Kovvada Nuclear Power Park proposed by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited located in seismic zone-II will have Gen-III Plus reactors with passive cooling system and inbuilt safety mechanism for power generation and auto shutdown, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board Vice-Chairman R. Bhattacharya said on Wednesday.
Mr. Bhattacharya, who was here to attend a conference on disaster management, told The Hindu that they were yet to give site clearance to the nuclear power park. “Now they have to conduct environment impact assessment study. Site clearance from AERB and statutory approval from Ministry of Environment and Forests will be given subject to fulfilment of certain conditions,” he disclosed.
NPCIL will set up a 6x1594 MW power plant at Kovvada in Srikakulam, 80 km away from here, with an estimated investment of Rs.1 lakh crore. NPCIL is likely to get reactors from GE-Hitachi for Kovvada plant. He said that after Fukushima disaster, the Centre had set up a high-level committee comprising experts to study threat perceptions and make regulatory mechanism more stringent. For any nuclear plant Decay Heat Removal (DHR) – heat treatment with cooling water and backup power for safe shutdown were required during emergency.
“That’s the reason why we are insisting on adequate number of diesel generator sets and a reservoir with a capacity of 80,000 cubic metres to meet requirement for a week for a Kovvada and other new plants,” he said.
Mr. Bhattacharya said that even if there was an earthquake, it would not trigger a tsunami instantly like Fukushima. “It will take eight to nine hours after the quake here giving sufficient time to take the precautions,” he said.
Site clearance for the plant will be given after EIA studies, says AERB
Vice-Chairman
