India is the fifth largest producer of electricity, but 40 per cent of its population have no power connection, which makes providing power to this section as the nation's first priority. Since India cannot depend largely on the thermal power for reasons like its availability, pollution, etc., nuclear power is the inevitable option for a long-term sustainable development. This was stated by Head of Public Awareness Division of Department of Atomic Energy S.K. Malhotra while speaking on nuclear power -- the need, perception and realities during a national seminar on peaceful applications of atomic energy at GITAM University here on Wednesday.
Energy through renewable sources would not be able to meet the requirement in a populous country like India, asserted Mr. Malhotra. He also discussed many perceptions and doubts in the people's minds about nuclear energy, more so after the Fukushima accident due to tsunami in Japan during March last year, and gave a detailed explanation to stress the advantages of nuclear power and cleared the doubts.
Safest methods
Nuclear energy was one of the safest methods of large-scale generation of power, he said. There were only three major accidents in the 440 reactors located world-wide and who have completed 14,000 reactor years.
In India, the 20 years with 350 reactor years of operation have seen only one incident on the level 2 of the INEA scale which was also free of fatalities due to radiation. “The fear that a Fukushima type of accident can happen in India is not based on scientific facts.
The seismic and tsunamigenic conditions in India are totally different from those prevailing in Japan,” he said.
Statistics showed that there was no increase in cancer occurrence among occupational workers and families near the nuclear power plants.
No genetic disorders were found in the next generations of survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Mr. Malhotra said.
Earlier, he inaugurated the two-day national seminar, being organised by the GITAM Institute of Science's Department of Electronics and Physics and DAE. Vice-Chancellor G. Subramanyam, Principal and Dean of GIS N. Lakshmana Das and Head of Energetics and Electromagnetics Division of BARC (Visakhapatnam) Anurag Shyam also spoke.
