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India's N-plants turned into fortresses after US alert

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, Aug 14, IRNA
India-N-Plants-Security
Soon after the US embassy issued a warning about a possible terror attack on government establishments in New Delhi and Mumbai, the nation's 25 nuclear installations, where security had already been tightened in the wake of the Mumbai blasts, have literally turned into fortresses.

"Ee are further scaling up security and it has now become visible," an official at the atomic units at Kalpakkam, near Chennai, told TOI.

As part of a nuclear exercise, about 30 commandos are being air dashed from New Delhi to Kalpakkam, where security is now handled by the CISF.

The nuclear establishment at Kalpakkam consists of five units -- the Madras Atomic Power Project, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, some facilities of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor project and the Safety Research Institute, which is part of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.

According to nuclear experts, some of the units are of strategic importance and, therefore, could become targets of terrorist groups.

India's nuclear establishments are particularly attractive terror targets because they serve both the military and civilian sectors.

"The process of separation, which is the main part of the Indo-US deal, is not complete and most nuclear power plants at the moment also have some defence role," an expert said.

To cite an example, the third and fourth units of the Tarapur Atomic Power Station near Mumbai are outside the civilian list.

The expert claimed that in the event of a terror strike damaging a reactor, the surrounding population could be exposed to high radiation.

Nuclear scientists, however, rebuff the claim and maintain that in the remote possibility of such an attack, there will be no radiation leak as the reactors have been designed to remain intact.

A nuclear scientist even speculated that the US may have issued the terror warning in order to have some say in the security arrangements for India's nuclear units.

Authorities are taking no chances. At BARC in Mumbai, the most sensitive atomic installation in the country since it is a nuclear weapons laboratory, security has been further tightened.

"We have gone on a special alert and are taking no chances," said an official.

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