The Hindu : Business : Improving nuclear energy share

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 07, 2007
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Business

Improving nuclear energy share

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI : The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has urged the Union Government to amend the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, to facilitate the entry of private players into nuclear power generation and ensure that the share of nuclear energy goes up by 10-12 per cent by 2012 from the present level of three per cent. A study on `India's nuclear energy: unfolding possibilities,' has highlighted that the projected level of nuclear generation percentage could be achieved from 3 per cent currently as in future crude oil and other existing sources of energy would not be available in abundance. India would have to lay greater focus on nuclear power generation.

There will be two options for India to enhance its nuclear power generation— one through imported uranium and the other by way of harnessing thorium, for which it will have to commercialise the technology, states the study.

According to Assocham president Venugopal N. Dhoot, the Indo-U.S. Agreement on nuclear issue needs to be facilitated to boost the nuclear energy programme. He said India's finite sources of uranium could be a constraint. New sources of uranium need to be located quickly and mined. The maturing of the country's technological capabilities, and the impressive performance of the 16 operational nuclear reactors and past data shows that efficiency had varied from 74 per cent to only once 90 per cent in 2002-03 in the plants run by NPCIL.

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