Govt Move To Open Up N-Power Plant Sector Hailed
The government's move to open up the nuclear power industry to private investment will help establish the nation's credentials as a responsible nuclear state, analysts said.
At present, only the government is allowed to build and operate nuclear power plants.
It is a welcome step and will prove India's credentials as a responsible nuclear state, said C Uday Bhaskar, deputy director of the state-funded Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA). However, some analysts say the country's image has been tarnished by New Delhi's refusal to join the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and other international accords aimed at curbing the spread of nuclear weapons.
Such a stance could hinder imports of technology needed to set up private power plants, analysts say, despite receiving proposals from private investors to build nuclear power stations in the electricity-starved nation.
We have been deprived of peaceful use of nuclear technology, mainly imports, because of our stand on the NPT and other treaties, Bhaskar said.
Officials also said the government has to change the existing laws before giving private companies the green light on any new projects.
Proposals for investment in nuclear power are there, science and technology minister Yogendra Alagh told the news agency. We would certainly consider such proposals sympathetically.
Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda last week told a Japanese newspaper that India would allow full foreign ownership in nuclear power plants. India has nine nuclear reactors with a total generating capacity of about 2,000 megawatts, officials said.
Any expansion of the national nuclear power programme, including that of foreign ownership, must be preceded by the setting up of a truly independent and professional Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), A Gopalakrishnan, a nuclear technology expert, said.
Nuclear power is a high-technology, high-risk operation and safeguards against the risks have to be ensured, said Gopalakrishnan, a former chairman of the AERB.
India must ensure that technology imported by private investors and the government meets the norms spelled out by organisations like International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he added.
India tested a nuclear device in 1974 but says it has no nuclear weapons programme.
Last year, India opposed a global nuclear test ban treaty, saying it would not lead to the elimination of nuclear weapons because it allowed the five acknowledged nuclear powers to continue developing atomic arms through laboratory tests.
The five powers are the US, Russia, China, France and Britain.
India's demand for power is growing at nine per cent a year. The country needs to generate 142,000 mw by the year 2007 against the present capacity of about 83,288 mw, Gowda said.