Kalpakkam (TN): Refuting reports of a major radioactive leak in its reprocessing plant in Kalpakkam, Baba Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Director Dr B Bhattacharjee on August 6 said it was only "an incident of low scale" and a decision on reopening of the plant would be taken in about three weeks.

"The leakage, which occurred in January last, was so small and it cannot be classified as an accident. It is only an incident," he told a group of visiting journalists from Chennai at the plant.

Stating that all the six persons who were affected in the incident when they were involved in emptying a low-level waste tank at the Kalpakkam Reprocessing Plant (KARP) were now "healthy and there was no symptom of radiation", he said they had since resumed duty.

"Medical authorities have certified that all six personnel are in good health and there are no abnormal findings," he said claiming there was neither any release of radioactivity to the environment nor any risk of exposure to public.

Three levels of safety committees from the BARC had already visited the plant and submitted their recommendations to prevent recurrence of such incident and these were being implemented, he said. It had been decided to depute one more team to inspect the plant after which the BARC Safety Council would take a decision on reopening the plant, he said.

KARP was shut down immediately after the incident on January 17.

PTI