Drill on radiation leakage held at Kaiga NPCIL unit

A drill on testing preparedness in the event of a radiation leak at the Kaiga atomic power generation station of Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) was successfully conducted in the ‘likely to be radiation affected villages’ of Uttara Kannada district recently.

According to a press release issued by Deputy Commissioner of Uttara Kannada district K. Lakshmipriya, the drill on possible radiation leak was conducted on December 11.

“After the emergency alert message received by the district administration from site emergency director of Kaiga Site at 6.30 a.m. on December 11, two radiation leak impact zones were created with L zone comprising of Hartuga, Goole, and Nagekove and M zone comprising of Kuchegar, Shirve, Keravadi and Devalamukki and the drill was carried out,” the release said.

Following the alert, an emergency meeting was chaired by the chairperson of the District Disaster Management Authority and the Deputy Commissioner at 6.45 a.m. directing the officials to immediately take remedial measures.

Subsequently, villages impacted by the radiation leak were barricaded, an alert sounded, and an appeal was made to the public not to pay heed to rumours on social media after declaring a holiday for schools and colleges.

As part of the drill, transport officials arranged buses for ferrying the public to rehabilitation centres set up for the purpose. At the same time, health check-ups were conducted for residents of affected villages. Citizens, animals and vehicles coming out of the affected villages were de-contaminated and water and other materials and equipments used for decontamination were safely disposed of. By 2.10 p.m. an announcement to containing the radiation leak at Kaiga station was issued by the district administration and subsequent press release was issued for the information of the general public about the thwarting the danger.