The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant is in serious safety-trouble

Looks like the power-starved Tamil Nadu has to give up hopes of relief from the yet-to-be-born pride of India’s atomic energy establishment - the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant. With false promises of a commissioning sometime early this year, similar to the promises last year, Tamil Nadu had relied heavily on the plant to ameliorate its power deficit of 4000 MW. The plant, however, is in serious safety-trouble. In a detailed editorial article in the New Indian Express, former Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) Chairman, A Gopalakrishnan has made a new startling revelation - that the Instrumentation and Control system (I&C) of the KKNP, that is crucial for the safety of any nuclear power reactor, is faulty. [caption id=“attachment_886929” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Kudankulam nuclear plant.[/caption] This renders the plant highly unsafe. In April, Gopalakrishnan had charged that the safety of the plant was compromised because of substandard parts and materials from its Russian suppliers, whose procurement director was arrested for cheating. The atomic energy establishment had clarified that there were problems with some valves, which were being rectified. Based on available information, Gopalakrishnan had said that the problem was not with the valves alone, but possibly with the reactor vessel as well because of the possible compromise on quality of Russian parts and materials. The arrest of a senior procurement official of the Russian government company, ZiO-Podolsk, that supplied parts to KKNP, for procuring and supplying inferior quality parts for Russian reactors in different countries had heightened the anxiety of both nuclear-safety and anti-nuclear activists early this year. In his latest charge based on “piecing information available in the public domain”, Gopalakrishnan says that there “appears to be the inability to eliminate spurious signals of untraced origin appearing in many of the instrumentation cables of paramount importance to safety.” This phenomenon, which comes under the class of Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) can lead to unpredictable and serious malfunctions and accidents. Simply put, the I&C systems at KKNP, because of their faulty design and installation, are apparently picking up erroneous signals that can mislead the safety systems of the Plant, which can lead to accidents. Sounds really scary! The reason, says the insider-turned-nuclear-whistleblower, is the failure of KKNP to adhere to the highest standards of cable-laying, routing and earthing. Referring to the 2009-10 report of the AERB, he says “the cable problems at Koodankulam have a long history.” Even 2010-2011 report refers to deviations of cable-laying and their justifications. However, the 2011-2012 report is totally silent on the issue. Subsequently, Gopalakrishnan refers to news reports in 2011 that cited missing power and control cables, which necessitated breaking open the containment domes of the reactor. “One wonders how such a serious error was committed by the NPCIL engineers and their contractors”. The cables apparently were missing for several kilometers after the dome was completed! The tireless nuclear-safety campaigner says that this was probably because NPCIL team proceeded with the I&C work without waiting for documentation and instructions to arrive from Russia. They relied on their experience on PHWR (Pressuried Heavy Water Reactors - India’s mainstay in nuclear power for many years) without realising that PWR/VVER (the new technology being used in Koodankulam) requirements would be significantly different. The delay in Russians transferring the I&C design and installation is corroborated by the report of the World Nuclear Association. He charges that “while redoing the work, the NPCIL team is unlikely to have come close to meeting the Russian design intent or conformed the installation documents received from them. The origin of the problem lies in the massive installation error of the NPCIL”. Gopalakrishnan’s latest expose is yet another shot in the arm for the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), which has been fighting a losing, but resolute, battle against the Plant. Even supporters of nuclear energy are not happy with the lack transparency at KKNP. Had things been normal, why such an inordinate delay in commissioning the plant? “It is most likely that the KKNPP cable system, as completed today, has not conformed to the norms and standards of cable selection, EMI shielding, or layout as per Russian, Indian or any other standards.” Gopalakrishnan summarises. “No wonder the EMI problem is persisting, because there is no other short-cut solution other than re-doing a sizable part of the I&C cabling and its layout in accordance with a set of modern standards, agreeable also to the Russians. This may take several more months and extensive re-working, but this must be done in the interest of public safety. As directed by the SC, the group consisting of NPCIL, AERB, MoEF and TNPCB must certainly find an acceptable resolution of this problem and include it in their report to the apex court.” In May, when the Supreme Court cleared the decks for the commissioning the plant, _Firstpost_ had noted that it was in fact more a setback for the nuclear establishment, than the anti-nuclear protestors, because it would now be forced to deliver. The KKNP was touted as India’s big leap in nuclear power - from a 200-plus MW class of reactors to a massive 1000-MW reactor. Not just one, but at least four at the same site. And probably, eight in the future! Can it really deliver? Or will it remain a pipe dream with commissioning-dates eternally postponed? By going big, did a self-delusional (imaginary) superpower bite more than it could chew?