Panaji, Aug 5 (IANS) Goa has teamed up with Karnataka to work on a joint strategy to counter nuclear radiation in case of a leak at the Kaiga atomic power plant, located 25 km away from its southern border, an official said Friday.


Potential disaster scenarios like nuclear radiation spreading to the southern beaches of Goa by sea and by air are being examined and joint strategies were being worked on, Ashutosh Apte, a member of the southern district disaster management authority (DDMA), told IANS.

"We had a meeting at the Kaiga nuclear power plant which was attended by the plant's administrators, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) officers, district administration officials from Karwar, and neighbouring districts which includes our South Goa, and Dharwad from Karnataka," said Apte, who was also present at the meeting.

Karwar, a north Karnataka district bordering Goa, is where the plant is located.

The official said since the Kaiga atomic power plant was in close proximity to Goa, officials here had requested the Karnataka state administration to loop them in the dummy trials and mock exercises being conducted at the plant following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in March this year.

"There are two potential scenarios which concern Goa. One is in case of nuclear accident, carriage of possible radiation to beaches in south Goa by sea, which are in close range," Apte said.

The beaches of south Goa, especially at Agonda, Palolem and Patnem, are in extremely close proximity of the plant, and are popular with foreign tourists.

The second scenario, according to Apte, is the nuclear radiation blowing into Goa through northeasterly winds. "We looked at ways of containing radiation and taking measures to help control the situation in case of nuclear leak," Apte said.