India's technological capability could be of use to the global community in its march towards nuclear renaissance with the development of the country's strong proliferation-resistant thorium fuel cycle, Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission Anil Kakodkar has said.
Kakodkar said India's role in the global nuclear renaissance is going to be very crucial, with a far greater realisation now of the importance of nuclear energy as the only viable solution to sustainable development without further aggravating the environment.
Kakodkar was delivering a speech on the occasion of the 97th birth anniversary of the father of India's atomic energy programme Homi J Bhabha at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.
The proliferation-resistance of thorium fuel cycle and the superior capability to dispose excess plutonium in thorium reactors compared to fast breeder reactors is an area where the global community could use Indian technology, he said.
Besides attaining energy independence, nuclear energy's expansion was inevitable to free earth from devastating effects of global warming and the stress on energy sources, he added.
"India alone would be consuming roughly half of global coal consumption and roughly one tenth of world hydrocarbon consumption by the middle of the century."
Kakodkar pointed out that with an expanding programme, India needs a broader range and increasing quantity of materials like sodium, enriched boron and a variety of solvents.
