Jaitapur reactor snippets

Former Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman Anil Kakodkar said that French firm Areva’s European Pressurized Reactors (EPR), which India plans to import for the Jaitapur nuclear power project in Ratnagiri district, were tested. “It is wrong to say that they were untested reactors. They are based on previous reactor experience,” he asserted, while pointing out that other countries were building similar reactors. “India is an intelligent buyer and nobody can dump untested reactors on us,” Kakodkar said. His remark assumes significance in the context of opposition to the Jaitapur project by anti-nuclear activists and locals. Efforts by the DAE and Nuclear Power Corporation to convince them about the safety levels of these reactors have failed to make headway. He said building many reactors in one place has economical and operational advantages. “The only thing is that an accident in one reactor should not propagate to another reactor,” he stated. Kakodkar said India had to sign the Indo-US deal as we have plenty of thorium, but not adequate uranium to fuel the reactors.