The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) said on Sunday that there was no heavy water leak in the first unit of the Kaiga Atomic Power Station in Karnataka and that “all plant systems were found to be functioning normally.”
In a press release, Om Pal Singh, Secretary, AERB and Director, Information and Technical Services Division, said an incident of tritium intake by some workers of the Kaiga station was noticed on November 24 during routine sampling of their urine
A drinking water cooler was found to be the source of water contamination and this cooler was isolated immediately. The tritium contamination was limited to only this cooler. The water tank of this cooler, like other coolers, was kept locked. “However, it appears that some mischief-maker added a small quantity of tritiated heavy water to the cooler, possibly from a heavy water sampling vial, through its overflow tube. Further investigations are in progress in this regard.”
About 65 workers of Kaiga-1 receiving radiation doses higher than the prescribed limits “has nothing to do with the reactor’s functioning.”.
Kaiga-1 reactor uses natural uranium as fuel and heavy water as both coolant and moderator. Heavy water has two atoms of deuterium and one atom of oxygen. During the reactor’s operation, small quantities of heavy water got converted into tritium, which is in liquid form but highly radioactive.
Asked how “an insider could have played mischief,” Mr. Jain explained that there was heavy water in the reactor’s moderator system and primary heat transporter. Trained workers took out samples of tritiated heavy water from sampling points and carried them to chemical laboratories for analysis. This was done every day. When urine samples of 250 workers were tested on November 24, it came to light that 65 of them had received radiation doses higher than the prescribed limits.
– from thehindu
heavy water is a coolant and moderator in this plant. Its purpose is to cool plant core and control atomic reaction inside code. It is not a radio active material. All radiation and radio active materials are inside the core. But during the operation small quantity of heavy water will be converted into tritium, which is highly radio active.
They collects samples periodically and check the content of tritium in heavy water. They have safe mechanism to dispose the samples also. If a small sample of secondary nuclear material can cause this much damage, what will be the effect of the real nuclear materials inside the code?
They say that you cannot consider this as a nuclear accident. Yes, but all accidents happens like this. In Chernobyl misunderstanding of two teams resulted in the largest nuclear disaster in the world.
Do we still need this monster to get some power?
Nuclear energy is a failed technology of 20th century. It is about the most ridiculous, dangerous, costly and wasteful way to boil water* ever undertaken.
* There may be a confusion when we say nuclear power plant. “Keep Uranium on clay dish, then connect 2 electrodes, now electricity will flow through the electrodes”. Mainstream media in India is selling this kind of thoughts. Actually its not like that. Atomic reaction will release intense amount of energy in the form of gamma rays, ultraviolet, infrared, x rays etc. In these only infrared, which is heat, is used in power plant to boil water. Boiled water releases steam. That steam is used in turbine to convert its pressure energy to electricity as the same way as coal based thermal power plant. But in nuclear plant things are costly and dangerous.