The Hindu : N-cooperation: 'we have many options'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 23, 2002

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N-cooperation: 'we have many options'

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI JUNE 22. Signalling the wide differences in perception between India and Russia in nuclear cooperation, the atomic energy establishment today said it was prepared to look at ``any country'' willing to offer the nuclear power technology that India was looking for.

Though both India and Russia have said that they were keen on additional plants of the 1000 MW capacity at Koodankulam, the talks, which have been on for sometime now, seems to have hit a barrier. While the Russians say that they are confident that this will be resolved in their President, Vladimir Putin's visit to India later this year, the Indian side was more guarded in its approach to the issue.

``Two VVER plants are now being set up with their cooperation. Let it come up. Then we will see,'' the Atomic Energy Commission Chairman, Dr. Anil Kakodkar, said when asked about the progress of negotiations with Russia for putting up four more reactors in Koodankulam. At Koodankulam itself, the atomic energy establishment said there were many options that the Nuclear Power Corporation, the implementing body, was looking at. ``There is space for four more reactors. What kind of reactors this will be we will be able to decide only in the future,'' Dr. Kakodkar said.

Asked if India was looking at French or Canadian reactors, he said India could look at anyone willing to offer it the technologies that the country wanted.

This did not mean that India was scouting around for technologies. It was only considering methods to augment its power generation capabilities.

Dr. Kakodkar was here to deliver the Prof. Y. Nayudamma Memorial annual lecture 2002 on `Perspectives on nuclear energy in India' at the RMK Engineering College at Kavaraipettai and to inaugurate the Ramanujan auditorium at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Taramani.

The COSTED scientific secretary, G. Thyagarajan, presented him with the Nayudamma Award at the lecture, which consists of a citation and a certificate.

Asked if the recent Indo-Pakistan tensions meant more embargoes for the establishment and its facilities, Dr. Kakodkar said the atomic energy establishment was living with sanctions for quite some time now.

It has not stopped the establishment from developing, testing and implementing critical technologies.

On the concerns expressed by some countries during the Indo-Pakistan stand off, he said India was not the only country which had nuclear weapons.

``Then why these concerns. Why are we being singled out,'' he asked.

Answering critics of the programme, Dr. Kakodkar accepted that issues and problems did crop up when technology was put to use.

The solution for this was to develop appropriate technologies to solve the problem; not to stop using the technology.

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