12 MARCH 2015

Ø A rupture in the coolant system of one of the nuclear reactors at Kakrapar, Gujarat, on Friday morning forced the authorities to indefinitely shut down the plant. Multiple sources confirmed that there was no harmful, radioactive leakage and the backup safety mechanisms kicked in. However, it will be a while before experts can actually get close enough to the plant to investigate what went wrong, given the high temperature at the plant. Unit 1 of the Kakrapar Atomic Power Station, which was operating at its rated power, had to be shut down about 9 a.m. today, consequent to a small leak in the Primary Heat Transport (PHT) System. The reactor was shut down as per design provisions. All safety systems are working as intended. The radioactivity/radiation levels on the plant premises and outside are normal. Harikumar S., Secretary of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), told The Hindu that the pressure tubes that had supposedly ruptured were last changed in 2012, as per a planned refurbishing. “This is a rare event for a functioning plant and it requires a thorough investigation. The plant has considerably cooled down now.” Likening it to the coolant system of a car engine engendering a leak, he said it was the magnitude of the leak that was of concern and it was probably the first time such an incident had occurred in an Indian nuclear power plant. Every incident is of immense importance… There is nothing to panic but the magnitude of the coolant system failure is significant.  All of the components that constitute the cooling and backup safety system were indigenously manufactured.

Ø With the CAG report tabled in Parliament on Friday indicating a loss of Rs. 12,489 crore to the exchequer due to understatement of revenues by six telecom operators, including Airtel, Idea and Vodafone, the government has ordered a special audit of telecom companies for three years. Verification of records of six PSPs indicated total understatement of Rs. 46,045.75 crore in gross revenue, having corresponding impact of Rs. 3,752.37 crore on licence fee (LF) and Rs. 1,460.23 crore on spectrum usage charge (SUC). The interest on this short/non-payment of LF and SUC works out to Rs. 7,276.33 crore. This is for the four-year period from 2006-07 to 2009-10. Commenting on the findings, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said special audit of the operators’ books would be done for three years from 2009, to check for under-reporting of revenues. In conclusion, the audit found that even after 16 years of the introduction of the revenue share regime, the correctness and completeness of revenue flowing into the consolidated Fund of India could not be assured by DoT. The CAG report said the financial impact on LF and SUC due to understatement of gross revenue stood at Rs. 1,507.25 crore for Reliance Communications, Rs. 1,357.68 crore for Tata Teleservices, Rs. 1,066.95 crore for Airtel, Rs. 749.85 crore for Vodafone, Rs. 423.26 crore for Idea and Rs. 107.61 crore for Aircel. The interest calculated on these amounted to Rs. 2221.29 crore for Reliance, Rs. 1857.71 crore for Tata Teleservices, Rs. 1584.94 crore for Airtel, Rs. 915.54 crore for Vodafone, Rs. 541.63 crore for Idea and Rs. 155.22 crore for Aircel.

Ø Personnel of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China transgressed into the Indian territory in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, twice in the past four days. An official in the security establishment said that with the new border defence mechanism in place, the issue was resolved in no time along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). While the first incident was reported on March 8, there was a face-off between the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Chinese PLA on Friday as well. The official said that as the summer had set in, both the sides had initiated long-range patrolling and the recent transgressions were reported along the undefined boundary with China. On March 8, Chinese troops entered almost 6 km deep inside the Indian territory near the Pangong lake in Ladakh. The incident led to a stand-off between security personnel of the two sides. A platoon of at least 11 PLA men, led by a colonel-rank officer, crossed over the LAC at ‘Finger VIII’ Sirjap-I area close to the Pangong lake. The Chinese soldiers entered in four vehicles from across the Thakung border post of India and reached 5.5 km deep inside Indian territory. Friday’s incident was also reported near the Thakung post in Ladakh with the two sides engaged in an eyeball-to-eyeball situation. We showed them banners and told them that they had entered the Indian territory. They retreated immediately and the matter was resolved. He also explained that it was incorrect to call the incidents as “incursions.”

Ø Russia and China told North Korea on Friday its nuclear ambitions were unacceptable, urging Pyongyang to resume talks over its nuclear weapons programme and heed a UN Security Council resolution banning ballistic missile tests. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stepped up pressure on Pyongyang after holding talks in Moscow a day after North Korea defied the United Nations by firing two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea. Earlier on Friday, the North’s official KCNA news agency reported that its leader Kim Jong-un had watched a ballistic missile launch test and ordered the country to improve its nuclear attack capability by conducting more tests.