TACKLING NUCLEAR DISASTERS

Ministry of Home Affairs TACKLING NUCLEAR DISASTERS Posted On: 23 JUL 2025 1:43PM by PIB Delhi As informed by National Disaster Management Authority, as per the National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP, 2019), the response plan in public domain for a nuclear emergency has been a part of the integrated District Disaster Management Plan (DDMP) for emergency response under an all- hazard approach. For any Nuclear and Radiological related disasters, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) is the Nodal agency and it has prepared Crisis Management Plan (CMP) for the same. Under Nuclear and Radiological related emergencies, there are emergencies such as Plant Emergency, Site Emergency and Off-Site Emergency. The off-site emergency involves a very unlikely accident condition/emergency situation involving excessive release of radioactive materials/hazardous chemicals from the plant to the public domain calling for intervention. For Plant emergency and Site emergency at each Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) site, its Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR) plan is a mandatory requirement for issuing license for operation of Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). The off-site EPR plan for all sites where NPPs are located, response actions in the public domain are prepared by District Administration and District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) in coordination with the NPP, as per the guidelines of NDMA. In order to further strengthen the level of preparedness, new system for conducting off-site emergency exercises is being developed by Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). Different type of exercises are conceptualized and conducted, focusing on different aspects of emergency management. The police personnels are one of the stake holders in the above plan. They are provided with required training periodically. Moreover, NDMA is conducting one day program on Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) awareness around 7 nuclear plant sites for all stake holders for capacity building. NDMA has distributed three different types of instruments namely Go-No-Go instrument, Dosimeter and Survey meter across the police station of 56 Cities in the country to identify any orphan source related to Nuclear and Radiological emergencies. NDMA has also conducted CBRN emergency training on Airport/Seaports to make the emergency responders trained on CBRN emergencies at the point of entries. Till date, 38 trainings courses have been organized and more than 1500 people trained. Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, under Central Sector Scheme ‘Health Sector Disaster Preparedness and Response’, approved for the period 2021-26, provides for skill-based training on medical management of radiological & nuclear emergencies to the doctors working in offsite plans of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) and cities vulnerable to terrorism (including cities where Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) infrastructure projects are being undertaken/planned. These training workshops are being undertaken through seven Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) across the country under the aegis of Nuclear Power Corporation of India, (NPCIL). A total of 991 th Health Care personnel from 30 States/UTs have been trained since 2021 as on date 15 July, 2025. The role of doctors in taking timely and effective medical response in treating patients with radiation induced symptoms has already been recognised. Major hospitals in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai are part of Radiation Emergency Medical Networks under DAE. Ministry of Health & FamilyWelfare conducts periodical workshop on Medical Management of Nuclear and Radiological Emergency for doctors to build up capacity. Though medical facilities and medical professional are available near nuclear facilities, all efforts are being made to augment facilities to treat such patient in all major cities. The current EPR/CMP plan in public domain is well thought of and very robust and prepared by NPCIL, DAE and DDMA under the guidance of NDMA. It is felt that, at present, there is no requirement to modify the existing EPR plan on the basis of Korea’s Act on Radiation disaster. This was stated by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs Shri Nityanand Rai in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha. *** RK/VV/HS/PS/PR (Release ID: 2147187)