KKNPP engineer bats for safety of plant

MADURAI: The Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project  has four safety channels instead of one, as in the case of other reactors, said S Kaliraja, Additional Chief Engineer, Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP).He was speaking at a public awareness programme on ‘Safety of Koodankulam Power Project’ organised by Velammal Engineering College, here on Thursday.He said that the reactors built at Koodankulam had state-of-the-art safety features such as Passive Heat Removal System (PHRS), double containment, core catcher and hydrogen recombines. “Hence, there is no need for any apprehension,” he said. Claiming that the Fukushima reactor, which exploded after an earthquake, had older safety systems, he said that the Koodankulam reactors were designed to withstand natural calamities such as tsunami and earthquakes. Explained the safety features at the Koodankulam reactor, Kaliraja said there were two power feeders, one from TANGEDCO and the other directly from the Thoothukudi thermal power station, to the Koodankulam plant.“Also, there are diesel storage tanks placed on a concrete building, which would not be affected by tsunami or earthquake. The storage capacity is enough to operate the plant for eight days and will help in the shutdown process of the reactor in case the power system fails. If there is any explosion, the 12 air heat exchangers placed in the system would dissipate the heat. It will take only two seconds to stop the reactor process,” he informed. “No natural disaster will affect the performance of the reactor and nothing that occurs inside the plant will affect the outside world,” Kaliraja added.Ramanatham, health physicist, KKNPP, and college principal N Suresh Kumar were among those present.