In the comfort of secrecy

摘要

On March 26, a team of nuclear engineers was busy testing a special device in the second unit of the Madras Atomic Power Station at Kalpakkam in southern India. The device, called BARCCIS (short for Bhabha Atomic Research Center Channel Inspection System), was designed to inspect the reactor's coolant tubes, which had been routinely plagued by cracks and vibration problems. On that day, Channel K-05 had been defuelled to enable the inspection, but as an extension tube was being fitted, the plug slipped away and huge quantities of tritium-containing radioactive heavy water leaked out.