Radiation checks in place for Nimitz visit: Govt

With fears being raked up of radiation hazards from one of the world's largest nuclear powered aircraft carriers, USS Nimitz, the government on Wednesday said a "stringent radiation monitoring protocol" is in place for the warship's visit to Chennai later this week.

"A standing environmental safety committee has carried out a detailed survey of the Chennai port and cleared the anchorage of USS Nimitz from the radition hazard point of view," a defence ministry spokesman said in Delhi.

Noting that a radition safety contingency plan is already in place, spokesman Sithansu Kar said experts from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and the Defence Research and Development Organisation have set up radiation monitoring laboratories on ships for frequent monitoring of water and air samples during the course of the three-day visit of the warship.