Ofcourse, we can develop the Fast Breeder Reactor indeginiously. But do you know how long thats gonna take? Meanwhile, our neighbour China is adding nuclear reactors at a frantic pace. About 10 reacters every 5 years!!! Don't get me wrong, we are not competing with China in terms of who has more nuclear reacters, et al. Also, we are no where near competing with it. The point I'm trying to make is that, India needs energy to sustain its frenetic pace of growth. And it needs LOT of it. With oil prices behaving more erratic than the stock markets, India needs a concrete long term plan to quench its energy needs. For that, whether we like it or not, we need cooperation from outside, viz, US, Russia, etc. That would help us in setting up nuclear plants much faster. That is the need of the hour.
All the while, we do need to simultaneously work on our Fast Breeder reactors. They are the pride of our nation. But not make it the backbone of our enery policy. Atleast, not right now.
Economic Dependence? And mining uranium from Jharkhand? The uranium that we find in India is, unfortunately, of very low grade. The cost of enriching it to suit our needs is much higher than procuring it from outside. So, here too, we can do well on our own but we would be better off with cooperation from the outside.
So, in the 'globalized' world we live in today, we need to draw a line between Nationalism & Practicality. So what's the need of the hour for India? Proving to the world that it can do things on its own(which the World already knows - Tejas aircraft, Arjun tank, PSLV, GSLV, our nuclear program, etc) or being more judicious in our nuclear spend??
