New Delhi: The Government on Wednesday assured environmental measures were in place for the visit of USS Nimitz, a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier which will dock in Chennai month.
Nimitz, which will be the first US aircraft carrier to make a port call to India, will anchor off Chennai from July 1 to 5 in what has been termed as yet another landmark event in the growing warmth between Washington and New Delhi.
Left parties have objected to the Government allowing the ship to dock in Chennai, saying Washington was using New Delhi to counter China and Iran. The parties have planned to organise protests in Chennai during the port call.
“This is not the first visit by a nuclear-powered ship to an Indian port,” the Indian Defence Ministry said in a statement. "Nuclear-powered ships and submarines from France, the United Kingdom and the United States have visited Indian ports. "The Indian Navy has operated INS Chakra, a nuclear-powered submarine, from 1988 to 1991," it said.
The ministry had an environment safety panel which listed steps to be taken every time a nuclear-powered vessel planned to visit a port and ensured their implementation, it said.
The measures include allowing the ship to move only during the day and in good visibility, not allowing any other ship to be berthed within a radius of 200 m. and frequent monitoring of water and air samples for radiation.
"Accordingly, a standing Environmental Survey Committee has carried out a detailed survey at Chennai and cleared the visit of USS Nimitz from a radiation hazard point of view," the statement said.
The US embassy in New Delhi said "the nuclear safety record of U.S. nuclear-powered warships is outstanding", adding that there has never been a nuclear accident in their nearly six-decade history.
Ships and submarines
The USS Nimitz is the 11th nuclear-powered vessel to berth in Indian waters since 2001, with similar warships from France and Britain having visited the country without facing protests.
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Nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, submarines, destroyers and cruisers have anchored or berthed in Indian waters off Mumbai and Goa, officials said here today.
The French nuclear submarine Perle was first the atomic-powered warship to visit India. If docked off Mumbai in 2001 after a joint Indo-French war game.
Perle was followed by the French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier FNS Charles De Gaulle and the destroyer FNS Amethyst, which anchored off Goa in April 2004.
American nuclear cruisers, USS Alexandria and USS Santa Fe, made port calls to Goa in October 2004 and October 2005.
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