Ronan Kelly
Retired 2020
Nuclear Event in India on Tuesday, 24 July, 2012 at 10:49 (10:49 AM) UTC.
Description
More than 40 workers at a nuclear power station in northern India have been exposed to tritium radiation in two separate leaks in the past five weeks. The first accident occurred on June 23 when 38 people were exposed during maintenance work on a coolant channel at the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station in Rawatbhata, senior plant manager Vinod Kumar said. Two of them received radiation doses equivalent to the annual permissible limit, he said, but all those involved have returned to work. In a second incident last Thursday, another four maintenance workers at the plant were exposed to tritium radiation while they were repairing a faulty seal on a pipe. India is on a nuclear power drive, with a host of plants based on Russian, Japanese, American and French technology under consideration or construction.
The country?s growing economy is currently heavily dependent on coal, getting less than 3% of its energy from its existing atomic plants, and the government hopes to raise the figure to 25% by 2050. But environmental watchdogs have expressed concerns about safety in India, where small-scale industrial accidents due to negligence or poor maintenance are commonplace and regulatory bodies are often under-staffed and under-funded. The director of the Rajasthan power station, C.P. Jamb, confirmed the second accident to AFP but said the radiation was within permissible limits and posed no health threat. ?The workers were exposed to radiation from 10 to 25 per cent of the annual limit,? Jamb said. ?Such minor leakages keep on happening but they cause no harm.? C.D. Rajput, director of the unit where the leak happened, also said the radiation exposure ?was well under the limits and all the workers are working normally?. No explanation was immediately available as to why the first incident at the plant took a month to emerge.
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/?pageid=event_desc&edis_id=NC-20120724-35904-IND
Nuclear Event in India on Tuesday, 24 July, 2012 at 10:49 (10:49 AM) UTC.
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Updated: Wednesday, 25 July, 2012 at 18:06 UTC
Description
Two minor contamination incidents have taken place at India's Rajasthan nuclear power plant, both due to tritium exposure during maintenance. All the personnel involved continue to work at the plant, although two have had to change their duties. During normal operation, mildly radioactive tritium builds up in the heavy-water moderator of pressurized heavy-water reactors, of which six are present at Rajasthan. This represents a routine radiological concern for managers, who therefore plan maintenance in order to minimise exposure for workers. However, two recent incidents have triggered investigations by plant owner Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) and the safety regulator. The first came on 23 June during work to alter the moderator system of Rajasthan 5. Workers were preparing to conduct some welding when the opening of a moderator gas cover line caused a local increase in the concentration of tritium. NPCIL said two people were likely to have received radiation doses that would take them above annual regulatory limits. Those workers have been assigned roles in other parts of the plant, while the remainder of people in the area at the time continue to work as normal. A second tritium exposure incident took place on 16 July during work on Rajasthan 4 when a leak of heavy-water moderator was observed from a pump seal. The pump was immediately shut down and isolated. NPCIL said that radiation doses to the four workers involved were in the range of between 10% and 25% of the regulated annual limit. The company said that the individuals continue to work as normal. The single exposure of an individual exceeding 10% of the annual limit is a trigger point for NPCIL and the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board beyond which they are each required to compile an investigation.
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/?pageid=event_update_read&edis_id=NC-20120724-35904-IND&uid=12795
Description
More than 40 workers at a nuclear power station in northern India have been exposed to tritium radiation in two separate leaks in the past five weeks. The first accident occurred on June 23 when 38 people were exposed during maintenance work on a coolant channel at the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station in Rawatbhata, senior plant manager Vinod Kumar said. Two of them received radiation doses equivalent to the annual permissible limit, he said, but all those involved have returned to work. In a second incident last Thursday, another four maintenance workers at the plant were exposed to tritium radiation while they were repairing a faulty seal on a pipe. India is on a nuclear power drive, with a host of plants based on Russian, Japanese, American and French technology under consideration or construction.
The country?s growing economy is currently heavily dependent on coal, getting less than 3% of its energy from its existing atomic plants, and the government hopes to raise the figure to 25% by 2050. But environmental watchdogs have expressed concerns about safety in India, where small-scale industrial accidents due to negligence or poor maintenance are commonplace and regulatory bodies are often under-staffed and under-funded. The director of the Rajasthan power station, C.P. Jamb, confirmed the second accident to AFP but said the radiation was within permissible limits and posed no health threat. ?The workers were exposed to radiation from 10 to 25 per cent of the annual limit,? Jamb said. ?Such minor leakages keep on happening but they cause no harm.? C.D. Rajput, director of the unit where the leak happened, also said the radiation exposure ?was well under the limits and all the workers are working normally?. No explanation was immediately available as to why the first incident at the plant took a month to emerge.
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/?pageid=event_desc&edis_id=NC-20120724-35904-IND
Nuclear Event in India on Tuesday, 24 July, 2012 at 10:49 (10:49 AM) UTC.
Back
Updated: Wednesday, 25 July, 2012 at 18:06 UTC
Description
Two minor contamination incidents have taken place at India's Rajasthan nuclear power plant, both due to tritium exposure during maintenance. All the personnel involved continue to work at the plant, although two have had to change their duties. During normal operation, mildly radioactive tritium builds up in the heavy-water moderator of pressurized heavy-water reactors, of which six are present at Rajasthan. This represents a routine radiological concern for managers, who therefore plan maintenance in order to minimise exposure for workers. However, two recent incidents have triggered investigations by plant owner Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) and the safety regulator. The first came on 23 June during work to alter the moderator system of Rajasthan 5. Workers were preparing to conduct some welding when the opening of a moderator gas cover line caused a local increase in the concentration of tritium. NPCIL said two people were likely to have received radiation doses that would take them above annual regulatory limits. Those workers have been assigned roles in other parts of the plant, while the remainder of people in the area at the time continue to work as normal. A second tritium exposure incident took place on 16 July during work on Rajasthan 4 when a leak of heavy-water moderator was observed from a pump seal. The pump was immediately shut down and isolated. NPCIL said that radiation doses to the four workers involved were in the range of between 10% and 25% of the regulated annual limit. The company said that the individuals continue to work as normal. The single exposure of an individual exceeding 10% of the annual limit is a trigger point for NPCIL and the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board beyond which they are each required to compile an investigation.
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/?pageid=event_update_read&edis_id=NC-20120724-35904-IND&uid=12795