When the Japanese Diet released their assessment report on the actual cause of Fukushima nuclear accident, they categorically stated that a fault in design caused the accident. It also stated that “wilful negligence” had a role to play too. Post Fukushima, the first step was to make the regulator independent. The approvals of the design of a nuclear reactor as well as regular monitoring are two of the most important jobs of a regulator.
Post Fukushima nuclear accident, the Indian government introduced the Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill. This bill promised to make the Indian nuclear regulator more independent and effective, however on closer examination; the draft revealed that it wasn’t independent at all. After criticism, the bill was referred to the Parliamentary standing committee which came out with a set of recommendations. Neither have those recommendations been acted upon nor has there been any progress on bill itself, whereas, the existing nuclear regulator (Atomic Energy Regulatory Board - AERB) seems content with its inefficiencies.
AERB’s Kudankulam Failures
Many of the problems we see today at Kudankulam nuclear reactor also exist in other similar Russian designed nuclear power plants. Take Kalinin nuclear plant for example, it was commissioned in late 2011, since then it has suffered a series of delays, equipment failures, accidents and incidents. Within two months of commissioning, the plant registered 11 incidents, including potentially serious issues such as emergency shutdown of the reactor. Within the first year of operation, Kudankulam reported 21 outages and two major accidents. The worst was an explosion that seriously injured 6 workers at the plant.
Like Kalinin nuclear plant, Kudankulam nuclear plant also received equipments and critical components from subsidiaries of Rosatom. ZiO-Podolsk is one such subsidiary that supplied components to Kudankulam. It’s important to note that ZiO-Podolsk was caught red handed and charged with embezzlement of funds as well as using low quality raw material. Despite proven guilt, AERB has neither blacklisted ZiO-Podolsk nor ordered an inquiry.
None blacklisted in 30 years
A right to information application filed to AERB revealed that not a single company has been blacklisted by AERB in the last 30 years. Despite the fact that there have been many incidents of accidents and negligence while constructing and operating nuclear power plants.
AERB and NPCIL have been in operation for past 31 years. It is responsible for building and operating 21 nuclear power plants across India. Some of these plants have seen glaringly ridiculous accidents such as the fire at Kaiga nuclear plant and the collapsing of its dome during construction. As well as the explosion at Kudankulam nuclear plant which left 6 workers with serious injuries. Kudankulam nuclear reactor no. 1 was recently shutdown due to problems related to its turbine. Despite these accidents and incidents, not a single company has been blacklisted.
Nuclear accident liability
The total cost of Fukushima has gone beyond 250 billion U.S. dollars whereas in India, the total liability has been capped at 250 million U.S dollars. Further to this, the interpretation of the nuclear liability Act, as per the released FAQs on the “breakthrough” understanding between President Obama and Prime Minister Modi, suggest that the current government aims to circumvent the Act by way of risk transfer. The supplier liability clause in the nuclear liability Act does more than just provide for compensation, it acts like a deterrent and the strict penalties ensure vigilance and quality control. Doing away with supplier liability or circumventing the clause by way of proposed risk transfer mechanism will only make preventing such accidents difficult.
Impacts around the world
Fukushima nuclear accident woke up many around the world to the inherent risk and dangers that nuclear power poses. Germany decided to do a complete phase out of nuclear power, Italy held a referendum that decided against building any nuclear plants, and France plans to reduce its dependency on nuclear technology from 70% to 50%. In Japan, there are no operational nuclear power plants for over a year now and a new nuclear regulation authority has been set up. With changes in its energy roadmap and opening up of the market, Japan is now looking forward to more competition from clean and renewable sources such as wind and solar energy. Moreover, it’s the people in Japan that are now forcing the government to not restart any of its nuclear power plants.