Vivek Bendre

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Dr Anil Kakodkar, at the Tarapur Atomic Power Station in Mumbai on Friday. —

Our Bureau

Mumbai, Aug. 31 India can commence civil nuclear co-operation with all the 45 members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group once it takes certain steps; this will signal the end the of international isolation of the past few decades, said the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh.

India cannot afford to miss the bus when there is a talk the world over of a nuclear renaissance, said the Prime Minister, while dedicating Units 3 and 4 of the Tarapur Atomic Power Station here on Friday.

“India is now too important a country to remain outside the international mainstream in this critical area.” Although he did not mention the Indo-US nuclear deal, he appeared to clearly indicate that the Government would like to work towards clearing the path to operationalising the deal.

India’s target of 20,000 mega watts (MW) of nuclear power generation by year 2020 can be doubled with the opening up of international co-operation, he said.

“This co-operation will not be dependent on any one country and we will source supplies from many countries in the NSG including the US, Russia, France and Japan.” This international co-operation itself cannot become effective until the NSG adapts its guidelines to enable nuclear commerce with India, he said.

“The NSG itself has made it clear that they will not do so till the India-specific Safeguards Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency is finalised,” he said. “Once these and other steps are taken,” civil nuclear co-operation can start with the NSG countries, he said. The NSG is a group of nuclear supplier countries that seeks to contain the proliferation of nuclear weapons through the implementation of guidelines for nuclear exports and nuclear-related exports.

Energy is a critical issue when a nation of one billion people begins to grow at 9-10 per cent per annum, with the prospects of even higher rates of growth, said Dr Singh. There are three reasons for looking at nuclear energy—first, India’s resources of coal, oil gas and hydropower are insufficient; second, the country does not have the luxury of an ‘either-or’ choice but needs energy from all known and likely sources; and third, the energy has to be affordable in terms of both financial as well as environmental costs.

“Nuclear power is recognised as an important and environmentally benign constituent of this overall energy mix,” he said.

The Prime Minister said that the country has vast thorium resources which should be harnessed. However, India’s uranium resources are limited. “We need to expeditiously develop fast reactor technologies and intensify efforts to locate additional uranium resources in the country.”

India’s proven uranium resources can sustain a nuclear power programme of 10,000 MW and already more than half the resources have been utilised. The Department of Atomic Energy has been negotiating with many countries for supply of uranium.

Dr Singh said that decisive steps must be taken to remove uncertainties that result from shortfall in nuclear fuel supplies to avoid disruption in the country’s nuclear power production.

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