THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES & PENSIONS AND PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE (SHRI V. NARAYANASAMY) :
(a) The Government of India had initiated actions for installation
of Radiation Detection System at some major Indian ports before the incident
at Mayapuri happened. The Committee of Secretaries in its meeting held on
October 9, 2009, decided that Ministry of Home Affairs in consultation with
various other Ministries/Departments concerned will monitor the installation
of Radiation Detection System at the ports in a time bound manner. Ministry
of Shipping had been assigned the responsibility of executing the project of
installation of monitors in the major ports.
(b) Yes Sir, several actions have been initiated by Atomic Energy Regulatory
Board (AERB) to prevent recurrence of such incidents in future which include the
following :
for strengthening the inventory of the sources including the legacy sources,
suppliers of gamma cells and other radiation sources world-wide were contacted
various ministries/governmental departments were contacted
Users of the sources were informed with the help of print media to
furnish information on sources in their possession
initiated the process of developing a computerized web-based system
for managing the regulation of radiation sources
Awareness / Training programs on handling of radioactive material for
research and training activities were conducted
In order to detect sources at the shops/ facilities/ dealing with
metallic scrap, efforts are on to persuade the scrap associations
and dealers to install the radiation monitoring instruments to check
the presence of radiation in the scrap.
AERB has established Regional Regulatory Centers (RRCs) at Southern
and Eastern Region to make the regulatory process more effective.
As a part of its compliance assurance program, AERB has significantly
increased the number of inspections for radiation facilities.
As recommended by AERB, action has been initiated by relevant authorities
to install high sensitivity radiation monitoring systems at all major sea ports and air ports.
A committee has been constituted to streamline arrangements for disposal
of used sources; the committee has representation from all concerned agencies.
(c) Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) is the only Regulatory Body in
the country regulating the safe disposal of radioactive wastes.
(d) Except Mayapuri (Delhi) incident, no case of violation of the Atomic
Energy (Safe Disposal of Radioactive Waste) Rules, 1987, has been reported to
AERB during the last three as well as the current year.
