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October 6, 2011

Nuclear Safety in India - lessons to learn

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited had conducted an extensive study on the safety of the existing nuclear power generation facilities after the Fukushima disaster. Their recommendations are given as follows:
"The four task forces after evaluating the four different designs of reactors in NPCIL fleet have come out with certain recommendations which are common to all the types of NPCIL reactors. These are:
  • Provision of automatic reactor trip on seismic event at all plants except where it is already available (NAPS & KAPS)
  • Additional Diesel operated fire tenders and diesel operated pumps to enable water addition at high and low pressures to the different systems based on the need.
  • Diesel driven electric generators (air cooled and not requiring external cooling) to cater to power needs.
  • Use of nitrogen gas from liquid nitrogen tanks to passively pressurize water tanks and transfer the water to systems at required pressure.
  • Provisions to use water from suppression pool except in RAPS-2 
  • Qualifying existing water storages/tanks in the plants like deaerator storage tanks, for earthquake resistance
  • Conditioning signal override facility for ECCS in PHWRs where it is not available.
  • Additional Battery operated devices to monitor important plant parameters
  • Providing shore protection structures to withstand tsunami at coastal plants where they are not available
  • Review of Emergency Operating Procedures for external events and retraining of operator
  • Alternate make up provisions for spent fuel pool during extended station black out
  • Feasibility of providing solar powered lighting
  • Provision of boreholes at suitable locations to augment water supply.
  • Provision of suitably designed flood proof enclosure and doors for important safety related electrical power sources
  • Review of containment venting provisions at suitable points to vent the containment structure to stack" 
Read the complete report in this link.
While appreciating the work done by the NPCIL, there are lessons also to learn from them in the field of process safety also.

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