[India News]: New Delhi, Dec 26 : The Kalpakkam atomic plant near Chennai is "fully safe" in spite of the tsunamis that hit India's east coast Sunday, the government's Crisis Management Group (CMG) said.

"All safety precautions have been taken and the Kalpakkam atomic plant is fully safe," cabinet secretary B.K. Chaturvedi told reporters after the CMG meeting.

The plant, located about 70 km from Chennai, was shut down Sunday after seawater entered the reactor campus in the wake of a massive earthquake off Sumatra in Indonesia.

"MAPS II, a 250MW unit, was shut down on Sunday morning as a precaution," a Nuclear Power Corporation of India official said.

Chaturvedi noted that it was for the first time that tsunamis, a series of giant tidal waves caused by undersea disturbances, had hit the Indian coast. It inflicted massive destruction on life and property, with nearly 1,200 officially reported dead across the country's coast and island territories.

A 120-member Indian Army team, specially trained in meeting exigencies, was rushed to Kalpakkam to assist in relief operations.

The army unit would take steps to safely drain the water out that had entered the plant.

The army has special equipment to deal with nuclear, biological and chemical emergencies.

Off the Kalpakkam coast, 25 people, including 15 women, died as waters rose suddenly, police officials said.

Seawater washed away those sleeping near the coast, particularly fishermen.

The CMG also urged the defence ministry to immediately arrange for supply of relief materials like medicines, blankets and food items to those in the affected areas, including Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

About 45,000 people in the south of Car Nicobar and Greater Nicobar Islands have been affected by the tsunamis. Kamota, Campbell Bay and Havelock Islands have also been affected.

"We have decided to use Chennai as a base for flights carrying relief materials," Chaturvedi said.

He said the home ministry would coordinate with the defence authorities for making relief materials available.

An advisory has been issued to ships and fishermen already on the high seas to remain away from the coast for the next 24 hours.

A massive earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale triggered the tsunamis.

"This earthquake was followed by another at 9.53 p.m., measuring 7.3, off Nicobar Island," Chaturvedi said.

Indo-Asian News Service

By T.S. Subramanian

CHENNAI, DEC. 28. Both the nuclear power reactors of the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) at Kalpakkam "are completely safe" and "there is no threat of any radiation leak from them," Anil Kakodkar, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, asserted today.

Addressing a press conference at the MAPS site, he said water had not entered the turbine or the reactor buildings. The second reactor, shut down "instantaneously" on December 26 after a tsunami hit the eastern sea coast, including Kalpakkam, would be started up in five days, Dr. Kakodkar said. The first reactor had already been shut down for changing its coolant channels.

Reporters, who went round the MAPS including its turbine and reactor buildings, control room, and the sea water pump house, found that everything was normal. The tsunami had knocked down a security wall on the beach for some metres and sea water entered the pump house.

Asked why the second unit was shut down, Dr. Kakodkar said that an underground tunnel ferried the sea water to the pump house for cooling the reactors' condensers. When the tsunami struck, there was a rise in the sea water level, and the level in the pump house (which is a huge well) also built up. The equipment in the control room "sensed" this and the reactor shut down by itself. "Shutting down the reactor is a very fast process," he said. When the operator got "a signal that something was wrong with the sea water pump house," he put it in the safe shutdown mode. There was no casualty at the MAPS.

T.S. Rajendran, Station Director, MAPS, said that Atomic Energy Regulatory Board personnel would visit the second unit on December 29 and 30. After their inspection ? the AERB is charged with maintaining safety in nuclear power stations ? the reactor would be commissioned again in five days.

All over the world, nuclear power stations were located on the sea coast or near water bodies. Kalpakkam was chosen after taking into account the possibility of cyclones and tidal waves occurring. Tsunami was not factored into this, Dr. Kakodkar said. The events at the MAPS and the PFBR construction site showed they could withstand tsunami. For future nuclear power projects, tsunami would be taken into consideration.

The PFBR Project Director, Prabhat Kumar, said that the body of a woman construction worker was found this morning in the 17-metre deep foundation-pit of the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) construction site. Concreting the foundation was under way at a depth of 17 metres when waves surged in. When a lookout alerted the workers, they climbed out on to the slopes. But a woman standing at the ground level was washed in. The pit was flooded.