• Highlights from 5th Review Meeting of Contracting Parties - 2011

  India presented the safety status of its nuclear power plants, and its regulatory and safety review system to an international gathering of experts in the 5th Review Meeting of the Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS), held at the Headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna from 4-14 April 2011. India is a Contracting Party to the Convention, which has 72 member countries. The Convention requires the member countries to present the safety status of their nuclear power programme every three years. A thirteen member highlevel Indian delegation led by Shri S.S. Bajaj, Chairman, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), participated in the CNS Review Meeting. The delegation included scientists from Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd., Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, and Permanent Mission of India in Vienna. 60 Countries participated in the review meeting. India’s report and its presentation elicited considerable interest, with discussion on areas like India’s regulatory frame work, human factors & safety culture and processes for new reactor licensing & siting and others.

• National Report to the Convention on Nuclear Safety - Fifth Review Meeting of Contracting Parties - April 2011

  The Government of India ratified the Convention on Nuclear Safety on March 31, 2005. This is the second National Report being submitted by India for review by the Contracting Parties, pursuant to Article 5 of the Convention on Nuclear Safety, which entered into force on 24 October 1996. The Report demonstrates how Government of India has fulfilled its obligations under Articles 6 through 19 of the Convention.

  This National Report was prepared in accordance with the "Guidelines Regarding National Reports under the Convention on Nuclear Safety" issued as information circular INFCIRC/572/Rev.3. Accordingly, all land-based nuclear power plants including storage, handling and treatment facilities for radioactive materials attached to the NPP and are directly related to the operation of nuclear power plants are covered in the national report.

  Read Full Report

• National Report to the Convention on Nuclear Safety - Fourth Review Meeting of Contracting Parties - April 2008

  The Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS) was adopted in Vienna on 17 June 1994 by a Diplomatic Conference convened by the International Atomic Energy Agency at its Headquarters from 14 to 17 June 1994. The Convention entered into force on 24th October 1996.

• The objectives of this Convention are:
1. To achieve and maintain a high level of nuclear safety worldwide through the enhancement of national measures and international co-operation including, where appropriate, safety-related technical co-operation;
2. To establish and maintain effective defences in nuclear installations against potential radiological hazards in order to protect individuals, society and the environment from harmful effects of ionizing radiation from such installations;
3. To prevent accidents with radiological consequences and to mitigate such consequences should they occur.

CNS is an incentive convention that aims to legally commit participating States operating land-based nuclear power plants to maintain a high level of safety through exhaustive peer review process conducted every three years. The Convention obligates Contracting Parties to submit reports on the implementation of CNS articles for "peer review" at meetings of the contracting parties to be held every three years.

The obligations under the convention covers

1. Review of Safety of the existing nuclear installations.
2. Establishment of legislative and regulatory framework, establishment of regulatory body and responsibility of the license holder.
3. General safety considerations for priority to safety, financial and human resources, human factors, quality assurance, assessment and verification of safety, radiation protection and emergency preparedness.
4. Safety of installations during siting, design & construction and operation.

All countries with operating nuclear power plants are parties to the Convention. As of now, there are 65 signatories to the Convention and 63 Contracting Parties.

India ratified the Convention on March 31, 2005. The first National Report of India was submitted for review by the Contracting Parties to the Convention on 24th September 2007. On India’s national report, 20 Contracting Parties asked 143 questions.

The responses to these questions were posted well before the stipulated last date March of 31, 2008. Sixty questions / comments were raised by India on the national reports of 12 countries.

Read Full Report

• 4th Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties to CNS - 2008

  India participated in the 4th review meeting of CNS in Vienna in April 2008. The Indian delegation comprised of experts from AERB, NPCIL and BARC and was led by Shri S. K. Sharma, Chairman, AERB. In the review meeting, the national report was orally presented where after there was a discussion on the presentation. The contracting parties appreciated the effective regulatory review structure, the strong R & D support available for nuclear safety from BARC and IGGAR and the excellent safety status of nuclear power plants in India. They also commended the several good safety practices like strong experience feedback review mechanism, utility’s internal safety review mechanism and systematic collective radiation dose reduction programme that are followed in India. India also mentioned the planned measures to improve safety like extended work on probabilistic safety analysis, development of severe accident management guidelines for nuclear power plants and technology improvements in areas like en-masse replacement of coolant channels in Naraora-2 and Kakrapar-2 reactors, life management of Zr-Nb coolant channels, primary heat transport system feeders and flow assisted corrosion of secondary systems piping.. Future challenges were identified in the areas of recruitment and training of additional experts to strengthen AERB, Licensing of new designs for upcoming plants, reliability of digital I&C for safety functions and reliability of passive safety systems.