TARAPUR (Maharashtra) — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday dedicated to the nation two state of the art nuclear reactors here and stressed that India could not afford to miss the ‘nuclear bus’.“There is today talk the world over of a nuclear renaissance and we cannot afford to miss the bus or lag behind these global developments,” Dr Singh said after inaugurating the two 540 MW Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) reactors in Thane district, about 100 km from Mumbai.
Dr SinghÂ’s comments came a day after the government and its communist allies agreed to form a panel to study the controversial deal to address objections of the Left parties, who have threatened to end support to the coalition over it.
Energy security was critical to sustaining the long-term economic growth of India, Asia’s third largest economy, and the country could not pick between different fuel sources, he said. “Nuclear power is recognised as an important and environmentally benign constituent of the overall energy mix,” Dr Singh said. “India is now too important a country to remain outside the international mainstream in this critical area. We need to pave the way for India to benefit from nuclear commerce without restrictions.”
Speaking about a comprehensive nuclear energy plan, the prime minister said: "I have no doubt whatsoever that the sustainability of our long-term economic growth is critically dependent on our ability to meet our energy requirements in future.
"When a country of the size of India begins to grow at the rate of nine per cent per annum, with a prospect of higher rates of growth, energy becomes a critical issue."
He said it was crucial to pave the way for India to benefit from "nuclear commerce" without restrictions. "We need to enable our industries to gain access to cutting edge technology, and we need to create opportunities for our scientists to participate in international exchange of scientific ideas and technical know how," he stressed.
He said that the target of generating 20,000 MW by 2020 could be doubled with "international cooperation" and made clear that such cooperation would not be dependent on any one country. "We will source supplies from many of the countries of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) including the US, France and Russia. However, the international cooperation with these and other countries cannot become effective until the NSG adapts its guidelines to enable nuclear commerce with India," he pointed out. Once these steps are taken, he said, India could commence civil nuclear cooperation with all the 45 members of the NSG.