NDMA to conduct 'mock drills' at all nuclear facilities

NEW DELHI: As part of India's preparedness to handle nuclear disasters, the National Disaster Management Authority ( NDMA) has decided to conduct 'mock drills' at all nuclear facilities across the country. The exercise will be done "to review the off-site emergency plan" of different authorities.

This was announced by the Union home ministry on Tuesday, the day NDMA began its groundwork for the drill at the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu. The two-day drill – which is the second such exercise -- will conclude on Wednesday.

The first mock drill was conducted at Tarapur in Maharashtra on June 10-11 in the wake of the recent disasters in Japan. At present, the country has 18 nuclear facilities in six different states. NDMA will conduct such an exercise one-by-one at all the facilities.

Besides officials of the nuclear facilities, personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), police, Civil Defence and Home Guards will take part in the drill.

"In the event of potential radiological consequences in the public domain, the authorities at the level of district, state and Centre are to play a vital role in its mitigation mechanism and therefore, there is a need to review off-site emergency plan", the home ministry said in a statement.