DAE conducted an emergency response exercise at Kalpakkam
CHENNAI: The department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Kalpakkam centre, conducted a site emergency exercise at its facilities on Wednesday as part of its emergency preparedness and response plan.
At Kalpakkam, the DAE has multiple facilities like Madras Atomic Power Station (operated by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited), Centre for Atomic Research, Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (under construction by BHAVINI), Nuclear Recycle Board and others.
A release said the objective of the exercise is to check the preparedness of Kalpakkam DAE Centre and the Station Management in handling any remote emergency, even though such an occurrence is highly unlikely in a nuclear power plant because of the ‘defence in depth’ philosophy in the design and operation of the plant.
The conduct of this exercise was overseen by the Kalpakkam Emergency Committee (KEC) headed by M Seshaiah, station director, Madras Atomic Power Station who is also the site emergency director. It was conducted as an unannounced exercise.
The exercise was conducted as laid down in the emergency plan of Kalpakkam DAE Centre and demonstrated major response actions like sheltering of site personnel in their respective units, treatment of injured people, administration of stable iodine tablets (notionally toffees) to the personnel as a protective action, evacuation of all non-essential personnel out of the site and mock decontamination of contaminated vehicles within the site.
Senior officials, including directors of Kalpakkam DAE Centre units, and observers from Atomic Energy Regulatory Board watched the conduct of the exercise. The exercise involved participation of more than 9,000 personnel in the site who were evacuated. The evacuation of the site personnel was accomplished within a time span of 90 minutes. The entire site emergency exercise was completed in 3.5 hours.
Officials said the exercise met the requirements stipulated by AERB for emergency preparedness at nuclear facilities. It has also enhanced the confidence in the capabilities of the Department of Atomic Energy in handling any events at nuclear facilities.
