Nuclear regulator Bill in monsoon session

The Government will introduce a Bill aimed at setting up a Nuclear Regulatory Authority in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament.

The Bill is likely to be passed in the winter session, the Minister of State at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Mr V. Narayanasamy, said here on Thursday.

The Authority, being envisaged as an autonomous atomic energy watchdog, will subsume the existing Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB).

The decision to have a new body with statutory backing for overseeing safety aspects in the sector marks a major departure from the earlier plans that aimed at devolving greater autonomy to the existing AERB and comes in the wake of safety concerns raised after the Fukushima nuclear incident in Japan.

He also said a high-level PMO panel has finalised the rules of implementation of the nuclear liability law, a move that could pave the way for equipment supplies by foreign reactor vendors to the new atomic projects on the anvil.

“We will notify the rules within a month,’’ Mr Narayanasamy, said at the sidelines of an industry conference here.

The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage law, passed by Parliament last year, allows the operator of a nuclear plant to seek damages from the supplier in case the nuclear incident occurs due to supply of equipment with latent and patent defects or sub-standard services.