Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said India’s atomic energy programme represented a very important and significant step towards technological and energy self-reliance and security.
He called upon nuclear scientists and engineers to pay greater attention to capacity building, training and nurturing young and fresh talent. He speaking after unveiling a 100 ton capacity nuclear power reactor fuel processing plant at Tarapur near Mumbai. The facility would use spent fuel from indigenous nuclear power plants for fast breeder reactors.
The Prime Minister said reprocessing spent fuel would ensure that India was better able to manage wastes that were by-products of the nuclear fuel cycle. This was a significant milestone in the country’s three-stage indigenous nuclear programme, he said.
“Given the advanced status of our indigenous programme and capabilities of our scientists and engineers, we can now confidently utilise the new opportunities that have been created with the opening up of international cooperation in the field of nuclear energy.”
He said, Tarapur was an outstanding example of the capacity of nuclear energy to provide “clean, safe and economical energy” that the nation required for development and growth.
Noting that the site was home to the oldest boiling water reactors in the world, he said India had built its “own reactors as well”. “And we have subsequently added the entire range of facilities covering the entire fuel cycle from fuel fabrication to reprocessing and waste immobilisation.”
