Kakodkar says Jaitapur plant poses no radiation threat

The proposed 10,000 MW nuclear plant at Jaitapur will not lead to additional nuclear radiation in the surrounding area. The amount of radiation emanating from the plant would be minuscule in comparison to the natural radiation occurring in the environment, said Dr Anil Kakodkar, former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.

He was addressing a public meeting aimed at removing misconception about the plant on Tuesday. The meeting was organised by the State Government and the Department of Atomic Energy.

Dr Kakodkar said the natural radiation dose increases if a person moves from sea level to a hilly region. The dose one receives in the hilly region is much more than that at the boundary of a nuclear plant.

He said that at present there are no plans for setting up a nuclear fuel recycling facility at Jaitpaur, which could give out more radiation, “Fuel would be brought from outside and the spent fuel would be sent out of the plant for processing. Only a fraction of waste which gives out low-level radiation will be processed at the plant,” Dr Kakodkar said.

Dr Kakodkar said that if at all a nuclear fuel recycling facility is considered at the site, the Department of Atomic Energy has all the technology to handle fuel reprocessing in a safe manner.

He added that the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR), which will be supplied by the French company Areva for Jaitapur, is safe and have four layers of additional safety.

“The EPR is an advanced version of the Pressurise Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) and globally 80 per cent of the reactors are PHWR,” Dr Kakodkar said.

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