Outlining his vision for India’s nuclear power
programme in the 21st century, the Prime Minister,
Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee has said, that eight nuclear power plants
which are under construction will add around 400 Megawatts to
installed power capacity by 2008. India has an even more ambitious
target of generating 20, 000 Megawatts of nuclear power by the
year 2020. For this objective, India will welcome participation
of other countries in major products. Shri Vajpayee was delivering
an address at the Founder’s Day function of Bhabha Atomic Research
Centre in Trombay today.
The Prime Minister said that the innovations
of our scientists have strengthened the developmental dimension
of our atomic energy programme. They have given their best after
technology denial regimes were imposed. Dispelling the mis-conceptions
about the India’s weapons’ programmes the Prime Minister emphasised
that India’s nuclear power programme has an entirely different
objective, Shri Vajpayee said that India’s "nuclear power
projects would be open to international safeguards". Referring
to the ongoing meeting of the Environment Ministers in Delhi to
discuss action to promote the objectives of the Kyoto Protocol
on Climate Change, the Prime Minister pointed out again that it
was "truly ironic that we are lectured on our moral obligations
to clamp down on emissions, while being denied international technological
cooperation for one alternative, which can achieve this without
penalising our development".
Following is the full text of the address by
the Prime Minister on the occasion:
"It is a pleasure to be with you at this
prestigious centre of scientific research.
Celebration of your Founder’s Day with awards
for excellence is an apt tribute to Dr. Homi Bhabha – who is often
called the father of India’s atomic energy programme.
Dr Bhabha was much more than that. He was a brilliant
scientist and an outstanding science administrator. But most of
all, he was a pioneering visionary, who understood the importance
of indigenous scientific research for self-reliant development.
Visionaries like Bhabha have shaped the scientific
temper of our country. India is today at the forefront of the
Knowledge Revolution – which drives the New Economy. For this,
we owe a huge debt to the excellence of our scientific and technical
personnel.
Much of this talent finds its way abroad. From
the Silicon Valley to Microsoft, from biochemistry to robotics
– expatriate Indian scientists and engineers are present in every
corporate organization and in every field of research.
We need to retain some of these skills in our
country for our own accelerated progress. That is why I am happy
that we have today honoured scientists and engineers who have
made special contributions to our atomic energy programme. I am
also glad that the Indian Nuclear Society awards have covered
a wider domain of research. I congratulate the recipients of the
BARC and the INS awards.
Recognition is an important motivating factor;
so are opportunity and rewarding professional avenues. The Scientific
Advisory Committee to the Cabinet – headed by our Principal Scientific
Adviser, Dr Chidambaram – has been considering how to optimise
the benefits to the country from its scientific research institutions.
It should also tackle the challenge of recruiting the best scientific
talent into our research institutions and retaining them there.
We have to nurture an environment, which encourages the innovative
spirit and welcomes creative ideas.
In this context, it is heartening to see that
so many young students participated in the DAE essay contest.
They are our future scientists and engineers. They will become
our Ambassadors, carrying the message of science based development
to various parts of our country.
India’s atomic energy programme started here
in Trombay about half a century ago. It has come a long way since
then. The various institutions of the Department of Atomic Energy
have notched up stellar achievements in basic research and technology
development. They have commercialised a wide range of developmental
applications.
Radiation technology has developed high-yielding,
disease-resistant varieties of rice, jute, pulses, groundnuts
and mustard. The Trombay black gram and groundnut varieties are
now cultivated all over the country.
Radiation processing has also emerged as an important
technology for preservation of agricultural commodities, sterilization
of medical products and upgrading of food hygiene. Cereals, pulses,
vegetables and dry fruits can be preserved by this method. The
Krushak plant at Lasalgaon will use gamma radiation to prolong
the freshness of onion, which is the region’s most important agricultural
product. By increasing the shelf life, this would help to maintain
onion prices at lower levels. As everyone knows, the price of
onions can even bring down a government in our country!
