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In the wake of India’s plans to expand its nuclear energy sources, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has asked the Government to strengthen its atomic safety and regulatory network.
The PAC, which adopted a report on the Comptroller and Auditor General’s performance audit on the activities of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board here on Thursday, also made crucial suggestions on the Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill, 2011, which is pending for passage with Parliament.
The PAC has urged the Centre to accept the suggestions of the Standing Committee on Science and Technology on strengthening AERB.
The report said AERB must be an independent, autonomous and credible regulatory panel. It noted that the present body was toothless.
The committee said the activities of AERB should be subjected to peer review by the International Atomic Energy Agency and experts from the field of nuclear energy. “This should help to discuss, examine and suggest improvements to our safety mechanism,” a source in the panel said.
He maintained that the committee was not suggesting audit by an international agency but a review of the country’s safety arrangements to avoid incidents, such as Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan.
The top financial panel of Parliament added that an institutional mechanism should be set up to create awareness on radiation safety in the wake of the Government’s plan for a “large number of nuclear reactors” in the country.
It felt that radiation safety should be part of the curriculum in schools and colleges. The committee has asked the Centre to introduce vocational courses on radiological safety and appoint more safety officers to address safety concerns.
The panel also adopted two more reports – on the Adarsh Housing Scam and Defence Estates. The committee asked the Government to hold a comprehensive survey and computerise all land records to avoid Adarsh-type scams and encroachments on defence land.
The panel demanded transparency in the accounts of defence land, which are given for public purpose, such as golf course, parks and entertainment centres.
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