India cannot miss nuclear renaissance: PM

Fresh from a truce with the Left parties on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said India cannot afford to miss the bus of nuclear renaissance.

Singh said fast reactor technologies should be expeditiously developed and efforts intensified to locate additional uranium resources in the country.

"There is a talk, the world over, of nuclear renaissance and we cannot afford to miss the bus or lag behind these global developments," Singh said here.

The Prime Minister was speaking at a function to dedicate two high-efficiency nuclear reactors to the nation in this township in Maharashtra's Thane district.

Singh said India is now too important a country to remain outside the international mainstream" in the critical area of nuclear energy.

He said international co-operation cannot become effective until the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) adapts its guidelines to enable nuclear commerce with India. The NSG has made it clear that they will not do so till the India-specific safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is finalised.

"Once these steps are taken, India can commence civil nuclear co-operation with all the 45 members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. This will signal the end of our international isolation of the past few decades," Singh said.

"We have set a modest target of 20,000 MW of nuclear power generation by the year 2020. This can be doubled with the opening up of international co-operation," the Prime Minister said.

Singh said there was a need to pave 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 the international exchange of scientific ideas and technical know-how," he said.

Singh said proven resources of coal, oil, gas and hydropower were insufficient to meet the country's requirements, and India, which is clocking 9% growth rate, requires energy from all known sources. "The energy we generate has to be affordable - not only in terms of its financial cost, but in terms of the cost to our environment, he said, adding nuclear power is recognised as an important and environmentally benign constituent of the overall energy mix.

Singh said the three-stage nuclear power programme formed the bedrock of the country's long-term strategy. "This unique, thorium-based technology will become an economically viable alternative over a period of time," he said stressing the need to harness vast thorium resources.

Underlining the need to augment nuclear power capabilities, Singh said there was a need to supplement uranium supplies from elsewhere though the Department of Atomic Energy had taken a number of steps to maximise output within the limited resources.

"We must take decisive steps to remove uncertainties that result from the shortfall in fuel supplies to avoid disruptions in our nuclear power production," he said.

Addressing nuclear scientists, the Prime Minister said: "With your dedication and track record of accomplishments, I am confident that our domestic technological capability will only grow in strength.

"I have full confidence in our scientists and engineers and believe that the removal of iniquitous restrictions and shackles on our programme will enhance our indigenous capabilities.

"A strong nuclear energy programme is in our vital interest and is important for our scientific development, energy needs and security."

(Reporting by Arun George)