Kaiga nuclear leak insider job: Govt
Kestur Vasuki/PNS | Bangalore/Mumbai
Disgruntled staff put radioactive material in water cooler
The contamination of drinking water at Kaiga nuclear power plant in Uttara Kannada district was an act of sabotage carried out by some disgruntled employee, the Atomic Energy Commission and Union Government have claimed.
The shocking incident has, however, raised questions on the level of security at one of the most important nuclear plants in India. This has also sent shock waves in and around the river Kali in the eco-sensitive Western Ghats which houses one of the most pristine flora and fauna in the world.
The Union Government, AEC, and officials of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCL) have tried to sell the insider theory even before any probe even as speculation of involvement of anti-national elements was also being debated in intelligence circles.
About 45 to 50 employees, working in the first maintenance unit of the Kaiga plant in Uttara Kannada, were treated at the plant hospital in Mallapur for increased level of tritium after they drank water from a cooler in the operating area on November 24, official sources said.
Atomic Energy Commission chief Anil Kakodkar said somebody deliberately put radioactive tritium in a water cooler at the nuclear power plant that exposed about 50 workers to increased level of radiation. People involved in the incident will be punished under the Atomic Energy and other Acts after investigation, he said. Tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, is used in research, fusion reactors and neutron generators.
Maintaining that there was no release of radioactivity in and outside the Kaiga Atomic Power Plant, the NPCL said it is only a drinking water cooler that was contaminated, which is behind its workers suffering minor radiation exposure.
Preliminary inquiry does not reveal any violation of operating procedures or radioactivity releases or security breach. It is possibly an act of mischief. The related agencies are investigating, NPCL Chairman and Managing Director SK Jain said in a statement here.
All plant systems are working normally and cannot cause any contamination. The source of radiation contamination was identified to be a water cooler located outside the reactor building and has been isolated and put out of service, he said.
There are a number of measures for routine monitoring of radiation uptake in workers in a nuclear power plant, including routine urine sampling. Any contamination caused by heavy water in the human body is quickly flushed out through natural biological processes like urination and perspiration.
In this process, some samples indicated signs of contamination. Resulting out of this observation on November 24, samples of all the workers were analysed, Jain said.
Taking the Kaiga plant incident very seriously, the Government said that an inquiry into the malevolent act is already in progress and answers will be found soon.
There is some incident of a disgruntled employee who tried to put some heavy water into one of the water coolers at Kaiga. People who drank water from that cooler, were exposed to some level of contamination. It is being investigated. It is a malevolent act, Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan said.
Brushing aside reports questioning the safety of Indian nuclear power plants, Chavan said it was not a nuclear leakage accident, not even a nuclear incident, and not even question of anything going wrong in the process of the nuclear power plant. There is no need to panic. We will find answers soon. I am told by the people inside that it is not a very serious contamination and the system will be cleared in a couple of days or two. But whatever has happened, has to be taken very seriously. We are of course, worried about the safety of the individuals.
Meanwhile, admitting that the radioactive isotope of hydrogen (tritium) had contaminated the isolated water cooler, Kaiga plant Director JP Gupta said that a thorough survey of the plant areas did not indicate any heavy water leak from the reactor systems.
Talking to The Pioneer, he said, The water cooler, which was contaminated by a radioactive element was isolated and put out of use since November 25. The incidence has, however, not affected public safety, health and environment.
Some of the radiation workers were found affected by the contaminated water in the cooler while doing their routine bioassay. As a precautionary measure, the affected persons were checked and advised to consult doctors before resuming their duties, Gupta added.
The NPCL, which operates the Kaiga unit, is investigating the mishap to ascertain how the water cooler got contaminated.
Uttara Kannada District in-charge Minister Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri allayed fears of radiation leak affecting the people and the surrounding areas. There have been no reports of anyone being affected by the radiation incident. It is an isolated case in the unit and precautionary measures have been taken to prevent any damage to the people or nearby areas, Kageri said.
According to sources, the 220-MW unit-1 was shutdown on October 20 for biennial maintenance works, while the second and third units of same capacity are operating normally.
According to nuclear scientists, Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen, used in research, fusion reactors and neutron generators. It is widely used in nuclear weapons for boosting the fission primary of a thermonuclear weapon (it can be similarly used for a standalone fission bomb) as well as in the external neutron initiator.
B Bhattacharjee, Member, National Disaster Management Authority, said, The cooler is supposed to be sealed and it was found to be sealed. But later on, the investigators found that through the drainage, the overflow line of the cooler, that it seems some mischief monger inserted some tritiated water and contaminated the whole cooler. And people have consumed that (water), he said, noting that everything is normal. There is nothing serious.
Bhattacharjee said, As soon as it was detected, they did a routine sampling. They gave some diuretics to all. Out of 55, 53 have been cleared.
Kakodkar said, normally, it is a practice to test small amounts of tritiated heavy water for chemical parameters from different locations of the reactors. The AEC Chairman said the heavy water in all the pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR) routinely goes for assessment of chemical parameters and during that process small samples are taken from different locations of the reactor to carry out analysis.
It is a regular practice and while doing that the tritiated heavy water is carried in small vials to chemical labs within the premises to carry out analysis, and all these vials are sent back to the reactor when the analysis is over, he said.
Kakodkar also said, We also check all the radiation workers with termoluminiscent dosimetry (TMD). So, we know the inventory and in the process of monitoring the dosimetry we found that some workers had tritiated water content in their body. They are being treated and are normal now. Surely it is an overdose for some people and investigations are on, he said.
Playing with fire
The incident has raised questions over the level of security at one of the most important nuclear plants in India
This has also sent shock waves in and around the river Kali in the eco-sensitive Western Ghats which houses one of the most pristine flora and fauna in the world
About 45 to 50 employees were treated at the plant hospital in Mallapur for increased level of tritium
Preliminary inquiry does not reveal any violation of operating procedures or radioactivity releases or security breach. It is possibly an act of mischief, says NPCL CMD SK Jain
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