While the world was marking the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, there was a similar scare in India. On Friday, one of the two 220 MW units of Kakrapar Atomic Power Station(KAPS) in Gujarat's Surat district was shut down after leakage of heavy water. Even though a temporary emergency was declared, there was no radioactive leak and all workers were safe. According to officials, the leakage of heavy water that is used in cooling off the nuclear reactor core was detected around 9 AM and it was fixed in some time. The temporary emergency was lifted shortly afterwards. Surat District Collector Rajendra Kumar said there was no leakage of radiation at the plant and the situation was under control.

KAPS site director L K Jain in a statement said radiation levels in and outside the plant are normal. "Unit-1 of KAPS, which was operating at its rated power, was shut down at about 9:00 Hrs today. Consequent to a small leak in Primary Heat Transport (PHT) system, the reactor was shut down as intended as per the design provisions. All safety systems are working as intended," the statement said.

KAPS is located on the border of Surat and Tapi districts near Vyara town of Tapi, and is run by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL).

The first reactor was commissioned in September 1992 and it started commercial production in May 1993. The second unit was commissioned in January 1995 and began commercial production in September 1995. The second unit has been shut since July 2015 for maintenance. Friday’s incident means that Unit-1 too will be out of action until it gets clearance from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.

Friday was also the anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, which was triggered by a powerful tsunami.

While nearly a dozen people were reportedly killed in the mishap, even after five years Japan has not been able to control or clean up the damage caused by the leak.

It had also raised serious concerns over the use of nuclear technology for power generation.