The Medical Cyclotron, which has just been inaugurated,
has important applications in cardiology, neurology and oncology.
The Nuclear Desalination project has a direct link to supply of
clean drinking water to our coastal areas. The Cirus reactor refurbishing
has granted a further extension of life to India’s first nuclear
research reactor.
These and hundreds of other innovations have
strengthened the developmental dimension of our atomic energy
programme. It is important to recognize their value to society.
We emphasize this, because in some circles abroad
atomic energy seems to raise only visions of the atom bomb or
of nuclear war. Ever since our first nuclear tests in 1974, we
have been denied technologies and products on the unfounded suspicion
that they may be applied to a weapons programme.
These technology-denial regimes have irritated
us; they have also retarded our progress. But they did not stop
us. They brought out the best in us. Our scientists in atomic
energy, space and other high technology areas achieved success
after success with indigenously developed expertise. As so many
times before in history, we proved that sanctions do not devastate
a society. They spur it on to greater heights of innovation and
achievement. Our atoms for peace programmes continue to flourish
and expand.
The most imperative developmental application
of atomic energy today is for nuclear power. It is a sad fact
that India’s per capita energy consumption is among the lowest
in the world. Power shortages constitute an important infrastructural
hurdle to our rapid economic development.
It is well known that nuclear power is one of
the most environment-friendly forms of energy. It is a cleaner
energy alternative to fossil fuel. It is more cost efficient in
the long term. At present, nuclear power meets just 2% of our
overall electricity needs. This will have to change soon.
We have eight nuclear power plants under
construction, which will add around 4000 Megawatts to our installed
power capacity by 2008. We have an even more ambitious target
of generating 20,000 Megawatts of nuclear power by the year 2020.
We will apply our indigenous financial and
technological capacities to meet this objective. At the same time,
we welcome participation of other countries in these major projects.
While inviting foreign partners to join us
in this important development sector, we urge them to dispel any
misconceptions about our nuclear weapons programme. We have been
transparent about it. The reasons for our nuclear testing in May
1998 are well known. We emphasise our nuclear doctrine of minimum
credible deterrence. Our nuclear weapons programme was developed
totally indigenously. It did not violate any of our international
obligations. It is limited in scope.
Our nuclear power programme has an entirely different
development objective. We have repeatedly said that every cooperation
project in nuclear power would be open to international safeguards.
We would urge the high priests of non-proliferation
to look around and tackle the clandestine and illegal development
and transfer of nuclear and missile technologies, rather than
targeting countries, which have played by the rules. They might
then be persuaded to look at atomic energy in India as an engine
of growth and progress, and not through the prism of nuclear weapons.
At the Rio Summit ten years ago and more
recently at the Sustainable Development Summit in Johannesburg,
the world reiterated its determination to curb emissions of the
harmful greenhouse gases which degrade our environment and play
havoc with our climate systems. Even as I speak here, Environment
Ministers of the world are gathered in Delhi to discuss action
to promote the objectives of the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change.
It is truly ironic that we are lectured on our moral obligations
to clamp down on emissions, while being denied international technological
cooperation for the one alternative, which can achieve this without
penalising our development.
I would like to urge our scientists and engineers
to continue on the path of innovations and inventions, which have
taken our atomic energy programme to this advanced stage. I hope
the Fast Breeder Reactor can be commercially exploited soon. I
hope that you will achieve early success in the viable generation
of nuclear energy from thorium. This would be a major technological
break-through for India, which has some of the largest reserves
of thorium in the world.
All of you here are the inheritors of a great
legacy. It is in your hands to carry that tradition forward. You
must continue the pursuit of excellence. Your work must always
remain relevant and responsive to national needs and aspirations.
It should aim to keep India at the cutting edge of science &
technology. The support and best wishes of the nation will always
be with you in these endeavours.
Jai Hind".
