The Hindu Business Line : `Industry must take up challenges in nuclear programmes'

WITH India putting in place the world's largest nuclear power development programme with the ongoing construction of nine reactors, the time is ripe for the Indian industry to take up both the challenges and the risks, the nuclear expert, Dr R. Chidambaram, said.

Its true that the domestic industry's capabilities to build world class equipment has gone up substantially, but the fact is "So far the research laboratories and national institutes under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and others, have taken the risks and the industry met the demands placed on them," he said.

In both the building of nuclear power reactors and missiles and other security systems the Indian industry has to take bigger challenges, Dr Chidambaram, currently Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Prime Minister said, while delivering the annual day celebrations address at the Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL), a Defence R&D organisation.

Dr Chidambaram, former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and Secretary, DAE, defended the country's progress towards fast breeder reactor (FBR) technology and said it was necessary to close the nuclear fuel cycle, better utilise plutonium and the large deposits of thorium in the country.

Since the prices of uranium are low globally, the US has no need for reprocessing of the spent fuel for plutonium. "But India cannot wait, we have to take plutonium from the reprocessed fuel and use it in the FBRs. This is essential for sustainable development and energy security," Dr Chidambaram said. Work on the first FBR at Kalpakkam is already beginning.

The US has an open cycle, where uranium is used and the nuclear wastes buried in mountains in `nuclear repositories'. "They do not need to reprocess this spent fuel for Plutonium because Uranium is available at low costs. These `nuclear repositories' are plutonium mines," he said.

The Director of ASL a key facility in the development programme of Indian missiles, Dr R.N. Agarwal, said: "The technologies needed for Agni-3 had to be completed fast and it was a big challenge to the scientists. The first two versions of Agni have made considerable advancement."