Tsunami causes Kalpakkam-2 to trip

Paris (Platts)--28Dec2004

Kalpakkam-2 tripped following the giant tidal wave that hit the east coast of
India Dec. 26, but the 170-MW PHWR remains safe and there was no release of
radioactivity, India's Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) said in a message
sent today to the IAEA. Kalpakkam-2, also known as unit 2 of Madras Atomic
Power Station (MAPS), was operating at nominal power when the giant wave sent
seawater into its pump house, causing a trip at 9:15 a.m, said AERB's S.K.
Sharma. Operators brought the unit to safe shutdown, he said. The event was
provisionally rated at Level 0 (below scale) on the International Nuclear
Event Scale. Kalpakkam-1 has been in extended shutdown since August 2003.
Press dispatches quoted Indian national security adviser J.N. Dixit as saying
there were no casualties inside the power station, but that five officials and
other station employees and 25 of their relatives had been killed in nearby
areas. MAPS is in Tamil Nadu state, one of the areas hard-hit by the tsunami
that followed a massive earthquake near the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The
overall death toll from the tsunami had risen to more than 52,000 by late
afternoon today.

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