Staunchly defending the need for the deal, Pranab said, ‘We have been asked why are you going for the deal?”
“Today we have total power generation capacity of 145,000 MW, but the near future projections on energy deficit are 150,000 MW by 2030 and 450,000 by 2050. These figures take into account all types of power generation of all conventional sources.”
“If we start today (on nuke energy), as per some studies, then we will be able to produce 40,000 MW in the period between 2012 and 2020, that way the deficit will reduce to only 50,000 MW by 2030 and 7,000 MW by 2050.”
Taking out the example of former French President Charles de-Gaulle, Pranab said, “He too despite strong opposition started out on it (nuke) since 1948. And today 79% energy in France comes from nuclear energy. People ask us why the US and Russia are not following suit? They are not doing so because they are floating on oil; they have best quality coal and abundant oil reserves – something we don’t have.”
Arguing his case, Pranab said, “If we were to be totally dependent on thermal power, we would require 1.6 billion tones of coal to meet our requirement but by 2050, our reserves would be depleted.”
