Victims of Atomic and Nuclear Accidents

Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (CLND) Act 2010 and the rules framed there under provide for prompt compensation and other claims to victims of anuclear accident.

A defense in depth philosophy is followed in the design and operation of all Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) in India. Inherently safe and highly reliable designs are supplemented with control and protection features to detect any deviation in plant safety parameter and restore the same to normal plant state. Though the failures in plants’ systems are highly improbable because of the above design philosophy, still failures are postulated, and successive engineered safety systems are provided to prevent and/or mitigate degradation of plant state and mitigate radiological consequence. The clearances for design, construction and operation of NPPs are issued only after satisfactory review by Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). Further, the regulatory oversight of the Indian NPP is performed by AERB involving periodic inspections, special regulatory inspections and review of submissions made by the NPPs.

This was stated by Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences (Independent Charge) Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

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ST/jk