Will not trust N-plant safety reviews by vendors: Banerjee

New Delhi: Seeking to allay apprehensions on the Jaitapur nuclear power project, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Srikumar Banerjee today said India would do its own safety reviews on the nuclear reactors it plans to purchase from French company Areva.
“We do not trust the safety reviews done by the vendors. The licensing and safety reviews for the Jaitapur reactors will be done by our own nuclear regulators,” he said in an interactive session at the National Physical Laboratory here.
He pointed out that the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has been working closely with Russian companies for the Kudankulam nuclear power plant.
Banerjee sought to downplay suggestions that the European Pressurised Reactors (EPR) were “untested” and contended that the reactors were based on an evolutionary design.
“Ours will be the fifth reactor.