The Union government has done well to approve the creation of a new national regulatory institution for nuclear power in India. The proposed Nuclear Regulatory Authority of India should be independent of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), its authority should cover all nuclear power plants and it should be answerable only to Parliament. For far too long, India’s DAE has kept itself away from the glare of public and transparent scrutiny in the name of national security. Now that the Indian nuclear programme is above board and has come of age, thanks to the civil nuclear energy cooperation agreements that India has entered into with members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the International Atomic Energy Agency, an independent regulator will inspire confidence both at home and abroad. The importance of professional scrutiny of standards has been re-emphasised worldwide following the recent disaster in Japan. The government’s assurance that India will have new safety standards and that at the proposed Jaitapur nuclear power plant there would be plant-specific safety systems should be welcomed by all. The transparent sincerity with which the chief minister of Maharashtra and two Union ministers have reassured concerned citizens about the safety standards to be adopted at Jaitapur should calm the nerves of those who have been agitating against the project. To be sure, not all opposition to the Jaitapur nuclear power plant was motivated by genuine concern for safety. It is clear that some of it was politically motivated. However, to the extent that there are genuine concerns, they have been convincingly addressed by the government.
While nothing will satisfy anti-nuclear activists and they will continue to oppose not just the Jaitapur plant but all new plans for nuclear energy, no sensible policy maker in India can afford to neglect nuclear power development. Even if India triples the share of nuclear power in total energy supplies, this would be rising from a lowly 3.0 per cent to about 9.0 per cent over the next two decades. The bulk of India’s power supply will continue to come from existing and traditional sources, with new and alternative sources gaining space only at the margins. The anti-nuclear agitation in Maharashtra has been irresponsibly played up by vested interests and sections of the media. Any objective assessment will not only show that India has had a reasonably good record on safety and regulation, but also that the Fukushima analogy does not hold for Indian plants. However, since there is renewed concern about nuclear safety, it is good that the government has chosen to confront and address the issue. It will be in the national interest that all political parties come together to vote in favour of the proposed Bill that the government intends to bring to Parliament, so as to assuage public concern about nuclear energy development.