Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

9. India draws bulk of its electricity, above 64%, from thermal sources, especially coal. Hydro power comes second of 18% and then renewable sources provide small share at about 15%. We are informed that, at present, the share of nuclear energy is hardly three per cent of India’s total electricity production, while France accounts for 74.6% as on 2008. NPPs provide about 6% of the world’s energy and 13-14% of the world’s electricity with U.S., France and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity. U.S.A. has 104 nuclear reactors and more than 100,000 MWe of electricity is produced by nuclear generation. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported that in the year 2007, there were 439 Nuclear Power Reactors in operation in the world operating in thirty one countries. The DAE, it is reported, plans to increase its nuclear energy production to 20000 MWe by 2020 and 63,000 by 2030. The Policy makers consider that the nuclear energy remains as an important element in India’s energy mix for sustaining economic growth of natural and domestic use. One of the reasons for preferring nuclear energy as an alternative source of energy is that it is a clean, safe, reliable and competitive energy source which can replace a significant part of the fossil fuels like coal, oil, gas etc. Oil and natural gas resources might exhaust themselves. Coal is also not an effective substitution since forests are also no longer able to satisfy the energy requirements. Major source of electricity generation, about 66%, is still contributed by fossil thermal powers, like coal. To put into practice the national policy, India has already entered into various collaborations with most of the developed countries which have proved expertise and experience in the field of establishment and production of nuclear energy.

(i) Safety in Nuclear Power Plant Siting; (ii) Safety in Nuclear Power Plant Design; (iii) Safety in Nuclear Power Plant Operation; (iv) Quality Assurance for Safety in Nuclear Power Plants. Those Codes are intended to establish the objectives and to set the minimum requirements that have been fulfilled to provide assurance that nuclear power plants will be sited, designed, constructed and operated without undue risk to personnel, public and environment. The Code of Practice for Nuclear Power Plant Siting provides appropriate criteria and outlines the procedures to be applied to assess the suitability of a site for the location of nuclear power plant taking into account, the operational requirements and accidental conditions. The same has to be prepared following the criteria laid down by DAE for selection of site and the relevant IAEA documents under the Nuclear Safety Standards (NUSS) programme specially the Code of Practice for Nuclear Power Plant Siting and similar documents from various leading countries. The Code of Practice on Safety in Nuclear Power Plant Siting was issued by the AERB on March 9, 1990. The Code encompasses site-related characteristics, natural events and man-induced events specific to the site which will have a bearing on the safety of the plant and the radiological impact on the environment and population due to the location of NPP at the site. The Code also lays down appropriate criteria and outlines the procedures for assessing the suitability of a site taking into account the operational requirements and accident conditions. The Code also indicates the extent of site-related information required to be obtained and also defines site-related design bases. Certain man-induced events like war, acts of sabotage which can cause large scale damage to the plant safety systems, however, are beyond the scope of 1990 Code, in other words, the Code prescribes minimum requirements in siting considerations for limiting the radiological impact. The main aim is protection of man and his environment. The Code outlined the requirements for limiting doses to man.

42. India-U.S. issued an Inter U.S. Joint Statement at Washington on 18.7.2005 which has located the final broad policy so as to actually facilitate and also outline the broad contours of a legally binding agreement. Some of the policy frameworks relate to preventing WMD Proliferation, goals of prompting nuclear power and achieving nuclear energy, expeditious consideration of fuel steps for safeguarded nuclear reactors etc. Nuclear 2007 – an agreement for co-operation between India and U.S. concerning peaceful uses of nuclear energy (2007 Co-operation Agreement) laid down certain binding obligations between the two countries. Though, India is not a party to any of the Liability Conventions, specifically, IAEA Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage, India has enacted the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 (Nuclear Liability Act) which aims to provide a civil liability for nuclear damage and prompt compensation to the victims of a nuclear accident through No- Fault Liability to the operators.

iv) The malevolent use of radioactive material as a Radiological Dispersal Device by terrorists for dispersing radioactive material in the environment.

v) A large-scale nuclear disaster, resulting from a nuclear weapon attack (as had happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki) which would lead to mass casualties and destruction of large areas and property.

90. Chapter 2 deals with the Approach to Nuclear and Radiological Emergency Management, which spells out a four-pronged strategy to be adopted for a holistic management of nuclear/radiological emergencies. Chapter 3 deals with the Present Status and Situation Analysis, which highlights some of the technical and administrative issues yet to be addressed in a holistic approach, besides analysing the present status. Chapter 4 deals with the Prevention of Nuclear/Radiological Emergencies, which enumerates how nuclear and radiological emergencies are prevented in nuclear facilities by adopting the defence-in-depth approach, where the safety systems are inbuilt with adequate redundancy and diverse working principles. Chapter 5 of the Guidelines deals with the Mitigation of Nuclear/Radiological Emergencies, which explains the various engineered safety features and accident management procedures that are in place in a nuclear plant as accident mitigation measures for minimising the impact of a nuclear emergency by keeping the radioactivity release in the environment to levels as low as possible. Chapter 6 deals with the Preparedness for Nuclear/Radiological Emergencies and covers various aspects of preparedness. Chapter 7 deals with the Capacity Development for Nuclear/Radiological Emergencies and deals with the capacity development for coping with nuclear/radiological emergency situations. Chapter 8 deals with the Response to Nuclear/Radiological Emergencies and describes the action to be taken in nuclear/radiological emergencies. Chapter 9 deals with the Implementation of the Guidelines which spells out the preparation of action plans by various levels of stakeholders. Such plans should indicate the detailed work plan and milestones with recommended time-frame and suitable indicators to enable monitoring and review of the actual progress made. Chapter 10 deals with the Summary of Action Points and sums up the major recommendations that have been made in the text of the National Guidelines.