MANGALORE: Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Chairman Srikumar Banerjee said on Thursday that investigations are under way and police will catch the culprits who mixed tritiated water in the cooling machine at Kaiga Atomic Power Station in Karwar in 2009.At the inauguration of the Centre for Application of Radioisotopes and Radiation Technology (CARRT) in Mangalore University campus, Banerjee said the urine test done on the employees proved that scientists who drank tritiated fluid mixture in a water cooler in 2009, were affected due to high radiation levels.Dispelling doubts about their role, he said AEC provided all technical support to the police department after the incident.“Based on the report, the committee will not hesitate to initiate stringent action. Mixing tritiated water in a water cooler is nothing but a criminal act,” he averred.Referring to the stiff opposition against the Koodankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu, Banerjee added that mass outreach programmes were needed to highlight the importance of nuclear plants.“Our efforts are headed in this directions and AEC has plans to reach out to the public. The group with anti-nuclear stand is small,” Banerjee said.He stressed that producing electricity with nuclear power is the need of the hour and the Centre set up a committee to help understand the objective behind nuclear power plants. He added each reactor is set up with expert approval. All 20 reactors in the country were constructed in two or three or four seismic zones.The fatalities of nuclear plants was at 50-60 range worldwide, he added.
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