Manmohan Singh reviews safety of India's nuclear plants

In the wake of recent nuclear radiation scare in Japan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today reviewed India's atomic disaster preparedness at a high level meeting here and directed that the best practices and procedures be put in place.

Chairing a special meeting of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Singh tasked it to put in place the world's best possible safety precautions and procedures at nuclear plants, sources said.

The meeting discussed various steps to meet nuclear disasters.

These include fast-tracking of creation of disaster response forces in places in addition to existing four and procurement of special radiation-detection vehicles.

At the meeting, the prime minister reviewed the nuclear safety issues being looked after by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and department of atomic energy, sources said.

Singh also took stock of guidelines of management of nuclear and radiological emergencies issued by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Among the various steps to be considered as part of the chemical, biological, radiological nuclear response and rescue preparedness is a project for installation of 'dosi-metres' in 1000 police stations in 35 cities having more than one million population.