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The sooner we clinch deal the better: Kakodkar

Staff Reporter

“Heroic efforts” on to explore uranium resources
Our nuclear programme has “come of age”

Bangalore: The sooner India clinches the nuclear agreement with the United States, the better it is for the nation’s energy security, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar said on Friday.

Nuclear reactors were operating at just 50-55 per cent capacity owing to uranium shortage, he told journalists on the sidelines of a lecture organised by the Indian Academy of Science here.

Speaking on the “Evolving Indian nuclear programme: Rationale and Perspectives,” Dr. Kakodkar said: “Here is a chance, where without compromising on any of our principles, we can achieve energy security. [This is] one of the most promising ways of doing it. If we are not going to do it now, history will not forgive us.”

While the currently known domestic uranium resources would be enough to set up 10,000 MWe of carrying capacity by 2020, this would not meet the projected energy demand. “Without the import of nuclear reactors or fuel, the gap in the installed capacity would amount to 412 GWe. This gap, which is more than three times the total electricity being generated now, will have to be met with fossil fuel.” This deficit could be practically wiped out by deploying 40 GWe capacity reactors during 2012-2020 under international cooperation.

Dr. Kakodkar said “heroic efforts” were being made to explore uranium resources in the country — including in the Kadapa basin in Andhra Pradesh.

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