BUFFER ZONE AROUND HAZARDOUS UNITS

The so-called “buffer zone” around hazardous plants is not new. It is used as part of Defense-in-depth concept in siting of nuclear power reactors. So many lives (in thousands) would not have lost in Bhopal (in the State of Madhya Pradesh, India) chemical gas leakage disaster if the concept of defense-in-depth were used while siting the plant. The basic problem everywhere is: to begin with, the hazardous industries are located far away from the populated areas or city limits. But in due course of time, the city limit expands, population density increases and so is the health risk. In-spite of best design and efforts, accidents can still happen and the risk of fatalities due the accidents in the plant increases to unacceptable levels. This is particularly true when the housing colonies for the staff members of the plant are located close-by for operational convenience of the plants.

The lesson learned fro the Bhopal incident should never be forgotten. The defense-in-depth concept of exclusion zone (1.6 km) and Sterilized zone (5 km), together called Buffer zone should be followed while locating hazardous industrial units, including nuclear fuel cycle facilities, for the safety of the resident workers and public in general. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) of India Government has rightly decided (as per news paper reports) to relocate personnel around big industrial units using hazardous chemicals to create a “buffer zone” to mitigate the effects of any serious accidents.