How to File RTI with AERB (Atomic Energy Regulatory Board) for Nuclear Safety Inspection Reports and Radiation Data

The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) is India's national nuclear and radiation safety regulator. Established in 1983 under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, AERB is responsible for issuing safety directives and consents for nuclear power plants, research reactors, fuel cycle facilities, radiation installations, and radioactive waste management facilities across India. Millions of citizens live within the Emergency Planning Zones of nuclear facilities operated by NPCIL, BARC, BRIT, and other Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) constituents. RTI is the most effective legal tool for these communities to access AERB's regulatory records — inspection findings, consent conditions, radiation monitoring data, and emergency preparedness plans.

A critical clarification on RTI eligibility: Section 24 of the RTI Act, 2005 exempts certain organisations listed in the Second Schedule, including some DAE bodies. AERB, however, is a regulatory body — not an operational, intelligence, or security body — and is NOT exempt under Section 24. AERB is a public authority under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act. Citizens can and should use RTI to scrutinise AERB's regulatory decisions and safety oversight records. If any RTI application to AERB is denied using a blanket Section 24 claim, that refusal is legally untenable and should be challenged before the First Appellate Authority and the Central Information Commission.

What AERB Regulates and Why RTI Matters

AERB's Regulatory Mandate

AERB's jurisdiction covers every facility that involves nuclear or radioactive material in India: nuclear power plants (Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors and Boiling Water Reactors), research reactors, uranium and thorium fuel processing facilities, heavy water plants, isotope production facilities, radiation processing plants (for food irradiation and medical sterilisation), nuclear medicine centres, industrial radiography units, and radioactive waste storage and disposal sites.

For each of these facilities, AERB exercises safety oversight through:

• Authorisation (Consents): No nuclear or radiation facility may be constructed, commissioned, or operated without a valid AERB consent. Consents are issued in stages — Site Clearance, Construction Consent, Commissioning Consent, and Operating Consent — and each carries specific safety conditions.
• Periodic Safety Reviews (PSR): Nuclear power plants are required to undergo comprehensive safety reviews every ten years. AERB evaluates whether ageing structures, systems, and components continue to meet safety standards.
• Routine and Unannounced Inspections: AERB deploys resident inspectors at major nuclear facilities and conducts periodic and surprise inspections to verify compliance with consent conditions, AERB codes, and guides.
• Event Reporting and Review: Operators must report all abnormal occurrences — equipment failures, procedural deviations, near-misses, and any event potentially affecting nuclear safety — to AERB. AERB classifies, investigates, and issues corrective action directives for reported events.
• Emergency Preparedness: AERB, working with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and state governments, approves Emergency Preparedness Plans and Off-Site Emergency Plans for each nuclear facility, defining the Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) and the protective actions to be taken in the event of a radiological accident.

RTI empowers citizens to independently examine whether AERB is exercising its regulatory mandate effectively and whether facility operators are complying with safety requirements.

Why Citizens Near Nuclear Facilities Should File RTI

Citizens and communities living near nuclear installations have a direct and legitimate interest in AERB's safety oversight records. Key questions that RTI can answer include:

• Has AERB found any safety deficiencies at the nearby facility during recent inspections? Were they corrected?
• Does the facility currently hold a valid Operating Consent, or is it operating beyond its consent validity?
• Has the facility reported any abnormal occurrence or accident to AERB in recent years?
• What radiation dose rates are being recorded at environmental monitoring stations near the facility, and are they within prescribed limits?
• Has AERB approved an Emergency Preparedness Plan? Does it include my locality in the Emergency Planning Zone? What protective actions should residents take in an emergency?

These are not matters of national security — they are questions about regulatory compliance and public safety that the RTI Act was designed to make answerable.

AERB's Consent and Authorisation System

Stages of Nuclear Facility Authorisation

AERB regulates nuclear facilities through a staged authorisation process. Understanding this framework helps you frame precise RTI requests:

Each stage generates formal authorisation documents, correspondence between AERB and the operator, and supporting technical assessments — all of which are obtainable through RTI.

Radiation Facility Authorisation

Beyond nuclear power plants, AERB regulates thousands of smaller radiation facilities: hospitals using X-ray and CT equipment, radiation therapy machines (linear accelerators and Cobalt-60 units), industrial radiography units, and radiation processing plants. These facilities hold AERB Licences. RTI can be used to verify that a hospital or facility holds a valid AERB licence, to obtain inspection reports, and to access records of any licence suspension or cancellation.

