Vikas Bhat is full of questions. Let me try to give my own take on some of them
1. Why Western countries have not set up nuclear plants?
The exceptions are France - where nuclear reactors is the major power source. They are the most power surplus country in Europe that they export power to European countries who in turn need not make heavy investments on nuclear power.
There are many reasons why a country opt or avoid nuclear plants. They may have other options - hydel, coal, wind, oil etc. Then there is the safety factor. Lastly nuclear power is expensive.
What has changed is that resources like coal, petroleum have depleted and began to be costly. Over the decade, prolonged use of nuclear power have in-built better safety stds. With the price of oil hitting the USD 140-150 as compared to USD 25-30 band 5 years, nuclear economics have become that more competitive
RE:Nuclear Fallacies? = Part 1
by All Right on Jul 03, 2008 11:01 PM Permalink
We concerned with energy security. A good energy security strategy depend upon a diversified basket of options - coal, wind, solar, gas, petroleum, nuclear, bio-fuels etc.
So just as it is necessary to widen our options through the Iran pipeline, we need to expand our nuclear power generation capacity. So India is pursing a multi-strategy policy. Even after factoring the deal, in 2020 nuclear power is expected to command only 6% of our total power generation capacity.
The world has changed. We may not like Bush, but he is remitting office by January. We collaborate with the US where ever it is possible. What is wrong in that. We still did not take Bush's bait to send our army to Iraq. Why should we do that? If US expects us to range war with Iran, why should be cooperate with them?
Why shouldn't we cooperate with them in things like civil nuclear energy? We need power to sustain our high growth potential. How much longer should we bear with power shortages? Now we are being conditioned to accept petrol rationing as well
RE:Nuclear Fallacies? = Part 1
by All Right on Jul 03, 2008 10:50 PM Permalink
Cont'd Part II
2. Why we have not exploited our own resources
a. To some extent, bureaucratic apathy b. Enviromental concerns paticularly NE states like Meghalaya c. Mining has attracted local community resistance. Jharkhand - Naxalite menance d. Deliberate strategy of Indian government to keep reserves unexploited for latter use. Similar what US and Canada is doing to their petroleum reserves. They rather import at high prices rather than consume it at present
