For n-deal, India law too being changed

Two specific amendments are most essential for benefits of the nuclear deal to fructify. First, the Atomic Energy Act has to be amended to allow private players to set up atomic power plants—under existing rules, they are banned from undertaking this activity.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, the regulatory framework which governs atomic energy in India has to be strengthened to build public confidence that safety of nuclear plants will be taken care of while letting in private players.

Anil Kakodkar, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), told The Indian Express that “amendments in the Atomic Energy Act are necessary and the long process to change the Act has been initiated”.

All civilian nuclear activity is regulated and controlled by the Mumbai-based Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) which draws its powers from a government notification of 1983 which empowers AERB to “lay down safety standard and frame rules and regulations in regard to the regulatory and safety requirements”.

Kakodkar said that in the proposed amendment “the AERB will be made a statutory body that draws its strengths from the Act itself” and hopes that “AERB will find a clear and specific mention in the new law”.

In the changed paradigm of tomorrow where several private players may be operating nuclear power plants, “the effort is to make AERB a higher level body”, said Kakodkar. An essential requirement which will help allay fears, if any, of lax safety standards around Indian nuclear installations.

According to Dr S K Sharma, chairman of AERB, all matters of the board, including submission of annual reports, recommendations and orders, get reported to the AEC. It is this umbilical link to the very officials the AERB is supposed to regulate which gives an impression that the board is not independent in its functioning.

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