HOW safe are our nuclear plants? When Dr A. Gopalakrishnan, outgoing chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), posed the question last fortnight, the response was general alarm. "Many of our nuclear installations have aged with time and have serious problems. Our efforts to find indigenous solutions, despite our capabilities, are not well-organised or focussed," he said, while remitting office on June 16, and accused the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) of having "uniquely failed in bringing together these strengths and coordinating them for the benefit of the nuclear sector".