficial and occasionally official
sources. We next take a look DAE's practices regarding planning, operations and safety.
1. Accidents at nuclear reactors
Practically all the nuclear reactors and other facilities associated with the nuclear fuel cycle
operated by the DAE have had accidents of varying severity. Prof. Dhirendra Sharma, author of
India’s Nuclear Estate and Director of Centre for Science Policy, Dehradun, writes that “in India an
estimated 300 incidents of a serious nature have occurred, causing radiation leaks and damage to
workers”. dxi That none of these led to catastrophic radioactive releases to the environment is not by
itself a source of comfort. According to safety theorists, this absence of evidence of “accidents
should never be taken as evidence of the absence of risk” and “just because an operation has not
failed catastrophically in the past does not mean it is immune to such failure in the future”. dxii In
fact, quite a many of these caused significant radioactivity releases into the atmosphere, and on at
least one occasion, at the Narora NPP in UP, the accident very nearly led to a Chernobyl-like
meltdown. Had the catastrophe occurred, it is impossible to imagine its consequences in a densely
populated state like UP.
We give below a brief summary of the little information that is available about the actual
state of affairs with India’s nuclear reactors and the accidents that have taken place.
i) TAPS 1&2
The Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS), located about 100 miles north of Mumbai, was
commissioned in 1969. The two boiling-water reactors at the Tarapur station are of vintage US
design. Although all similar reactors around the world have been shut down for safety reasons, the
DAE continues to flog these reactors. .
The problems with the two Tarapur reactors are manifold. The two reactors share the same
subsystems, including the same emergency core cooling system, in violation of all safety standards.
Even more disturbing is that use of nitrogen to make the containment inert has been discontinued.
Therefore, if the coolant does not perform its function, an explosion is quite likely to occur, leading
to reactor meltdown. Besides, many parts of TAPS are uninspectable, and the DAE lacks the
equipment and/or technology to correct its problems. The two steam generators in each unit are
totally disabled owing to extensive tube failures and because of this TAPS has been de-rated from
210 MW to 160 MW. The plant has suffered innumerable radioactive releases. According to
Gopalakrishnan, they “should have been shut down in the interest of public safety long back.” dxiii
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