The Narora plant in northern India, was shut down when an airlock door leading into the reactor came off its hinges, engineers in Bombay said on 12 October. The incident occurred on 30 September: according to engineers from the Bombay based Nuclear Power Corp (NPC) there was no danger of radioactive leakage and repairs were expected to be complete by the end of October.

“The door is one of three through which entry is possible into the reactor building. When it was pressurised to test the seal for leaks, the hinges on one of the airlock doors gave way,” said M. Das, chief engineer for health and safety at the NPC.

“It is purely a mechanical failure. It does not involve any radioactivity leak. The unit could have continued to operate, but we decided to use a measure of caution and shut it down,” he continued.