India strengthens nuclear disaster preparedness: Home Ministry
New Delhi, Jul 23: India has established a multi-layered response mechanism to address nuclear and radiological emergencies. The Ministry of Home Affairs informed the Rajya Sabha. Minister of State Nityanand Rai stated in a written reply that the country's current Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR) framework is integrated into the National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP 2019) under an all-hazard approach.
The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) serves as the nodal agency for nuclear emergencies and has developed a detailed Crisis Management Plan (CMP). Emergency scenarios are classified into plant, site, and off-site emergencies.
While plant and site emergency plans are mandatory for licensing of nuclear power plants, off-site response actions are drawn up by district authorities in coordination with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). To further strengthen preparedness, a new system for conducting off-site emergency drills is being developed. Police personnel are regularly trained, and NDMA has launched CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear) awareness programmes near seven nuclear sites.
NDMA has distributed radiation detection instruments—Go-No-Go tools, dosimeters, and survey meters—to police stations in 56 cities to help identify orphan radiation sources. CBRN emergency training has also been extended to responders at airports and seaports, with over 1,500 personnel trained through 38 programs so far.
The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare is supporting skill-based training for doctors in nuclear emergency medical management under a five-year disaster preparedness scheme. Since 2021, nearly 1,000 healthcare workers across 30 states and UTs have been trained.
Key hospitals in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai are part of the national Radiation Emergency Medical Network.
The current response plans, prepared jointly by NPCIL, DAE, DDMA and NDMA, are considered comprehensive and adequate. The government sees no need at present to revise them based on international models such as South Korea’s radiation disaster legislation.
