The chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission makes a case for nuclear energy saying all other forms of power gerenration will not be able to meet the country's staggering demand.
M R Srinivasan focused on the peaceful use of nuclear power at a time when the popular view among the 'hawks' was that India should build a nuclear arsenal as a deterrent.
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.
'Why should we disclose classified information to satisfy those who doubt our Hydrogen Bomb capability?'
'Chinese are going bang, bang, bang building 30-35 reactors.' 'We should announce a programme of 50 new reactors and show that we mean business on the ground and not just announcements.'
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).
'Dr Singh, visibly relieved, said, 'Yesterday night I couldn't sleep. I stayed awake, praying throughout. You have saved the country'.' A fascinating excerpt from former atomic energy chief Dr Anil Kakodkar's memoir Fire And Fury: Transforming India's Strategic Identity.
The current system of the Indian Railways is on the brink of collapse. The Indian railways working model is not financially viable either. The railways coffer have gone, almost, bankrupt, that is the outcome of the intense review undertaken by the committee consisting of galaxy of experts that was given task to review the Indian railways safety.
Had it not been for the global concern with respect to 'climate change', the nuclear states with a large stockpile of weapons would not have allowed other countries to adopt nuclear energy, said Dr Anil Kakodkar, member of the Atomic Energy Commission.
A high-level safety review committee for the Indian Railways has suggested fresh tax on passengers.
Dismissing a top nuclear scientist's contention that Pokharan II was not a complete success, Atomic Energy Commission chief Anil Kakodkar on Friday said the tests in 1998 achieved '100 per cent desired results'.Speaking at a function organised by the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology in Indore, Kakodkar said, "Pokhran II tests were a complete success and they achieved 100 per cent desired results."
In a case of sabotage, Atomic Energy Commission chief Anil Kakodkar on Sunday said somebody "deliberately" put radioactive tritium in a water cooler at the Kaiga Nuclear Power Plant that exposed about 50 workers to increased level of radiation.
Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Chairman Anil Kakodkar has said work on India's nuclear programmes will continue despite media reports of the country's nuclear power plants being placed on alert and being made more secure to prevent a terror strike.
Nuclear tests of 1998 have given us capability to build deterrence both in fission and fusion categories, Anil Kakodkar, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, said on Thursday.
"We have the technical expertise and capability to build nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and warships of global standards," Kakodkar said, on the sidelines of a function in Mumbai last night.
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.
If IIT-Bombay Chairman Anil Kakodkar has his way, studying at any of the 15 IITs across the country will now cost Rs 250,000 every year against the current Rs 50,000. Is this hike justified?
If the IIT Council has its way, fees for the most prestigious engineering institute will shoot up fivefold.
India does not need to carry any more nuclear tests, Atomic Energy commission chief Anil Kakodkar said on Wednesday in the backdrop of the controversy over whether the 1998 Pokhran thermo-nuclear explosion was a fizzle.
DAE officials, who had marathon discussions for the last two days in Mumbai on the issue of safeguards to be discussed with the IAEA, received confirmation of an appointment with ElBaradei on Sunday night to initiate negotiations, the DAE sources said.
Official sources said Kakodkar will meet Chief Minister Donkupar Roy and other government officials, besides conveying the Centre's views to the anti-mining groups, including political parties in the ruling coalition like the Hill State People's Democratic Party and Khun Hynnieutrip National Awakening Movement.
Delivering a public lecture on 'Evolving Indian nuclear programme: Rationale and perspectives' organised by Indian Academy of Sciences in Bangalore on Friday, he said the currently-known uranium resources in the country were enough for setting up nearly 10,000 MWe installed capacity pressurised heavy water reactors and the country will need to import nuclear reactors and the fuel to achieve energy security.
The event took off with an introductory speech by Dr Ajit Ranade appreciating the achievements of IIT Bombay. Among the other speakers were Dr Anil Kakodkar, chairman of the board of governors, IIT-B, Infosys chief Nandan Nilekani and Prof. R K Shevgaonkar, deputy director of finance and external affairs and the co-chairman of the IITBAA.
India on Monday asserted its "entire nuclear technology has been developed indigenously and action consistent with responsible behaviour."\n
India will now develop its own stockpile of nuclear fuel to fulfil its energy needs, taking advantage of the guarantees given in the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar said on Thursday.
The Centre is reviewing the security measures at nuclear power plants across the country, in the wake of the recent terror strikes in Mumbai, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar said on Thursday."Several security measures have already been put in place. We are reviewing in the context of what happened in Mumbai and certainly whatever additional (security), which are necessary, we will put in place," he said.
Referring to global energy needs, Kakodkar said nuclear power had the pontential to meet these requirements in a sustainable manner and at the same time keep carbon dioxide emissions at the lowest possible levels.
Dr Anil Kakodkar, chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission and his agency was the 600-pound gorilla in the room that vetoed the compromise language on the stalled bilateral civilian nuclear cooperation accord, known as the 123 Agreement.
"India is capable of indigenously building the most viable commercial nuclear reactors for producing 220 MW and 540 MW power. Small reactors are the best bet to export," he told media persons at the Koodamkulam Nuclear power plant site near Tirunelveli replying to a question on feasibility of exporting nuclear reactors to countries like Egypt.
Last week, the third round of talks in Vienna failed to ready the agreed text and the next round is scheduled to begin on Wednesday. Originally, the third round was considered to be the final round but there was no agreement on the issue of India's right to hold its strategic reserve to cater lifetime supply to its civilian nuclear plants.
"If we remain dependent on foreign technologies, we can never become world leaders and we cannot survive the global competition unless we achieve global leadership at least in some areas where we have strength," Kakodkar said at the convocation of Pt Ravi Shankar Shukla University in Raipur.
Amid the diplomatic and political storm generated by the disclosures on the India-United States nuclear deal, US Ambassador to India David Mulford met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Thursday and sought to clarify Washington's stand.Although officials were tight-lipped about what was discussed at the meeting, sources said Mulford told the Prime Minister that no new conditions had been introduced.A senior US embassy official sought to play down the meeting.
The safeguards issue is unlikely to come up at Thursday's meeting of IAEA's Board of Governors and will come up for approval at a special Board meeting later. IAEA Director General Mohamed El-Baradei and Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar initiated the talks.
Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar on Saturday met representatives from various NGOs in Meghalaya, in an attempt to acquire their consent for uranium mining in the state.In view of the opposition to uranium mining by various NGOs and at least two political parties the Hill State People's Democratic Party and Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement the state government had earlier constituted two expert committees to study the possible impact of mining.
Kakodkar took over as Chairman, AEC from Dr R Chidambaram in November 2000 and was the first chairman to get three extensions -- in 2003, 2005 and 2007 -- in the history of India's nuclear programme.
There was no question of India accepting outdated technology under the proposed Indo-US nuclear energy cooperation agreement, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar on Wednesday said.
Notwithstanding the Left parties' threat to the government not to carry forward the safeguards talks with IAEA beyond December, India opened the second round of discussions with the nuclear watchdog.
Kakodkar had come to inaugurate the fourth Asian Particle Accelerator Conference at the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology near Indore.
The agreements included a declaration on nuclear energy and a pact on defence cooperation.
Without giving the location of the reactor, he said it would cost Rs 5 to 6 crore per MW.
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