Post-accident, lens on nuclear submarine projects

NEW DELHI: Questions till now were being raised on the lack of proper quality controls, safety audits, accountability and monitoring during construction and refit of conventional warships and submarines after a series of accidents over the last several months. But now, even the construction of nuclear "platforms" is under the scanner.

Both the defence ministry and DRDO downplayed Saturday's accident at the secretive and well-guarded Ship Building Centre (SBC) at Visakhapatnam, where India's first three nuclear submarines are being built. "The accident is in no way related to any nuclear-related activity. The submarines are safe and the accident does not adversely affect the project," the defence ministry said on Sunday.

That may well be the case but even minor accidents connected to the nuclear arena can raise the spectre of nightmarish scenarios. "The level of quality checks and technical oversight has to be much, much higher and stringent for nuclear platforms. A proper inquiry and safety audit is needed in the matter," said an officer.

A civilian worker of Larsen & Toubro was killed and another two injured when the hatch of a "tank" to be installed in INS Aridhaman — the follow-on submarine to the first one, INS Arihant — blew off during its "hydro-pressure testing" in building number 5 of the SBC on Saturday. "It would have been catastrophic if it had happened inside the submarine," said the officer.

The accident comes at a time when the "hull and full form" of INS Aridhaman, designated 'S-3' at present, is ready for "launch" into water. It will also be powered by a miniature 83 mw pressurized light-water reactor like the 6,000-tonne INS Arihant (S-2), whose enriched uranium-fuelled reactor went "critical'' on August 10 last year.

The first PWR reactor designed for indigenous nuclear submarines, dubbed S-1, is located at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre at Kalpakkam as a prototype. A third submarine called S-4 is also being built under the secret advanced technology vessel (ATV) project underway with an initial sanction of around Rs 30,000 crore at the SBC.

The long delay in the sea-acceptance trials of INS Arihant, which was "launched" in July 2009, has itself raised eyebrows. The explanation is that since the submarine's reactor went critical last August, its self-sustained power was being gradually raised by 5 per cent to 10 per cent at a time in a deliberate and calibrated manner.

"The pipelines are extensively pressure-tested every time ... the leaks detected in the secondary and tertiary systems of the power plant are then rectified. INS Arihant will head for sea trials, which will take around 18 months and include firing of its K-15 ballistic missiles (750km range), only after its reactor achieves 100 per cent power," said another officer.

INS Arihant's fully operational status is critical to completing India's long-standing quest for a nuclear weapons triad - the capability to fire nukes from land, air and underwater. But it will become a reality only sometime next year. Till then, India will have to make do with the land-based Agni missiles and fighters jury-rigged to carry nuclear weapons for its deterrence posture.