NUKE PLANT STAFF SUFFER RADIOACTIVE POISONING IN KARNATAKA

By P. Vijian

NEW DELHI, Nov 30 (Bernama) -- About 40 workers at the Kaiga nuclear power
plant, located in Karnataka, have been exposed to radiation after they consumed
water containing radioactive material.

Preliminary investigations revealed that it was the work of a mischief,
suspected to have mixed tritium, a highly radioactive substance, in the water
cooler placed in one of the plants in Kaiga.

According to media reports emerging from south India, several workers
complained of mild fever last Tuesday and were rushed for medical treatment only
to discover that they were contaminated with some level of radioactive
substances.

"An insider had mixed tritium in drinking water in a cooler kept in the
operating island of the first unit at Kaiga.

"There are standard protocols for handling and managing the transportation
and depositing of such radioactive substances. Someone has played the mischief,"
The Hindu newspaper reported today, quoting an official from the Nuclear Power
Corporation (NPC) who spoke on condition of anonymity.

All the sick workers had been discharged from the hospital.

The NCP operates the nuclear power station in Uttara Kannada district in the
southern state of Karnataka.

According to officials, the 220MW plant was shut down as it was undergoing
maintenance works and so far no other dangers to staff were reported in the
area. The plant had been operating since 2000.
--BERNAMA