Ushering in reforms, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday proposed to open up the nuclear power sector for private players and announced a Rs 20,000 crore Nuclear Energy Mission for research in the field, with an aim to set up five small and modular reactors by 2033.
Barely days after imposing a 40 per cent export tax on onions to cool down soaring prices, which, in turn, triggered widespread protests across the main growing belts, the Centre on Tuesday sought to mitigate both political and economic tensions gripping parts of Maharashtra. It decided to procure an additional 200,000 tonnes of onions at Rs 2,410 per quintal for its buffer stock from farmers, a rate that is strikingly close to the price at which they were being exported before the 40 per cent duty was levied on August 19. The export price before the imposition of the duty stood at around $320 per tonne free on board (approximately Rs 2,650 per quintal).
Lashing out at anti-nuclear activists, a former Atomic Energy Commission chief on Wednesday said that "certain professional agitators" had worked against the project at Kudankoolam which was "one of the best sites" for a nuclear power station.
The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday set up a four-member expert panel, which includes former atomic energy commission chief M R Srinivasan, to submit a report on the fears and concerns of local people over the Koodankulam nuclear power project.
Former Atomic Energy Commission chairman and the guiding force behind India's first nuclear test, Homi Nusserwanji Sethna, died at his Malabar Hills residence in Mumbai after a prolonged illness, family members said.
Former Atomic Energy Commission Chairman P K Iyengar on Wednesday raised a red flag over certain provisions of the nuclear liability bill, including keeping civil courts off limits in case of a nuclear accident.
In the midst of the controversy over the success of the 1998 thermonuclear test, nuclear scientist P K Iyengar has said the views of former Defence Research and Development Organisation scientist K Santhanam on the issue are the 'clincher'. There is a "strong reason to believe that the thermonuclear device had not fully burnt and, therefore, further testing was called for," Iyengar, a former Atomic Energy Commission chairman, said.
K Santhanam, a retired Defence Research and Development Organisation scientist, on Monday accused former Atomic Energy Commission chief Anil Kakodkar of 'ignoring facts' about the yield of the nuclear tests done at Pokhran in May 1998, calling him 'a liar' motivated by institutional loyalties.
After Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's assertion that he will not put the government at stake over the Indo-US nuclear deal, scientists on Sunday hailed the stand saying the Centre has taken a sensible decision.
Veteran atomic scientist and former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission Dr Sekhar Basu succumbed to Covid-19 early on Thursday at a private hospital in Koklata, a health department official said. He breathed his last just three days after turning 68.
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