Wednesday, December 28 2005 15:47 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: After a close shave with the killer tsunami in December last, the General Services Organisation (GSO), a unit of the Department of Atomic Energy, is now busy putting up a reinforced cement concrete (RCC) wall to protect the township of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) at Kalpakkam from any future disaster.

The RCC walls will have a structure to ward off the waves and thus reduce the impact and its energy. Sand dunes, boulders and plantations would be put up between the RCC walls and the beach, at an estimated cost of Rs.15 crore, official sources at IGCAR, about 90 km from here, told PTI today.

Tenders had been invited for the project, which is expected to be completed by December next year, the sources said adding designs for the walls had been prepared by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai and certified by the Central Water Power and Rsearch Station, Pune.

The concept had also been cleared by a high-level committee of experts constituted by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, which includes representatives from the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai.

The sources explained that the proposed walls were meant mainly to protect part of the township, which has a population of 25,000 people.

The Atomic Power Station was already situated in a high altitude range and therefore, it was free from any possible tsunami attack.

"The idea behind constructing these walls is also to give some sort of confidence to the people of the township that they are safe. We know that there are such walls which are used as buffer for the tsunami in the US and we want to follow this example," the sources said.

Chaired by IGCAR director, Dr Baldev Raj, the IGCAR had already set up a 'tsunami warning' system under which sirens had been installed in 13 strategic locations along the coast in Kalpakkam, which has a length of about five to six kms. These sirens would be activated once there is a fear of any tsunami attack. An earthquake notification system had also been set up to detect quakes that could lead to tsunamis, the sources added.