Chennai, Aug 11 (Inditop.com) It was business as usual at the two units of the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) at Kalpakkam near here when an earthquake was felt in Tamil Nadu along the sea shore Tuesday morning.
“The intensity of the tremor was low and there is no reason for us to call for any emergency action. It is business as usual here,” station director K. Ramamurthy told Inditop.
A strong earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale was recorded north of the Andaman islands in the Bay of Bengal, jolting the archipelago at 1.25 a.m. Tuesday. Tremors were also felt in several areas of eastern India, parts of Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal as well as Bangladesh.
Ramamurthy said the seismic activity measuring equipment at the station in Kalpakkam, 80 km from here, did not trigger off any alarm signals.
“The impact is not like the earthquake that occurred in 2004 resulting in tsunami,” he added.
According to him, the two units of 200 MW each were generating 130 MW power and the plant load factor (PLF) is expected to further improve to 75 percent by the end of the year.
People living in the coastal district of Nagappatinam spent the wee hours awake with memories of the tsunami flashing in their minds.
Fishermen in Nagapattinam, Tuticorin, did not go into the sea Tuesday morning as the sea was rough while some schools declared holiday for the day.
