Nuclear energy inevitable option for India: experts

Nuclear energy will continue to be an inevitable option for India as other alternative renewable energy sources, including solar, will take few more years to establish as a commercially viable technology, according to scientists.

Experts from radiation safety, nuclear technology and nuclear medicine said here at a seminar that nuclear power technology in India and the world was "matured and safe".

Speaking on 'Nuclear Energy: Perceptions and Reality' at a day-long seminar 'Nuclear Energy in India', hosted by the Vijnan Bharati here yesterday, former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission Anil Kakodkar stressed on scientific realities while demystifying certain perceptions about nuclear energy.

"India needs nuclear as well as solar energy to meet its huge energy requirement but at the same time commercial technology viability has to be taken into consideration," he said.

"It is unfortunate that those who are blindly anti-nuclear are ready only to listen to all unscientifically exaggerated facts and it seems the country is at crossroads.

"Although the nuclear technologies are mature and safe, still due to such argumentative mood created in the country recently, the projected power generation through the imported reactors has been further delayed. We have lost three years already," Kakodkar said.