Indian government seems to be in undue haste to sink trillions of rupees of the nation on the nuclear power option as energy security which is defunct, redundant and out of sync with the best available options in the 21st century and future ahead. No other nation on this globe seems to have any conviction on this energy security option, not even the main advocates and suppliers of nuclear power technology themselves.
Apart from the safety and environment concerns associated with nuclear power option, it is the civil liability magnitude which seems to be beyond any tangible solution. The total damages in the case of a full blow out can be thousands of lives, condemned area of about 10000 sq. kms. and effects lingering on for many decades. In terms of money, the damages amount to a whopping sum of Rs 90000 Crores or higher. Who is going to pay? If Government of India has to exercise nuclear power option, what provisions have been made for blow out damages? If damage amount is taken care of, even the much touted lower cost of nuclear energy production becomes much more than the cost of production of solar and wind energy.Lastly, what surety is there that India will be ensured nuclear fuel supplies for all times to come; for tomorrow the economic and political interests of nuclear cartel countries and India could clash. Or does India has to be under the black mail threat for all times to come once it exercises the nuclear power option. Do we have a suitable and fail safe penalty clause included in these contracts for we are going to sink a fortune in these plants.
Apart from the safety and environment concerns associated with nuclear power option, it is the civil liability magnitude which seems to be beyond any tangible solution. The total damages in the case of a full blow out can be thousands of lives, condemned area of about 10000 sq. kms. and effects lingering on for many decades. In terms of money, the damages amount to a whopping sum of Rs 90000 Crores or higher. Who is going to pay? If Government of India has to exercise nuclear power option, what provisions have been made for blow out damages? If damage amount is taken care of, even the much touted lower cost of nuclear energy production becomes much more than the cost of production of solar and wind energy.Lastly, what surety is there that India will be ensured nuclear fuel supplies for all times to come; for tomorrow the economic and political interests of nuclear cartel countries and India could clash. Or does India has to be under the black mail threat for all times to come once it exercises the nuclear power option. Do we have a suitable and fail safe penalty clause included in these contracts for we are going to sink a fortune in these plants.
While Germany has decided to phase out its nuclear power option completely by 2030, the French and British governments are under tremendous pressure from a vast majority of their populace to phase out nuclear energy completely by 2050 or so.In USA no new nuclear plants have come up during the last three decades. It cannot be just a coincidence that the most developed countries are fighting against the very presence of nuclear power plants on their soil. Indian government is either oblivious of the concerns that are bothering the citizens of developed nations or is holding them back from the nation for reasons best known to it.
India is likely to add up about 5 lakh mw of electrical power in the coming two decades and a similar demand is likely to emanate from Asia and Africa who are likely to be denied access to nuclear power.The energy requirements of developed world will be confined to small amount of replacement of their obsolete plants. In this scenario, the advanced countries will like to delay the employment of huge funds for developing renewable clean energy technologies till such time they earn huge sums of money from their earlier investments in nuclear power technologies. The same money will be deployed for researches and industrial infrastructure development for clean renewable energy technologies.This is the right time and opportunity for India to make best use of trillions of rupees to be spent in power sector by giving impetus to relevant researches, technology development and manufacturing facilities for renewable clean energy options and become world leaders in this field which is going to be the backbone of development and prosperity in the immediate, intermediate and long term future.The government policies are certainly denying the nation the golden opportunity to become world leaders.
Let us wake up and not allow these politicians to opt for nuclear power option and deny the nation the golden chance to become world leader. Even a mother does not feed milk to its own child unless it cries.
Let us wake up and not allow these politicians to opt for nuclear power option and deny the nation the golden chance to become world leader. Even a mother does not feed milk to its own child unless it cries.
