AERB urged to form expert panel to inspect KKNPP tripping

G Sundararajan of Poovulagin Nanbargal has sent a representation to the chairman of AERB, asking him to form an expert committee, including independent experts from various fields to inspect KKNPP (Units I and II). Sundararajan, who had filed a civil appeal before the Supreme Court against the KKNPP in 2013, has approached the AERB after Unit-I of the plant reportedly tripped due to malfunction in the turbine three days after it resumed operations following 109-day maintenance.

Citing an earlier direction of the SC on maintaining safety at nuclear power plants, “not only at the design level, but also during the operation,” he claimed that globally, a nuclear reactor, on occasion of shut down, would be restarted within 45-60 days after maintenance, but it takes at least four months for the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) to restart the reactor, which is alarming. Listing out the various instances when the two units had tripped since October 2013, the petition charged the NPCIL with never submitting the reports of malfunctions of the KKNPP to the AERB, as was directed by the apex court.

Drawing the report of CAG to support his charge, Sundararajan said the pre-service inspection of pressure vessel by an independent third party other than the reactor pressure vessel manufacturer would havebeen appropriate.