Date:20/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/20/stories/2008112060881000.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

‘No hurdles in transfer of technology’

We must be able to make use of energy from spent fuel: Kakodkar

HYDERABAD: Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar does not foresee any problem from the Nuclear Suppliers Group in allowing transfer of technologies to India.

The NSG had already taken a decision vis-À-vis India and everything should remain consistent with it, he said while talking to reporters after delivering the Yarlagadda Sreeramulu Fifth Endowment Lecture on “ Atomic Energy in India: Emerging Scenario” at the Institution of Engineers here on Wednesday.

Asked about moves to get the NSG restrict the sale of reprocessing and enrichment equipment, he said India had agreements with different countries and the transfer of technology was a matter of policy of those countries. “But, we have built in forward-looking language. We certainly don’t like anybody to target India,” he asserted. “We have our technologies in these areas and it is important that we have to be able to make use of energy from spent fuel, through reprocessing and recycling, on the basis of our own technologies.”

Nuke programme

He denied that there was any slowdown in the process of concluding India-specific safeguards with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Earlier, delivering the lecture, he gave an overview of the country’s nuclear power programme and the strategies to make optimum use of the resources.

Referring to the challenges, he said access to global energy sources would become increasingly difficult and expensive as time progressed. Early availability of domestic/imported uranium, including reactors, was important to reduce dependence on import of energy resources in future. The tempo of domestic R&D needed to be sustained, focusing on issues and deliverables of a high priority to the country.

Dr. Kakodkar said the country’s three-stage nuclear programme had come of age. He ruled out the question of bypassing the second stage and asserted that the three-stage path would continue. Emphasising that it was important to get higher benefits from international civil nuclear cooperation, he said there would be a deficit of 40,000 MW by 2050. If uranium was imported and the spent fuel reprocessed through imported reactors, the deficit could be bridged without import of additional energy.