With the recently acquired waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), India is now scouting for uranium from countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Niger to fuel its atomic power plants, which are running at half their installed capacity, said Prime Minister’s Special Envoy Shyam Saran at an interactive session organised by Ficci.
He said that most of the 17 nuclear power plants across the country were generating power at about only 54 per cent of their capacity.
The waiver from the 45-member NSG has given India a wide choice of suppliers of nuclear fuel, equipment and technologies. It will enable India to work out reliable, long-term supply arrangements with countries like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Niger, which have substantial stocks of uranium. India is also exploring the possibility of joint mining and exploration initiatives in countries like Mongolia.
He also mentioned that the current global financial crisis would also throw up a buyer’s market of nuclear power plants, and might also bring about a softening of the uranium prices.
According to Saran, this financial crisis creates a favourable condition for India to embark on a truly ambitious nuclear programme, getting the best terms and conditions, including technology transfer.
He added that he supported an active role for private ventures in the nuclear industry, which would enable a rapid expansion of the industry. The government would amend the Atomic Energy Act and put in place an elaborate regulatory and licensing system at the appropriate time, he added. About the plans for future, he said India expected to have four more nuclear reactors at Kudankulam, where two 1,000 Mw atomic plants were already being built with Russian collaboration.
