The Hindu : Front Page : Kakrapar nuclear plant `safe'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 23, 2006

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Front Page

Kakrapar nuclear plant `safe'

Special Correspondent

Alert follows reports of two `suspicious' men seen moving in the inner fencing area

NEW DELHI: The nuclear power plant at Kakrapar in Gujarat was "absolutely safe" and all security precautions taken following reports of two "suspicious" men moving in its vicinity, Union Home Secretary V.K. Duggal said on Tuesday.

Director General of Central Industrial Security Force S.I.S. Ahmed informed the Home Ministry that it was "all clear" and the nuclear power complex was "safe."

National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan said, "the plant is as safe as ever."

Sources in the security establishment here said the response to the threat showed the alert security arrangements. Even a "slightest violation" of any kind would be detected and dealt with swiftly.

"False alarm"

They were of the opinion that the threat concerning the nuclear plant was a "false alarm."

"It is most unlikely anybody was there," said the Gujarat Director General of Police P.C. Pandey after his forces had checked the entire plant and its vicinity for over three hours. He discounted the possibility of anyone sneaking into the high security three-layered zone.

Other officers involved with security around the plant termed the reports "totally bogus." The plant, located 70 km away, with virtually no access, is "impossible" for an outsider to enter, they said.

CISF combs area

Alarm bells began ringing after television reports said "two armed men" were spotted in the heavily guarded 1.6 square km security zone around the plant. The reports said villagers living near the plant told the police there were two strangers in the area.

Commandos took positions inside the control room for the reactors while CISF troops combed the 1.6-km "exclusive zone" between the station's outer fence and an inner barrier around.

Several layers of defence

Officials familiar with the layout of atomic power plants discounted the possibility of an unauthorised entry into the complex.

And even if someone did so, the plant had the capability of withstanding a conventional attack.

P.K. Dutta, Director of the Kakrapar Atomic Power Station, said the facility had several layers of defence and no harm could be done even if there was an intrusion.

CISF spokesman Vertul Singh said there was "no breach of security" and reports about two armed men in the vicinity appeared to be "speculation." People were not permitted to enter the "exclusive zone" at the station, he said.

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