NEW DELHI: The radiation crisis in Fukushima has prompted India to review all new nuclear reactor designs in the country, said Srikumar Banerjee, chairman, Atomic Energy Commission . But India will continue to push ahead with its nuclear power plans and will break ground on eight new reactors this year, he added.
The two reactors in Tarapur are boiling water reactors of the Fukushima design, Banerjee said. These are old GE reactors. But in the Indian context, he added, there have been extra safety features added.
These are a passive heat removal system which does not require power, so it will continue to cool the reactor even when there is a total power blackout. The "thermosyphoning" feature, he said, gives the reactor a grace period of eight hours.
India's nuclear energy establishment has also ordered a review of the design of Areva's EPR reactor which will be installed in Jaitapur , Maharashtra. The EPR, Banerjee said, has already added new safety features after 9/11 that would help it withstand a commercial aircraft crashing into it. The Indian reactors, he said, can withstand military aircraft.
He said there has been no effect in India of radiation exposure from the quake-hit reactors in Japan. "I can categorically say that because of the Japan incident, there has been no recognizable difference in radiation in any part of India," Banerjee said. Radiation is being measured in 87 points across the country.
The Fukushima reactor, he said, was just 140 km from the faultline, which meant that the period between the quake and the tsunami was just an hour. "(In India) the nearest nuclear power plant from a fault is Tarapur, which is 900 km away from the Makran fault... therefore, we do not expect the arrival of quake and tsunami before six hours."
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