Is there a volcano about 100 to 110 km from the Kalpakkam nuclear plant? That is what nuclear and geology experts are trying to ascertain after The Global Volcanism Program, an international network for monitoring, reporting, and maintaining data related to volcanic activity around the world, reported a volcanic sighting in the 18th century.
Chairman and managing director of Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited Dr Prabhat Kumar, who has formed a committee of nuclear experts and geologists, said the information in the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program website about a reported volcano about 100-110 km from Kalpakkam is far-fetched but the committee was investigating all the aspects.
The committee, comprising eminent scientists from the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited, has assigned the job to the National Geophysical Research Institute and Kumar maintains as of now there is no possibility, nor any records of a volcano in the region.
Studies by the National Institute of Oceanography and the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation have ruled out the presence of any volcano in the region. While regional scale geophysical surveys conducted by NIO did not find any bathymetric anomaly, the seismic data and wells drilled by ONGC here did not indicate any volcanic intrusion, AERB said in reply to a RTI filed by one Vetriselvan.