Safety of nuclear installations need to be raised: Ansari

Vice President Hamid Ansari today made a strong pitch for raising the safety bar of nuclear installations in the country in the wake of mishaps abroad.
"From what has happened in nuclear accidents in different parts of the world, the challenge is try to get over the possible sources of accidents. The safety bars have to be raised higher. Every new experience tells that what was considered safe was not sufficiently safe," Ansari said during a book launch event.
He maintained one can visualise a situation while entering an aircraft and flying could result in an accident or one can get into a car and accidents can happen.

"Do any of the scenarios push us to the point in saying that this mode of communication is to be avoided? No, and we try to improve," Ansari said.
"We have got stuck with a problem which is not irrelevant to the debate but cannot be substituted for it. The problem relates to safety. Today, nuclear energy is contributing to a very small segment of our energy requirements,"he added.
He said that given the population and economy of India, the country is and and will remain short in energy.
"Today, nuclear energy is contributing to a very small segment and by 2032, it will be around 10 per cent. The real question is to focus on can we do without this 10 per cent. Our energy requirement is a serious one," Ansari said.

He said there has been a huge political debate nationally and internationally about whether India should be assisted or not in terms of its requirements of raw material for nuclear energy.