Sri Kumar Banerjee discounts fears of accient due to N-plant

The probability of an accident due to a nuclear plant is one is to infinity and all atomic power plants in the country conform to safety standards, Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission Sri Kumar Banerjee said today.

"At least 1.75 lakh people die due to road accident in a single year whereas there are nearly 14,000 nuclear plants in the world and the casuatly rate till date is just 52," Banerjee told reporters on the sidelines of the golden jubilee celebrations of Terminal Ballistic Research Laboratory (TBRL) at Ramgarh, some 25 km from Chandigarh.

Pointing out that no human activity can be risk-free, he said there was a definite need for creating awareness and awareness programmee needed to be intensified manifold to convince the people in the neighbourhood of a proposed or existing nuclear plant.

He said human body faces more radiation during a CT scan than working in a nuclear power plant.

Referring to the recent Fukushima (Japan) nuclear accident, Banerjee said it happened after a gap of 25 years and the cause and effect of the accident was earthquake followed by a tsunami.

"It was not a nuclear accident...immediately after the earthquake, the nuclear reactor shut down and nuclear chain reaction stopped," he said adding it was a complete station blackout as the decay heat produced in the plant could not be taken out.

He, however, said the total casualty due to the nuclear accident was zero.

"The spread of radiation was not as high as it was projected," he said talking about the nuclear accident in Japan.

After a nuclear reactor is shut down the energy level comes down to around two per cent from 100 per cent due to heat decay, Banerjee said.

He, however, exuded confidence all nuclear plants in the Country are safe and conform to the standards of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and are taken care of by Nuclear Power Corporation.

"India too experienced earthquakes and tsuanami in the past but there was no nuclear accident as the nuclear plants had all the gadgets to give signal much in advance," he said.

Banerjee rejected that alarm bells had rung in India after the Japanese nuclear accident. "All steps needed for safety and security for nuclear plants have been taken by Nuclear Power Corporation," he added.

He, however, stressed that it was necessary to strengthen the mechanism in the passive cooling system in nuclear plants in India. In the passive cooling system, heat can be taken out from the plant.

Responding to a querry regarding protests by habitants before setting up a nuclear plant in their neighbourhood, he said what is needed is to explain things to local people in simple local language and also convince them what actually the plant is.

After land acquistion, a package must be given to the affected people and at all costs excellent relationship is needed with people living around the plant.

He termed it as "baseless," the allegation that nuclear radiation comes out from the nuclear plant. Besides, the plants along the coastal areas do not have any effect on the lives of fish, he added.

To become energy-sufficient India has to generate 6000 MW by 2032, he said adding there was a need to develop solar, wind and renewable power plants for the growth of the country, Banerjee said.

Earlier, addressing the 625 delegates from 13 different countries at the TBRL here, he said Low Intensity Conflict (LIC), terrorism and ambush are emerging forms of warfare which need to be taken care of and for it there was a need to develop means to minimise the injury and loss of life.

"We need to develop adequate safety measures and explosive disposal systems," he said adding a new area was nano energetics which required great attention by the scientific community.

"This technology will be important for scientific and medical application for saving lives from diseases," he said.

Banerjee said that "in all likelihood there will never be another major war."

However, what will remain are highly targeted attacks, terror strikes, ambushes etc and scientists can play a great role in developing detection systems, protective gear etc which can be used by the army and the police to minimise the impact of such strikes.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Satish Kumar, Director DRDO, Delhi and Chairman, Organising Committe, High Energy Material Conference 2001, said "this international conference is expected to help upgrade India’s defence, space and internal security systems and also prepare a road map for future work in the field of pyrotechnics, propellants, high explosives and related fields.

We have leading global experts from India, USA, Israel UK, Russia, Germany, Australia,  Ukraine, Czech Republic, Poland etc. who will be sharing their expertise and knowledge on the latest technologies now in use in the world as well as the latest trends in research on a host of sensitive subjects", he said.

Manjit Singh, Director, TBRL, Chandigarh and Convener, HEMCE-2011, said "the emerging world of nano energetic, green explosives, detection and disposal of IEDs is a thrust area of the conference. This will open new avenues for application of these materials in defence, space and other civil sector."

"Developing Green Explosives and building Energy Security is the need of the hour,” said Shivraj V Patil, Punjab Governor and Administrator, UT, Chandigarh, while inaugurating the 8th International High Energy Materials Conference