(456.4526) WISE Amsterdam - "In India, nuclear safety regulation is today at cross-roads. Many of our nuclear installations have aged with time and have serious problems which are characteristic of early vintage designs. Our own efforts to find indigenous solutions to these problems are not well organised or focused, even though the inherent capability is unquestionably present in the country's technical establishments and academic centers. But the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has uniquely failed in bringing together these national strengths and coordinate them for the benefit of the nuclear sector, unlike the excellent examples set up in this regard by the Department of Space and the Defence R&D sector in their own spheres of activity.
"The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) which is supposed to independently regulate the nuclear installations of the DAE is set up under an executive order of Secretary, DAE, involving the provisions under the Section-27 of the Atomic Energy Act. In addition, the allocation of business rules of the Government assigns to the DAE the responsibility for all nuclear matters, including its regulation and control. With this setup, the AERB is officially and distinctly a subordinate organisation of the DAE. It is tantamount to making the regulator subservient to those whom he is supposed to regulate and control independently, a situation which makes a mockery of the spirit of regulation which is needed in the public interest.
"The current safety status of some of the nuclear installations under the DAE is a matter of great concern to all. This concern has only increased significantly after AERB has recently studied and documented more than 130 safety issues in these installations which warrant urgent corrective action. This document is primarily based on the recommendations and observations of the DAE and AERB safety specialists over the past decade. It outlines several unsafe physical situations and practices prevailing in the DAE installations, which need to be corrected urgently. The fact that such a large set of serious safety issues have accumulated over the years is the result of an accommodating and captive regulatory agency which has made compromises all along in the past, under the control, influence and interference of the Department of Atomic Energy. The department has bounced these urgent issues from between various committees without focusing on much-needed solutions. It is for the Government at the highest level and for the public concerned to ensure that the full rectification of the deficiencies in hardware, practices, and procedures is indeed carried out in these installations on a priority basis.
"The first step has to be to make the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board a totally independent body, both administratively and technically free from the control of the Department of Atomic Energy as well as the Atomic Energy Commission. Simultaneously, the AERB must be technically strengthened through the induction of adequate number of experienced permanent staff, with a wide-ranging experience base.
The overwhelming powers enjoyed by the DAE and the AEC have been used to keep all nuclear activities under a cloak of unnecessary secrecy, with practically no in-depth questioning or performance evaluation by anyone. DAE's performance and contributions should be subjected to a larger degree of close and continuous monitoring. This alone will bring about some degree of transparency and public accountability to DAE operations. Leaving this matter to be decided through close-door consultations only with the DAE and AEC is neither necessary from the point of view of national security nor is it desirable that policies are framed in this important area on the basis of narrow sectoral viewpoints."
Source & Contact: Surendra and Uma Gadekar, Anumukti, Sampoo rna Kranti Vidyalaya, Vedchhi 394 641, India
Tel: +91-2625-2074
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