Environmental Radiation Monitoring: Your Right to Know

What AERB and Operators Monitor

Each nuclear power plant in India is required under AERB's safety codes to operate a site environmental monitoring programme (SEMP) measuring:

• Gamma dose rate at multiple monitoring stations within 5 km and up to 30 km of the facility
• Radioactivity in air: sampling and analysis for gross alpha and beta activity, and isotope-specific analysis when warranted
• Radioactivity in surface water and groundwater: periodic sampling from rivers, reservoirs, and bore wells in the vicinity
• Radioactivity in soil and vegetation: periodic sampling of agricultural land and food crops near the facility
• Radioactivity in marine and estuarine environments: for coastal nuclear facilities

The facility operator submits periodic monitoring reports to AERB, and AERB's resident inspectors independently verify the data. RTI can be used to obtain both the operator-submitted monitoring data and AERB's independent verification records.

Prescribed Limits and Public Dose

AERB prescribes that the radiation dose received by a member of the public from the operation of a nuclear facility must not exceed 1 mSv per year — a limit aligned with the recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). Radiation monitoring data obtained through RTI allows citizens to verify whether actual doses near a facility are within this prescribed limit.

Incident and Accident Reporting: What AERB Knows About Your Nearby Plant

India's Event Reporting System

AERB operates a nuclear event reporting and analysis system under which operators are required to report all abnormal occurrences, including: unplanned reactor shutdowns (SCRAMs), equipment failures, fire incidents, radioactive material spills, personnel radiation overexposures, and procedural deviations that triggered or could have triggered safety-significant consequences.

AERB classifies reported events on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) — a seven-level scale where Level 1 is an anomaly with no safety significance and Level 7 is a major accident. India has had several INES Level 1–3 events at its nuclear facilities; none has been above Level 3.

How RTI Helps

Citizens can use RTI to ask AERB:

• How many abnormal occurrences were reported by a specified facility in the last five years?
• What was the nature and INES classification of each reported event?
• What corrective actions did AERB direct, and are they complete?

This information is distinct from intelligence or national security data; it is operational safety compliance information that AERB routinely processes and holds.

Emergency Preparedness: Know Your Zone

Emergency Planning Zones

For each nuclear power plant, AERB and NDMA define Emergency Planning Zones (EPZ):

• Exclusion Zone: The area immediately surrounding the reactor — restricted access, controlled by the operator
• Sterilised Zone (about 1.6 km radius): No permanent human habitation; limited activities
• Emergency Planning Zone (about 5 km radius for reactors): Where detailed off-site emergency plans, including evacuation routes, sheltering instructions, stable iodine tablet pre-distribution, and potassium iodate (KI) stockpiling are required

Citizens within the EPZ can use RTI to obtain: the currently approved Off-Site Emergency Plan, the EPZ radius and the locations of evacuation shelters, the population counts used in emergency planning, and the frequency and findings of emergency preparedness drills conducted by AERB and local administration.

Where to File and How

Filing on RTI Online Portal

1. Visit rtionline.gov.in and click Submit Request
2. Under Ministry / Department, search for Department of Atomic Energy
3. Select Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) as the public authority
4. Address the application to the CPIO, AERB, Niyamak Bhavan, CISF Colony, Anushaktinagar, Mumbai – 400094
5. State your questions clearly — specify the facility name, location, and the period for which information is sought
6. Pay ₹10 online. BPL cardholders are exempt from payment — attach a copy of your BPL card
7. Submit and note the registration number for tracking

Note on Section 24: If AERB's online RTI portal has any drop-down or pre-screening that suggests DAE bodies are exempt, proceed regardless and submit your application addressed to AERB (the regulatory body). AERB is not exempt from the RTI Act.

Appeals

First Appeal (Section 19(1)): If no response is received within 30 days, or if the response is incomplete or unsatisfactory, file a First Appeal with the First Appellate Authority (FAA) at AERB within 30 days of the date of decision or expiry of the 30-day response period, whichever is applicable. The FAA must decide within 30 days, extendable to 45 days with reasons.

Second Appeal (Section 19(3)): If the FAA's response is also absent or unsatisfactory, file a Second Appeal with the Central Information Commission (CIC) under Section 19(3) within 90 days of the FAA's decision or the expiry of the First Appeal period. AERB is a body under the Department of Atomic Energy, a Central Government ministry — all second appeals go to the CIC, not any State Information Commission.

Penalty: Under Section 20 of the RTI Act, the CIC may impose a penalty of ₹250 per day (up to ₹25,000) on the errant CPIO for failure to comply with the Act, and may recommend disciplinary action.

On Section 8 refusals: If AERB withholds inspection reports or radiation monitoring data by citing Section 8(1)(a) (national security), challenge this in the First Appeal. Environmental radiation monitoring data and compliance notice records do not constitute sensitive security information. The public interest in disclosure of radiation safety data — directly affecting the health and safety of communities near nuclear facilities — clearly outweighs any claimed harm under Section 8(2) of the RTI Act.