E-Paper
'India's role in nuclear renaissance crucial'
Kakodkar was delivering a speech on the occasion of the 97th birth anniversary of Homi J Bhabha.
India's technological capability could be of use to global community in its march towards nuclear renaissance with the development of the country's strong proliferation-resistant thorium fuel cycle, Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission Anil Kakodkar said on Monday.
He said India's role in the global nuclear renaissance is going to be very crucial, with a far greater realization now of the importance of nuclear energy as the only viable solution to sustainable development without further aggravating the environment.
Kakodkar was delivering a speech on the occasion of the 97th birth anniversary of father of Indian Atomic energy programme Homi J Bhabha at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai.
The proliferation-resistance of thorium fuel cycle and the superior capability to dispose excess plutonium in thorium reactors compared to fast breeder reactors is an area where Indian technology could be of use to global community, he said.
Besides "attaining energy independence", nuclear energy's expansion was inevitable to free earth from the devastating effects of global warming and the stress on energy sources, he added.
"India alone would be consuming roughly half of global coal consumption and roughly one tenth of world hydrocarbon consumption by the middle of the century." Kakodkar pointed out that with an expanding programme, India needs a broader range and increasing quantity of materials like sodium, enriched boron and a variety of solvents.
