By IRNA,
New Delhi : Ahead of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s visit to India, Indian and French nuclear regulatory bodies held a meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday, on various safety and regulatory issues involved in the proposed EPR to be set up at Jaitapur in Maharashtra.
A five-member delegation of ASN (the French Nuclear and Radiation Regulatory Organisation) and IRSN (the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety) led by ASN deputy director general Oliver Gupta participated in a two-day seminar with their Indian counterparts in Mumbai.
‘We had a two-day seminar on ‘European Pressurised Water Reactors (EPR)’ during the French experts visit including the topics on review of EPRs, Break Propulsion Concept (BPC) in EPR, Seismic Design and other design related issues,’ pti reported quoting Atomic Energy Regulatory Board chairman S S Bajaj.
Large number of scientists and engineers from AERB, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd and Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research participated in the seminar, which concluded on Thursday.
The discussions held at the seminar led to a better appreciation of regulatory practices and safety review approach, Bajaj said.
A meeting was also held between Bajaj, senior AERB officials and the French delegation to identify the areas for future cooperation.
According to French Regulatory officials, the EPR of the French energy major AREVA is under construction in Finland, France.
It will also come up in China and conceptually the design is the same for all the countries.
During the French President’s visit, it is expected that India will sign an ‘Early Works’ contract for EPR. A final contract would be signed only after the pricing is finalised, NPCIL officials said.
India will be setting up at least six EPR of 1,650 MW each once the final contract is signed at Jaitapur, they said.