NEW DELHI: All nuclear power plants (NPPs) in the country are safe and can withstand natural calamities like earthquakes and tsunamis, the government told the Lok Sabha today.
"Following the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, safety review of all Indian NPPs was conducted by task forces of NPCIL and the expert committee of AERB (Atomic Energy Regulatory Board)," Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh said in a written reply.
"These safety reviews have confirmed that Indian NPPs plants are safe and have adequate margins and features in design to withstand extreme events like earthquakes and tsunamis," he said.
"Appropriate bunds are provided at Tarapur, Kalpakkam and Kudankulam sites for shore protection. The shore protection measures are designed and constructed to withstand the possible impact of natural events. Surveillance of these protection measures is carried out periodically," he said.
He added that the designs of NPPs located in coastal areas take into account the technical parameters related to earthquake, tsunami, storm surges, floods, etc at respective sites and at all NPPs, state of art safety measures are being provided.
"Safety measures include shutdown systems to shutdown the reactor safely, combination of active and passive (systems working on natural phenomenon and not needing motive power or operator system) cooling systems to remove heat from the core of reactor at all times and a robust containment to prevent release of radioactivity in all situations," he said.