Need For Nuclear Power In INDIA

     INDIA is growing rapidly. In recent years its economy has increased at more than 7 percent per year, and many analysts believe that India will grow even faster in the coming decade. India is presently ascending the ladder of development. India is a still a ‘Developing’ country and a lot is to be done before India has to become a ‘Developed’ country. There is a relation between the Energy consumption of a country and the Development of that country. Every step into progress comes with the increase in demand for the energy. So ‘Energy’ is the most needed for the development of the country. Once the country reaches a relative degree of development, then the demand for energy becomes more stable.

  Many developed nations consume larger quantity of energy. In USA, the per capita energy consumption is 15 times that in India. In this sense India needs to increase its energy production at the earliest. The main way to improve its energy production is with nuclear power generation.

  Many are of conclusion that nuclear power generation is dangerous as they think it has adverse effects on environment and people living in the vicinity of the nuclear plant. Now let us see some details about thermal plant in India - India is spending about $100 billion annually on import of coal and petroleum, besides this huge amount of spending we are indirectly importing millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. These gases are hazardous to the environment and the human health. If we rely only on thermal production of energy then it is estimated that the import of coal and petroleum will increase exponentially, thus leading to more spending of money as well as causing the reason for the hazardous effects caused by the greenhouse gases. According to WHO the pollution caused by thermal power generations and climatic changes associated with it are directly or indirectly responsible for death of about a million of people every year across the world. Moreover the fossil fuels are depleting at a faster rate and they are in scarcity. So it is meaningless to completely depend on coal and petroleum as a source for energy production.

  Nuclear power is superior in its energy density and economic benefits. The energy that can be generated by 10000 tonnes of coal can be generated by using 500 kg of uranium. Now let us see the comparison between a Coal plant and a Nuclear plant -

 In the past some nuclear accidents have taken place, but the major accidents were only four- the Kyshtym accident in 1957, the Three Mile Island meltdown, the Chernobyl accident in 1986 and the most recent Fukushima incident (Japan) in 2011.

If we examine the reasons for these accidents then, the first incident was due to lack of technology and the next two are due to more of human error. But the Fukushima incident is due to natural forces in action- earthquake and tsunami. The above incidents show that the technology has to be better and the plant design has to be more stable. But a failure of four plants in six decades should not be viewed as a complete ban on nuclear power. Instead we should learn from the past and evolve to minimize such accidents in the future – ‘Improvement should be our next step and not Escapism’.

Now let’s see some good and bad about Nuclear power-

How is nuclear energy good?
1. Fission is the most energy for the least fuel with current technology.
2. Less fuel means less waste, and the waste is all accounted for, not released into the atmosphere to become someone else's problem.
3. Uranium is readily available, very common in the earth's crust.

4. Economical - operating cost about the same as coal, fuel cost is a much    smaller percentage of the total, therefore less susceptible to price fluctuations.
5. Reliable - Nuclear power plants have very high capacity factors.
6. No combustion, no Co, CO2 or SO2 released.
7. Creates high paying, skilled jobs.
8. Reduce dependence on foreign oil/ fuel.
9. High temperature reactors could produce Hydrogen as well as electricity.

How is it bad?
1. Irrational fear of all things nuclear.
2. High cost to build and license, large initial investment for long term pay        back.
3. Publicly accepted high level storage facility not domestically available.
4. Reprocessing facility not domestically available.
5. Security concerns

So, whether the Nuclear Power is safe are not? This statement is debatable, but one thing is sure, with the ‘present day technology’ the risks arising from nuclear accidents can be minimized to a greater extent. And also as a need for more Energy in the country, India should go for Nuclear Power Generation as it has left with no alternatives that can replace the nuclear power completely.