New Delhi, April 11, 2022 (PPI-OT):At least, 6 workers were killed in a blast at a chemical factory in Indian state of Gujarat. The incident took place in Dahej industrial area of Bharuch district. The six victims were working near a reactor, which suddenly blew off during solvent distillation process, Bharuch Superintendent of Police Leena Patil said.

Although, no details about the nature of the chemical factory where the blast took place, but it is a fact that India’s nuclear facilities are not even safe from leaks, fires and structural damages.

Below is a list of incidents which, on and off took place at different Indian nuclear plants.

April 2011

Fire alarms blare in the control room of the Kaiga Generating Station in Karnataka.

November 2009

Fifty-five employees consume radioactive material after tritiated water finds its way into the drinking water cooler in Kaiga Generating Station. The NPCIL attributes the incident to “an insider’s mischief”

April 2003

Six tonnes leak of heavy water at reactor II of the Narora Atomic Power Station (NAPS) in Uttar Pradesh, indicating safety measures have not been improved from the leak at the same reactor three years previously.

January 2003

Failure of a valve in the Kalpakkam Atomic Reprocessing Plant in Tamil Nadu results in the release of high-level waste, exposing six workers to high doses of radiation.

May 2002

Tritiated water leaks from a downgraded heavy water storage tank at the tank farm of Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS) 1 and 2 into a common dyke area. An estimated 22.2 Curies of radioactivity is released into the environment.

November 2001

A leak of 1.4 tonnes of heavy water at the NAPS I reactor, resulting in one worker receiving an internal radiation dose of 18.49 mSv.

April 2000

Leak of about seven tonnes of heavy water from the moderator system at NAPS Unit II. Various workers involved in the clean-up received ‘significant uptakes of tritium’, although only one had a radiation dose over the recommended annual limit.

March 1999

Somewhere between four and fourteen tonnes of heavy water leaks from the pipes at Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, during a test process. The pipes have a history of cracks and vibration problems. Forty-two people are reportedly involved in mopping up the radioactive liquid.

May 1994

The inner surface of the containment dome of Unit I of Kaiga Generating Station collapses (delaminates) while the plant is under construction. Approximately 130 tonnes of concrete fall from a height of nearly thirty metres, injuring fourteen workers.

February 1994

Helium gas and heavy water leak in Unit 1 of RAPS. The plant is shut down until March 1997.

March 1993

Two blades of the turbine in NAPS Unit I break off, slicing through other blades and indirectly causing a raging fire, which catches onto leaked oil and spreads through the turbine building.

May 1992

Tube leak causes a radioactive release of 12 Curies of radioactivity from Tarapur Atomic Power Station.

January 1992

Four tons of heavy water spilt at RAPS.

December 1991

A leak from pipelines in the vicinity of CIRUS and Dhruva research reactors at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Trombay, Maharashtra, results in severe Cs-137 soil contamination of thousands of times the acceptable limit.

July 1991

A contracted labourer mistakenly paints the walls of RAPS with heavy water before applying a coat of whitewash. He also washed his paintbrush, face and hands in the deuterated and tritiated water, and has not been traced since.

March 1991

Heavy water leak at MAPS takes four days to clean up.

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