TN nuke reactors switched to safe mode

Two operating nuclear reactors at Kalpakkam and another gearing to go on stream at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu have gone on an extra-cautious mode in the wake of Wednesday’s Indonesian quake, despite India withdrawing the Tsunami warning.

Authorities at both the two units of the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) at Kalpakkam and at the first 1000 MW Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) in Tirunelveli district took all the precautionary measures.

“We go by the Information given by the ‘Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) warning system; and once it was known that the Tsunami generated (in Indonesia) was weak, we discussed all those information at a normal Management Committee meeting...” a KNPP source told Deccan Herald.

The MAPS Station Director at Kalpakkam, K Ramamurthy, in a statement said soon after the earthquake alert , as a precautionary measure, the reactor power was lowered.
“Subsequently, it was ascertained that there was no impact on Andaman and Nicobar Islands (closest to the epicenter of the Indonesian earthquake). Nonetheless, the check-list for preventing flooding of essential equipment area was carried out at the MAPS reactors and also the availability of emergency services was ensured,” he said.

After the second earthquake message at 4:30 pm on Wednesday, he said, MAPS was preparing itself for a shutdown of its two reactors, which now generate about 145 MW each. But as even that did not indicate any Tsunami effect, the reactors were kept on,” Ramamurthy said.

The Tsunami alert was withdrawn later at around 6:25pm  by INCOIS, but on extra precaution, the employees were instructed to keep vigil till 8:00 pm,” he explained.

The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy however, came out with a strong statement on Thursday demanding the “immediate halt” on all on-going works at KNPP.