India has sought concerted international efforts to prevent terrorists from gaining access to radiological materials and technology.
In his maiden address to the United Nations General Assembly, Indian delegate former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed asked the international community to give high priority to development of global security culture and offered it full support to achieve the goal.
He said global efforts are needed to prevent terrorists from accessing radiological materials.
In accordance with its commitment and record as a responsible State with advanced nuclear technology, he said India is prepared to supplement international efforts for promotion of peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
India believes that closed fuel nuclear cycle is essential if nuclear power is to make sustained contribution at a large enough scale necessary to meet global energy needs, Sayeed said on Monday while intervening in the debate on the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear watchdog body of the United Nations.
India believes that reprocessing and recycling of nuclear fuel is essential not only for this purpose but also for the reduction of long term radio toxicity and security implication of disposal of spent fuel as such, he said.
"Thorium offers an excellent matrix for efficient burning of surplus plutonium with a much greater degree of proliferation resistance and very low minor actinide burden," he told the delegates, citing the Indian expertise in the area.
The IAEA report noted that of the 26 nuclear power plants under construction, 15 are located in Asia. In India, with the TAPS-4 achieving criticality on March 6, 2005 and Taps-3 on May 21, 2006, there are 16 operating power plants, with 7 under construction.
Emphasizing that the demand for nuclear power is growing in step with growing global energy needs, Sayeed said the exigencies of economic development, the finite nature of fossil fuels and concerns linked both to their prices as well as their impact on global climate change add to the attractiveness of nuclear power.
"The immense energy potential of nuclear fuels, readily available and deployable technologies and the safety and productivity record of nuclear power over the past 20 years are likely to help maintain an upward trend in the demand for nuclear energy," the People's Democratic Party patron told the 192-member