JOIN USThe Comptroller and Auditor-General’s (CAG) report on the country’s nuclear safety regime and the role of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) in it has highlighted some issues which have been discussed widely in the past but have not been positively acted upon by the government. It is for the first time that the CAG has done a review of the AERB’s performance and the most important point that has been raised is the need for a clear and effective nuclear safety oversight policy. There is still no radiation safety policy and the nuclear safety manual is only advisory in nature. There are 22 nuclear plants in the country but there is no decommissioning plan for any of them. There has been criticism of the safety policy from many quarters. The CAG has also endorsed the apprehensions now and has called for corrective measures.
Regulatory weakness is a crucial problem that needs to be attended to. The AERB is a regulatory body only in name. In most countries the regulators are independent of governments. But the AERB, which has to implement the nuclear safety policy, can only be considered an arm of the government because it reports to the Atomic Energy Commission whose chairman is the secretary of the atomic energy department. Its staff are drawn from the commission and it is even located in the commission’s premises. It has no statutory powers and cannot ensure compliance of its directives. The proposed nuclear safety regulatory bill is still in the works. The AERB needs to be a constitutional body like other independent regulatory bodies in other areas and should be reporting to Parliament instead of to the executive.
The country has a big nuclear energy programme which is going to grow bigger in the coming years. The safety regime has always been opaque and there is the need for transparency and effective oversight. With private firms, including foreign suppliers and domestic operators, going to have a role in running nuclear plants, regulatory efficiency will have to be enhanced. Safety issues are not limited to nuclear plants. The safety and security of sources of radiation in medical and other institutions are also important for public health. All the issues raised by the CAG now and earlier by committees and concerned persons should receive immediate attention of the government.