'Stage 2 nuclear technology can meet energy needs'

Stating that the future energy needs of the country are to be met by nuclear power alone, Anil Kakodkar, chairman, Atomic Energy Commission of India, said the country has achieved self-reliance in this field even in terms of developing newer technologies on its own.

"We are in a world of competition and everything needs to be done keeping in mind the cost-effectiveness of the end product. Our atomic energy programme is going just in that direction," Kakodkar said.

"More and more demand for energy in future comes from this part of the world and we are rightly going for the stage-2 technology based nuclear power plants, which alone helps us meet the huge energy demand of the country," he said.

Referring to the existing expansion plans of the Nuclear Power Corporation, he said all the projects underway are expected to be completed much ahead of the original schedule and at a lesser cost to help the cost of power come down to affordable level.

He declared that the elements of a true technological development are realised in achieving the technology development of the grid plate for the first time in the world.

Kakodkar said that India is moving from the stage-1 technology which uses Uranium and Heavy water to Fast Breeding Technology in atomic power to cater to the country's energy needs.

According to Baldevraj, director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), the Fast Breeding Technology is capable of creating the electricity generation potential of up to 5 lakh mw.

"As we build more and more Fast Breeding reactors, the cost of energy too will come down to Rs 2.50 per unit and subsequently to just to around Rs 2," he said. Over 50 academic institutions and about 75 industrial units are involved in developing the Fast Breeding reactor technology in the country, he said.

S K Jain, chairman and managing director of the Nuclear Power Corporation said that about eight nuclear reactors of stage-1 technology with a total cost of Rs 22,000 crore are under construction, which are being added to the existing atomic power stations in the country.